by Dorothy Lemmey

Ken and I met Natalie at CVS near George Jenkins to park and walk to the school together. We were going so that the kids that were WALKING OUT could see that we were behind them and were very proud of them.  We met some other people on our way to the gate. As we approached the gate we could see a tall, well dressed, dark haired young man standing guard over the gate that was across the road to the school.

He asked, “Can I help you?”

“We would like to go to the Courtyard to stand with the students at 10 am,” we piped in.

He informed us, “The School Board of Education has made a rule that no public can enter the courtyard or school.  You could go to the main office but they would tell you the same thing.”

“What about the media will they be allowed in?”

He said, “No public whatsoever. We have the kids safety to consider.  This was a county wide decision by the school board.”

“So none of the schools in Polk County will receive any publicity,” I said.

“No public allowed at any of the schools,” he said.

We did not have much choice. As I walked away I said, “OK, I don’t like it but will stand on the corner.”

Some people had parked in the Methodist church parking lot on the corner of the school and the minister came out complaining that no one cleared it with him to park there.  I thought that was pretty petty but Rev Lynne said, “how would you feel if NRA parked their cars in our church parking lot.” OH that is true. However, it was only going to be for 17 mins.

So there were 5 UUCL people there with a total of about 30.  It was fun talking to people who can see the significance of students around the country saying “Enough Is Enough.“

“What in the world do you need automatic and semi-automatic guns for in 2018?” “If you need automatic guns for your entertainment to hit targets then you need to go back to the range and get some practice.”

One woman there from Massachusetts said, “I feel a ground swell now that there will be SOME change in this madness.”  “It is all because of these brave kids, they will grow older and vote for sure.”  “I feel this is the beginning of the same environment that allowed the holocaust to happen.”  “Right now we can speak out but I do not know what will happen in the next few years. This has been coming for the last 30 years.”  I said, “Read the book, Dark Money by Jane Mayer it will open your eyes to what has been happening around the world the last 30 years. She is a journalist and documented everything in her book so it has not been disputed.”

The media never showed up. We split up to both corners and many cars that passed by honked at us and waved their hands.  At 10:18 am we started to disperse and shook each other’s hands and said, “It was nice to meet you, and thanks for coming to support these kids.”  I hope the kids at George Jenkins finds out we were there and sees out pictures.