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they awaited Trump’s arrival. De- that,” Santorum said.workers will be hired to do the job.” I Vitale arrested him on an unrelated warrant.sRO ES ERS from aiLinzi Troilo-Dalfonso / For the Mon Valley IndependentThree generations of Democrats - Zyanya Dudas Caruso, Maureen Dudas and Virginia Dudas Monaghan - attended the protest.“Now that he’s come to my backyard, I have no choice but to come out and express my discontent with him being here,” said Christian Ses-ek, 20, of Brownsville.“That's why I'm out here today, and that's why I’m here to support the Mon Valley and to support what I think is best for my community.”Sesek, a Duquesne University junior, is president of the school's Young Democrats of America club. He organized the protest in fewer than 24 hours after he found out Trump would make an appearance, using Facebook primarily to spread the word.“A lot of people were really wanting to be here. We had a lot of support from area people,” said Sesek, who called off from his internship in downtown Pittsburgh to be in attendance.Sesek rested an American flag on his shoulder as heheld a sign that read “Trump is wrong for the Mon Valley.” He cited Trump's foreign policy and economic plan as his main points of concern.“It would slide our country back in to a recession,” Sesek said.Nearby, Krista Montgomery, 27, of Charleroi made a similar sign with red and black Sharpie markers.“I was pretty shocked. Mostly because we’re such a small town,” Montgomery said of her reaction to Trump's somewhat unexpected visit.Montgomery said she didn't understand why Trump would visit a business that has some environmental concerns.“The fact that he's going to come here and talk about this plant being something that they need to revive makes me confused because it's linked to issues with our health and it's a finite resource anyway,'’ Montgomery said.Like most at the protest, Ashleigh Byrd, 31, of Mo-nessen saw the plans on Facebook and decided to stop by to vent her frustration.“It’s not what he says, it's how he says it,” Byrd said.“His tone of voice. His dialect. There's a way you talk to people. That’s why half of the minorities aren’t going to vote for him. You don't tell people that you're going to put up a wall. You don't say that to people.“If you're racist and you're running for president of the United States of America and there's all these minorities. There's whites. There's blacks. There's mixed. There’s Mexicans. There's Puerto Ricans. There's Dominicans. There’s Africans. There's Chinese. There's every different nationality here and you're so ignorant. You don't know anything.”Westmoreland County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Lorraine Petrosky said Trump's invitation reveals how much of a Republican city Monessen is, even though the numbers show otherwise,“That’s what we have to recognize (that) they’re Democrats on paper only,” Petrosky said.Trump won the Pennsylvania primary in late April, gaining 63 percent of Westmoreland County votes. Last week, the Westmoreland County Republican committee agreed to support Trump's presidential candidacy.Petrosky said some protesters were turned away at the parking lot by Trump organizers.One person who was denied entry to the lot inside the Monessen Riverfront Industrial Park II was Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.Fetterman, who lost in theDemocratic primary for U.S. Senate in April, was on hand to show his support for the protest. After he wasn't allowed to park in the industrial lot, he drove his pick-up truck around the area wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat as a disguise.“How do you hide 6-foot-8 inches of John Fetterman?” Petrosky asked.Fetterman has attended similar anti-Trump rallies, including one in Pittsburgh's Strip District during Trump’s visit to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in in April.Protesters were noncombat-ive and cooperated with Monessen authorities when they were asked to move from the lawn behind Composite One LLC on Donner Avenue to the sidewalk.Monessen police said the lawn is private property.Traffic patterns along Schoonmaker Avenue were altered to deter passing motorists from stopping.Upward of 25 people gathered for the protest as Petrosky handed out small hand-signs bearing the message: “Trump Wins. We Lose.”Fewer than 50 yards from the protest, Sarah and Sean O’Brien of Monongahela stood on the island at the intersection of Donner Avenue and 12th Street among other Trump supporters.The news of Trump's Mon Valley visit was well received in their household.“He screamed around the house saying, ’We're going,”’ Sarah O'Brien, 29,said.Sean O’Brien, 42, wore a black “Trump for President'’ shirt and added, “Yeah, I said, ‘We're going.’”The couple's unborn child will be a Trump supporter, Sarah O'Brien said.There were no words exchanged between supporters and protesters, which hasn't been the case at other Trump appearances.During Trump's April rally in Pittsburgh, a group of anarchists threw a tear gas canister into the crowd under the convention center's throughway, and Pittsburgh police formed riot lines between protesters and supporters. Several arrests were made, but no serious injuries were reported.After his Monessen visit, Trump spoke at the Ohio University Eastern’s Health and Physical Education Center in St. Clairsville, Ohio.Trump has now visited the Southwestern Pennsylvania area three times this year, including the Pittsburgh rally and an appearance in Moon Township for a speech at an Atlantic Aviation hangar earlier this month.Trump's visit is the first by a president or presidential candidate since John E Kennedy’s mid-term election stop in 1962.During his stay, Kennedy spoke to upward of 25,000 people from a platform at the intersection of Sixth Street and Donner Avenue.More than 200 people were on hand for Trump's speech Tuesday, which was by invitation only.MonValley_)l NDEPENDENT(INDEPENDENT Email: mvi@yourmvi.com Website: monvalleyindependent.com Home Delivery and Customer Service Our goal is to bring you quality, timely delivery of the Mon Valley Independent. If your Mon Valley Independent has not been delivered by 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or by 10.30 a.m. Saturday, please call 724-314-0035 for a replacement copy. Customer service hours: Monday through Friday until 6 p.m.Rates: Home Deliverv/Mail Store Single Copy*1 Month $20.00 $1.003 Months $60.006 Months $110.0012 Months $200.00*With debit or credit card auto renewalAddress:Mon Valley Independent, 996 Donner Avenue, Monessen, PA 15062
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The Mon Valley Independent
Monessen, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Jun 29, 2016
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PA, USA 21 Aug 2024
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