The universal health care bill being pushed by President Barack Obama was the main issue that drew most of roughly 70 concerned citizens to the first meeting of the recently-formed Vicksburg Taxed Enough Already Party on Friday evening.

“I do believe something needs to be done about health care, but I don’t like the universal plan. The more I learn about this 1,000 page document the more it scares me,” said Sue Tolbert, who attended the meeting with her husband, Dale, and friend, Phyllis Renfro. “I won’t even begin to go off about the stimulus plan or this cash for clunkers program. There are a lot of issues I’m concerned about.”

To join

To learn more about the Mississippi TEA Party and to join the local chapter, visit www.msteaparty.ning.com. The next TEA Party rally will be at the Carroll County Court House next Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Vicksburg TEA Party is the newest chapter of the Mississippi TEA Party, which sprang from a national movement in mid-February and has since grown to include more than 3,000 members, said MTP Web site manager Julia Hodges.

“This has just been picking up speed, as you can well see,” Hodges told the group, which met at Goldie’s Trail Bar-B-Q. “It was grassroots led. It was not GOP led, and it is still not GOP led. This is as grassroots as it can get.”

The local chapter was formed in the week since Betty Stout wrote a guest editorial, featured in The Vicksburg Post on July 29, encouraging locals to join together to oppose a variety of policies coming out of the White House. A total of 54 members have since joined the local chapter, and Stout said she hopes to develop a regular meeting schedule for the group.

“The response has just been overwhelming,” Stout said. “We are banding together as a group because numbers are what counts; numbers talk. To get our point across, we’ve got to band together and speak as one.”

Stout welcomed new and potential members with a prepared speech that detailed grievances with the current state of affairs in the country. She aired her feelings about everything from President Obama to the Democratic Party and the American Civil Liberties Union.   

“I feel we all have the same goal, and that is to take control of our country back,” said Stout. “It’s time for us to realize the president and the liberals in Congress hate America and are trying to destroy it. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve been asleep for too long, and now we must let them know in no uncertain terms that enough is enough.” 

On the debate over the pending health care bill, Stout warned, “if it does pass, the America we know today will be gone.”

Stout’s address was interrupted by applause at several points, and she received a standing ovation after her closing remarks, which urged TEA Party members to remain nonviolent in their efforts.

Following the meeting, the group broke out into roundtable discussions.

The Mississippi TEA Party is planning a trip to Washington, D.C., Sept. 12 for a protest march, and Hodges invited the members of the Vicksburg chapter to sign on.

The next Mississippi TEA Party rally is scheduled to take place at the Carroll County Court House next Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com