UPDATED: Toledo Tea Party a huge success

(UPDATED: Links to videos of the Tea Party are added as they are available)

The Tax Day Tea Party at International Park was well-attended with three law enforcement officers estimating the crowd at about 1,000.

The representative from the NRA and former Toledo Police Chief Jack Smith were the obvious favorites of the crowd. The signs were great and several parents had their children with them - home schooled kids, as one mom said, so she could control their education - not the government.

The videos, when uploaded will show you the crowd, the signs and the speeches. My sincerest thanks and major kudos to Tricia Lyons who, with some other volunteers, organized the Tea Party - and congratulations to them for their outstanding event!

As this is my first time doing video, my apologies for any shakiness - it was actually cold and rainy and my hands were like ice...additionally, I was not able to record all the speakers due to the one-hour capacity of my recorder, so I focused on the citizens and not the elected officials. Additionally, I had to replace the batteries during one speaker and then delete the set-up video because I was running out of space, so there are a couple of stops where I missed a bit of the commentary. Did I mention that this is my first time doing video? There are other videos available on www.WSPD.com and here are pictures from today's event.

When the videos finish uploading, they will be available below:

The introduction to the event from MC Jeff Webber, founder of Network 1776, with the National Anthem led by Anna Allegrini and then the Pledge of Allegiance

Speakers: MC Jeff Webber and State Senator Kevin Coughlin

Speakers: Michael Watson and Lee Repass - concerned citizens

Speakers: Carol Greenberg - NRA member (part 1)

Speakers: Carol Greenberg - NRA member (part 2), local attorney Ryan Crozier, former Toledo Police Chief Jack Smith (part 1)

Speakers: former Toledo Police Chief Jack Smith (part 2)

Speakers: John Adams

(note: the videos are taking longer than I expected to upload so check back as I'll link them as soon as they are up.)