Wilkes-Barre joins the ‘parties’

WILKES-BARRE – At 15, Jane Henry is too young to vote.

But the ninth-grade student at Wyoming Seminary was old enough to protest at Wilkes-Barre’s Tea Party.

“I’m not happy that they’re spending my generation’s money,” said Henry, who protested Wednesday afternoon against President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package.

“My generation is going to be stuck with all this debt,” said Henry, who was with her mother at the Public Square protest.

As many as 400 people, many with signs, gathered at the downtown event to protest against what they see as the federal government’s attempts to socialize the economy. The event coincided with other tax day tea parties across the country.

Six tea parties, including the one in Wilkes-Barre, took place in Northeastern Pennsylvania, said Daniel McGrogan, event organizer. Alan Keyes, a former conservative presidential candidate, was to appear at the tea party event in front of City Hall in Hazleton.

“The whole objective was to provide a platform for the citizens to be able to talk about their dismay with our federal government’s out-of-control spending,” McGrogan said.

Several protesters at the event gathered around a table to re-sign the U.S. Constitution. Copies will be sent to local and state officials, congressmen and President Obama, according to McGrogan, a 28-year-old market researcher from Luzerne.

Among the signs protesters displayed at Wednesday’s tea party were those that read “Live free or die” and “Read my lips: No more debt.”

One protester passed out pamphlets against allowing private banks to control their currency. The pamphlet read “End the Fed!”

Ben Roper, 41, held a two-sided sign that read “The real pirates ‘arrgh’ in Washington.” On the other side it read “Audit the Fed Reserve,” in support of H.R.1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, a bill in Congress that would audit the U.S. Federal Reserve System.

“It’s really about following the Constitution. Our elected representatives don’t do that anymore,” said Roper, of Kingston, who was protesting with his wife, Liza, 41. “They’re really mortgaging our future, our children and great-grandchildren.”

The couple also protested against and voiced concerns about former President George W. Bush’s $700 billion bank bailout.

“It’s not fair that we have to pay for people who can’t run their business,” Liza said.