9-12 Project • North Central Florida
meets, organizes and elects officers
Columbia County, FL (posted May 4,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
The Friday night, May 1st
9-12
Project monthly meeting played to a full house at
the Vineyard Church in Lake City. Over a hundred people
attended the meeting with folks coming from Alachua,
Suwannee and Gilchrest counties, as well as Columbia
County. Those in attendance came from all walks of life
and varying educational backgrounds: air conditioning
mechanics, school teachers, salesman, professionals,
retired folks and even a former Wisconsin Magistrate.
Ms. Tawnya Means, who later on in the meeting was
elected President of the group by acclamation, began the
meeting by announcing to the enthusiastic gathering that
they were now “officially” the North Central Florida
9-12 Project.
Before introducing the first speaker, Ms. Means went
over the list of
nine principles. There was moderate applause as she
read down the list. When she read number nine, “The
government works for me. I do not answer to them, they
answer to me,” a respondent chord was struck and there
was a loud round of applause.
The
first speaker of the evening was Mr. John Knapp. Mr.
Knapp gave a brief talk, entitled, We have to raise our
horizons, on what he saw as the breakdown in the
democratic process, referencing P.J. O”Rouke’s
international best seller “Parliament
of Whores.” Later in the evening, Mr. Knapp was
elected secretary of education.
Mr.
Ron Austin, organizer of the up-coming march on
Tallassee, was next up and explained some of the
details. The March is scheduled for May 16th at 12 noon.
If you are interested in attending or helping, Mr.
Austin can be reached via e mail at
ronaustin@windstream.net.
Mr.
Kevin Catalfu announced his June 13 seminar at the Main
Columbia County Library in downtown Lake City. He
explained that the course is given by the National
Center for constitutional studies and that he needs
fifty people. (For more information
click here).
Ms. Means again took the microphone and explained
that the organization is looking for a Memorial Day
celebration to support and that she is looking for a
place to hold a picnic on June 14th, Flag Day. She said,
“Bring your families and food to share.” She said she is
looking for suggestions for a location.
Ms. Means also mentioned that she is considering
having the 9-12 group march in the July 4th parade in
Branford and also getting a booth.
Ms. Means reminded the group, as she did throughout
the evening, “We are not against anyone person.”
Columbia
County resident Pete Collins, secretary of
communications, told the group, “I’m excited and
incensed. This is the kind of energy we need.” He
mentioned that he was paying half his paycheck in taxes
and didn’t think that was right.
Mr.
Bob Parnell, the group rep for the constitutional
studies group spoke a little bit about the constitution.
He said the Second Amendment is the most important
amendment, mentioning that if we didn’t have the second
amendment we might not have the constitution. He said,
“We have to go by the constitution while we still have
it.”
Ms. Susan Baan, the group rep for national
legislation, told the gathering that she thought the
nation was in trouble and held up a dvd of the film,
The Obama Deception, and encouraged all to see it,
copy it and pass it around.
Before the gathering broke into groups, Mr. Jan
Touchton, one of the organizers of the April 15th tea
party, clutching the mic, explained that he was nervous
and that it didn't make a difference as he told the group, “I was in the air conditioning
business. Now I’m a political activist.”
Time will tell how far and how long the political
activism of the 9-12 projects will endure.
The great American inventor Thomas Edison said, “"I
never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any
of my inventions come by accident. They came by work."
On Saturday morning, during a brief conversation with
Mr. Knapp about the meeting, he told the Observer, “Most
of the people there were my age or older (59). Where
were all the young people? They are the ones that stand
to lose the most.”
The work of the 9-12 Project has just begun.
The officers of the North Central
Florida 9-12 Project are:
- President (Tawnya Means)
tsmeans@gmail.com
- Secretary of Membership
(Sharon Higgins)
- Secretary of Finance
(Brenda Parnell, Barry Fitterman)
- Secretary of Events (Afton
Markham)
- Secretary of Communications
(Pete Collins)
- Secretary of Web (Terry
Gray)
- Secretary of Education (John
Knapp)
For more about the local 9-12 North
Central Project and May 1st meeting see Tony Britt's
story in the
Lake City Reporter.
