Tampa Bay Area Project 912 Members RallyPhotos/text by Renee Burrell
Members of the three Tampa Bay area 9-12 Project groups united on September 12 for an all day event to honor Armed Forces, Policemen, and Firemen LARGO - The "912 Project" to recreate American unity drew around 800 Tampa-area residents to rally at Tampa's Macdill Air Force Base Saturday morning. The 912 project is a collection of locally organized citizens who want the government to adhere to the Constitution. Supported by Fox News TV and radio talk show host Glen Beck, the 912 Project seeks to reignite the spirit of unity that was felt among Americans after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They explain their stance, "We are inspired by Glenn Beck to organize ourselves in our local communities, and tie the communities together into a larger group. We stay in contact with other organizations at the local, state and national level, to help unify our message, stay informed and focused on the issues, and be an active part of this nations' effort to take back our country!" Spirits of the 912 Project supporters weren't dampened by the rain Saturday as they waved flags and held up signs along Dale Mabry to express their unified political sentiments. At noon they left MacDill and travelled down Gandy and Park Blvd. en masse to Gasoline Alley Café in Largo to pay respect to fire fighters, police, and military soldiers while watching Beck's broadcast of the Project's march in Washington D.C. According to The Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the Washington D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services estimated the crowd there to be 'in excess of 75,000' people. Gasoline Alley co-owner, Eric Davies said of the Largo gathering, "I am thankful to have had the opportunity to host this event for our community, it really was a great day for all Americans… Droves of kind and wonderful people, from young families to veterans, waited patiently in line outside to enter Gasoline Alley Cafe for the viewing. To fully characterize the feeling of people attending I would say, 'All of the attending patrons demonstrated a friendly, warm hearted, well mannered expression of love for country and countrymen'...The crowds behavior, apart from the uproar and cheers for the Glenn Beck airing, saw no incidents of unruly behavior or protest in our concert hall, just good old fashion American patriotism. Everyone involved should be proud of their patriotism, birds of a feather flock together and I'm proud to be American who owns an American business who can give back to the community and support events like this in the future". Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team praised members for their participation. "Thank you Tea Party Patriots for giving me the opportunity to serve you by organizing the event in DC. All the organizing and volunteering in the world would not have mattered without people showing up. Thank you for being in DC and at local events around the country to make your voices heard. You are the heart and soul of this movement! . . Hopefully, Congress, the Administration, and the local and state elected officials from around the country can hear us now. If not, we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder together to keep turning up the volume!"
 Gazette readers Christel and Robert Hunsicker of Largo were at the day's main event at Gasoline Alley to watch the march on DC
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