Talk of the Town - Whitley County

On Tuesday, the Whitley County Patriots met at the Columbia City America Legion where they welcomed Cindy Gamrat of the Huntington County TEA Party.
Gamrat spoke about the TEA Party/Patriot movement -- with 130 local residents in attendance.
“About one year ago I was frustrated with the direction the country was heading and wanted to go to a TEA Party,” says Gamrat. “I saw there was not one scheduled on tax day, April 15, 2009, in Huntington and felt the citizens of Huntington would be missing out on a chance to have their voices heard. So, I prayed about it and decided to hold one in Huntington.”
Gamrat talked with friends, learned they felt the same way, and they worked to stage a well-attended TEA Party on the courthouse square in Huntington.
The Huntington movement snowballed from that point, as the group organized a July 4th patriotic event and now has monthly meetings attended by as many as 300 people. It has conducted a Constitutional studies seminar through the National Center for Constitutional Studies, has handed out more than 1,000 pocket Constitutions and helped stage a northern Indiana TEA Party rally last fall in Warsaw.
A University of Michigan graduate, Gamrat is a registered nurse but has devoted the past 10 years to homeschooling her children.
Also addressing The Whitley County Patriots was Emery W. McClendon, who lives in his hometown of Fort Wayne, is an Air Force veteran and served two years active duty with the Indiana Air National Guard’s Fort Wayne unit.  He is a life member of the Disabled American Veterans.  
McClendon’s involvement with patriotic volunteer work began shortly after he helped with two-way amateur radio communications at Glenn Beck’s Fort Wayne "Rally For The Troops," and with the national Glen Beck rally in Huntington, West Virginia.
In February 2004, he founded Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day (www.armad.net) as a way for people in communities nationwide to honor and show appreciation for the nation’s troops, veterans and military retirees live over two-way radio.  ARMAD led him to other military support groups and he became active with Families United for Our Troops and their mission, Vets For Freedom, The United States Army Freedom Team Salute and Americans For Prosperity.
McClendon became involved in the TEA Party movement through blog talk radio during the first Tea Party by helping broadcast the event, and by having live updates from various locations around the country streamed over blog talk radio.  He then organized the Fort Wayne Tea Party, with Dr. Alan Keyes as the keynote speaker. 
He has been invited to speak at several patriotic events across the country and has participated in many TEA Parties, rallies and other patriotic causes and town hall events throughout the area. 
“I continue to get involved in leadership roles at other TEA Party events, such as serving on panels; and in blogging,” says McClendon.  “I believe speaking at the events is a way to help show citizens how important it is to save our Constitution and Republic.”
Tuesday's meeting also included a presentation on steps individuals and the group can take to have an impact on local, state and national issues.
“We are not aligned with a political party or with any state or national organization,” says Patriots Chairman Roger Metzger.
“We are just a group of citizens from across the county concerned about irresponsible government spending, unresponsive elected officials and a surge of government control that was never the intent of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution. We believe those original Patriots had it right then and that their values of faith and principle still apply today.”

The next meeting will be April 6 in Columbia City.