Two Liberty University law students plan to celebrate tax day on April 15 with a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party on Lynchburg’s riverfront.
Brendan McIntyre and Ray Coble have lined up several politicians, including former Fifth District Rep. Virgil Goode, to deliver anti-tax speeches at 6 p.m. at the base of Ninth Street near The Depot Grille and Amazement Square.
Re-enactors dressed in Colonial-era knickers and headdresses made of turkey feathers plan to make the ceremonial tea dump, although “that is not our primary focus,” McIntyre said.
The event is targeted at “the tax burden and irresponsible governing that is going on with the bailout and stimulus and pork spending and earmarks,” McIntyre said.
McIntyre said he and Coble started organizing the tea party/tax protest about a month ago after finding the concept on a Web site for the National Tax Day Tea Party at http://taxdayteaparty.com.
Speakers who McIntyre said are confirmed to appear include Goode, state Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, and City Council members Scott Garrett and Jeff Helgeson. Both Garrett and Helgeson are seeking the Republican nomination to run for the House of Delegates in Lynchburg.
Also speaking, McIntyre said, will be radio commentator George Caylor of Lynchburg. In addition, two local business owners are expected to talk about the tax impacts on their operations.
The costumes and tea party are intended to dramatize its theme.
“There will be real tea going into the water,” but probably not too much of it, said McIntyre, a third-year law student who calls Lynchburg home now. He is a native of Buffalo, N.Y.
“We talked to DEQ” (the state Department of Environmental Quality) about the plans to introduce tea into the river, McIntyre said.
“The statute is pretty clear. As long as there is no damage, a small quantity is OK.”
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