Columbus, Ohio, on a beautiful clear, crisp, March day. There were several
gathering points. I chose to start in Goodale Park (11:30 - 1:30), from which to
join the Rise Up! march to the Ohio Statehouse for a statewide peace rally (2:00
- 3:00).
I parked by the Statehouse, then hoofed it 10 blocks to Goodale Park.
There weren't a lot of people there before noon.
And the road back to downtown was long and mostly empty.
By noon the crowd was getting pretty large.
This fellow was doing video for the local police. He was pleasant enough,
but was annoyed when some of the marchers gave him a hard time for being there.
I asked him what he thought of the idea of "free speech zones" that the current
administration likes to use to keep protesters out of sight. He hadn't thought
about that.
As marchers, the group from Goodale stretched two or three blocks long.
This fellow offered to help carry the sign. His issue is voting. He doesn't
trust the
electronic voting. The woman was interviewing my helper as we marched. She said
she's working for a new community radio station in Columbus.
The crowd at the statehouse was large, but there was room for more.
There were plenty of police, and they were helpful with traffic control on the
march.
The didn't have much to do after that.
There were two faux-Arabs.
My guess: right wing party crashers.
Then there was Don and some of his family!
A pleasant surprise!
The speakers were pretty good. They set up down by the road.
I preferred to stay on the steps, where the sign could be most visible.
Around 3:00 a lot of the younger folk went off to march by the local republican
and democrat party offices, but I headed back the car and went home.
More pictures on page 2.