Carmel Tea Party Demands Reform

Ron Sorenson of Putnam Valley, dressed like Thomas Jefferson, leads the crowd in singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Jim Coleman, chief of staff to Assemblyman Greg Ball, stands at the podium. Diana Culhane Putnam County never experienced such a rally!

More than 1,000 men, women, and children jammed onto Carmel’s main street last Thursday evening to express their discontent with government on Tax Day.

With loud cheers and signs held high participants attacked America’s leaders by criticizing the federal health care overhaul and calling for lower taxes.

Dozens of speakers addressed the throng, including elected officials and community members.

Putnam Legislature Chairman Vincent Tamagna of Nelsonville called on all residents of Putnam County to “hold your leaders’ feet to the fire. This is the American way. People are taking to the streets, and they need what has to be done. We are tired of high taxes. People want fiscal conservancy, and are upset over wasteful spending and poor leadership.”

More than 1,000 people attended the rally on Carmel’s main street. Eric Gross Ray Southard of Carmel held a sign admitting, “in the first time in my adult life I am afraid for my country. America is going to hell in a hand-basket. Changes are being made without the public’s support. It’s un-American.”

Mary Ann Horman of Lake Carmel agreed: “Control of spending must be managed from the top down. All the things that were promised and all that should be done are not being achieved.”

As the audience erupted into chants calling on the American public to: “Vote them out! Vote them out!” And no more taxes! Assemblyman Greg Ball, who organized the rally, told the Courier that he was “thrilled with the response. It’s time for the American public to take its country back. Spending and back-door borrowing must cease. For the first time in a long time the solid majority is awake and alive. I have never seen the silent majority this loud, this awake, and this organized. November will be one hell of an election!”

DIANA CULHANE Putnam Legislator Mary Ellen Odell of Carmel charged that governmental spending was out of control: “You don’t spend more money than you have. If you can’t pay it back you don’t borrow it. It’s that simple.”

Others, like Greg and Daisy Marks of Brewster denounced what they called President Obama’s “socialist” agenda, singling out health care legislation along with big government and incumbent politicians.

Paul Morrison of Kent listened and waved his yellow Gadsden Flag—the “Don’t Tread on Me” banner that has become the symbol of the grassroots cause.

Lillian Okello of Lake Peekskill called it “unacceptable that veterans don’t have proper health care.”

Peter Bardunias, executive director of the Greater Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce, presented symbolic checks generated by local business needed to pay the MTA Mobility Tax. Bardunias also lashed out at the state by forcing local schools and Putnam Hospital Center to “front money for New York in Mobility Tax payments. We get nothing from the MTA—no products, no services, and no representation.”

The crowd was so large that a handful of local police officers became overwhelmed and reinforcements were summoned from the Sheriff’s Department, Carmel Police, and Brewster State Police. The Putnam County Fire Police Response Team was also pressed into action.

As the crowd grew, authorities shut down the entire main thoroughfare in the county seat from Route 6 to Fair Street as signs calling for cuts in governmental spending were raised and cheers and jeers echoed into the night.