News - Local News

POSTED: Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Bellingham TEA Party organizers plan for more events

The local Taxed Enough Already, or TEA, Party on April 15 wasn’t the only event local organizers had in mind.

With a turnout that police estimated was between 1,500 and 2,000 people on the day taxes were due across America, TEA Party organizers and supporters are energized for its next events.

The first comes Saturday, June 13, and Sunday, June 14, when supporters will attempt to get people waving flags at every Interstate 5 overpass from the Washington-Canadian border to the Washington-Oregon border.

"Anybody who wants to participate, anybody who is fed up with big government and wants to make a statement, just get their flag and come out to the overpass," said Joan Hansen, who is organizing the TEA Party's Whatcom Flag Day event.

Hansen, who ran as a Libertarian for the state's 42nd Legislative District seat in 2000, said she's been interested in politics her whole life, and was really excited by the April 15 TEA Party.

TEA Party groups across Washington are trying to get flags both north and south across Washington but also east to west, with people standing on overpasses from Port Townsend to the Washington-Idaho border.

That's not the only event happening. A second TEA Party event, where people will protest high levels of government spending and taking over banks and car companies, is planned for Independence Day.

"The group is very active," said Lynn Carpenter a local Republican and former city of Bellingham finance director. She added with a laugh that people are so active that coordination is sometimes challenging.

"It truly is grassroots, you can tell by all of the confusion," she said.

But organizers have big plans. They're preparing a 20-foot banner that will display the U.S. Constitution. They'll encourage people to sign at the bottom and at some point there will be a rally in Washington, D.C., where banners from across the country will be shown, Carpenter said.

The goal is simple: "To ask elected officials to maybe read it, because we are concerned about it," she said.

The group is also planning to teach a class in the fall based on the book "The 5,000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World," by W. Cleon Skousen, a lawyer who worked for the FBI in the 1950s and then for a think tank that advised President Reagan's administration.

"We're doing a lot of things," Carpenter said.

IF YOU GO

What: TEA Party supporters will wave flags at every I-5 overpass in Whatcom County.

When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 13, and 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June 14.

More info: Visit WhatcomFlagDay.com or call Joan Hansen at 384-3965.