More than 150 gather for rally
February 14, 2013
 
Master of ceremonies Jeff Ennis addresses a big group gathered on a chilly afternoon Saturday during the Bonners Ferry Second Amendment Rally. 
Mike Weland photo 
The sun was shining Saturday afternoon as people began trickling in twos and  threes onto the fairgrounds lawn, but it was cold. Organizers of the Bonners Ferry Second Amendment Rally who'd been there awhile getting set up were thoroughly chilled by the time the event started at 2 p.m. In all, between 150 and 200 people showed up.

"It was a great event!" said Tia Avery, Moyie Springs, who came up with the idea for the rally and brought it together. "There was a lot of great info shared about the history of our beautiful country. I think we all left feeling much more educated ... and definitely very frozen!"

Master of ceremonies Jeff Ennis kicked the event off, evoking George Washington and his ill-equipped, ill trained troops taking on what was then the greatest military force in the world, and prevailing against all odds, so great was their love and desire for the freedoms they gained, freedoms many today worry are rapidly being stripped away.

Rebecca Huseby, bundled in a snowmobile suit but still feeling the chill, didn't shiver or stutter as she sang The Star Spangled Banner, including the seldom heard fourth stanza, which she said epitomized the reason for the rally ...

"Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

With that, Ennis welcomed to the stage guest speakers Donna Capurso, John Mackey of the Oath Keepers, former Bonner County commissioner Cornel Rasor and Steve Tanner, all speaking the importance and duty of Americans to defend the precious rights our forefathers s valiantly for for and crafted.

The second amendment, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," they said, may be a mere 27 words long, but on those words rest the rights of American citizens to defend all the other rights conferred by the U.S. Constitution, against all enemies, foreign or domestic.

Tia extends her thanks to everyone who braved the chilly temperatures to attend the rally, including Boundary County Tea Party chair Liz Sloot and Pam Stout, regional director of the Gem State Tea Party.

Thanks also go out to those who worked behind the scenes to put everything in place, including the Gemmrig and Hinthorn families for use of the trailer used to stage the event, and to Far North Outfitters, who graciously offered the use of their parking lot to hold the rally before it became apparent it would be too small.
The following photos and collage courtesy of Barbara Rexford 
 
  Donna Capurso 
Rebecca Huseby 
Tia Avery