Lanier Tea Party rallies against T-splost

GAINESVILLE - A small but enthusiastic crowd turned out Saturday afternoon for the Lanier Tea Party Patriots first-ever Tax Day Rally at Poultry Park in Gainesville.

Local president Buddy Fisch said the group is made up of taxpayers who live in the Lake Lanier area who are opposed to big government, out of control spending and excessive taxes.

"We're going back to the roots of our country, the [U.S.] Constitution," said Fisch. "So, I'd like to say everything is based and founded...that we do...upon our Constitution."

Fisch took to the stage to rally the small crowd of about 50 to "Dump the T" before turning over the microphone to Bill Evelyn, who spoke passionately about defeating the T-splost that goes before voters in November.

Evelyn told his audience that supporters of the transportation tax, will use plenty of "propaganda" to "trick" voters into approving the tax in the fall.

"They're going to run commercials and they're going to send you things out that you could spend more time with your children if you weren't sitting in this traffic. They're going to tell you that the projects are going to untie the knots in the traffic," said Evelyn.

Fisch did not seem discouraged by the small turnout for the group's first effort at a public rally, noting that most Republican candidates had attended the 9th District GOP Convention in Jefferson that same afternoon and that possibly kept the numbers down.