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The ADVANCE, January 20, 2021/Page 14A
ELBOW-TO-ELBOW - A nine-block area near the White House and Capitol in downtown
Washington was filled with Trump supporters from across America. Among them was
Vidalian Heather Davis, who said the day began with great optimism and excitement,
but the atmosphere changed on the steps of the Capitol.
AMERCAN ICON - One of the thousands of Trump sup
porters attending the January 6 rally in Washington, D.C.,
chose to exemplify American ideals by portraying Presi
dent Abraham Lincoln.
Patriot
continued from page 1A
to Washington, D.C., Da
vis reached out to friends
she had made in Maryland
during her residency there
several years ago. She en
thused, “When I lived in
Maryland, I used to travel to
D.C. on the weekends. I am
such a patriot! I love D.C.!”
Some of Davis’s friends got
back in touch and informed
her that they were going to
the rally in Washington and
would join her there.
She boarded the plane
at Jacksonville Interna
tional Airport on January 5
with a group of enthusias
tic Trump supporters who
were bound for Washing
ton, as well. She remem
bered that every time the
captain remarked about
D.C.—the arrival time or
some other reference—the
whole plane cheered. When
the flight attendant gave a
weather update and men
tioned the capital city, ev
eryone clapped.
Davis debarked at
Reagan National Airport
and went straight to an
apartment she had rented
two miles from the White
House. Once she had set
tled in, she walked toward
the White House Ellipse
where the President was to
speak the following day. “It
was very discouraging to
see that Washington was
basically shut down. Most
businesses were boarded up
but every now and then we
would see a small business
with an ‘Open’ sign dis
played. When I was in D.C.,
prior to this trip, everything
was bustling.”
As she walked to the
National Mall where the
rally would be staged, Da
vis observed that a nine-
block area near the White
House and the Capitol was
blocked off with police vans
and snowplows parked stra
tegically—either to block
traffic or to impede crowds.
The environment was not
welcoming. There were no
temporary sanitation sta
tions and very few trash re
ceptacles were positioned
within the nine-block area.
Washington police were al
ready lining the streets.
January 6 dawned
cold and wet, but despite
the weather Davis and her
friend were still excited to
be a part of what they re
garded as history in the
making. They walked sev
eral blocks to the Ellipse,
arriving around 10:30 a.m.
The President was sched
uled to speak at 11 a.m.
but was late. Davis recalled,
“The streets were full of pa
triots, people of different
races and ethnicities from
all over the country. There
were Latinos, African-
Americans, and Chinese-
Americans handing out
literature on how to fight
the Chinese Communist
Party. There were people
from Hawaii and Alaska,
Ohio, and tons of veterans;
all were just hardworking,
blue-collar Americans there
to support their President,
the Constitution and the
foundations on which our
country stands. It was amaz
ing to see how many people
came from so far away to be
a part of this.”
Davis emphasized the
people present were peace
ful and not there to cause
trouble. “They were there to
unite and show that we mat
ter. Our voice and our vote
matter.”
Davis said reports by
the media estimating the
crowd at a couple of thou
sand were way off. “There
were hundreds of thousands
of patriots, elbow-to-elbow,
in that nine-block area.”
As Davis and her friend
listened to the President, a
few people started leaving
early to head to the Capitol.
She observed that some of
these people “looked dif
ferent.” They were wearing
what she assumed to be bul
letproof vests. “They were
very militant looking. They
were wearing black clothes
with helmets and some had
face paint.”
Toward the end of the
President’s speech Davis
and her friend decided to
get a head start on the walk
toward the Capitol. She
said word had circulated
throughout the crowd ear
lier that day that follow
ing the President’s speech,
the crowd would move to
the Capitol. “It had already
been determined within the
crowd that everyone would
go to the Capitol even be
fore the President spoke,”
Davis said.
The five or six block
trek toward the Capitol in
which Davis took part was
a peaceful progression.
“People were walking and
chatting. It was so friendly.
Everyone was happy to be
there. Most of these people
had probably never been to
the nation’s capital and vis-
vcc
STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — Wheeler County Elementary School has announced De
cember Students of the Month. PreK- Boone Selph, Kindergarten - Paisley Hartley, 1st
- Skylar Finch, 2nd - Koring Frazier, 3rd - Maya Carrillo, 4th - A'naja Ricks, 5th - Landan
Carey.
Board of Regents approves
two new degree programs
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Two institutions in the
University System of Geor
gia are launching degree
programs focused on two of
the state’s top industries.
The system’s Board of
Regents voted Tuesday to
offer a new nexus degree in
film production at Gordon
State College and a new
master’s degree program in
epidemiology at Augusta
University.
Gordon State College
is located in Bamesville, 40
miles from the Georgia Film
Academy’s flagship instruc
tional site at Trilith Studios
in Fayetteville. With six ma
jor film studios located in
metro Atlanta, Georgia is
now the third-largest state in
film production.
Film production was
the first area of study to offer
nexus degrees in Georgia,
an initiative that grew out of
the College 2025 program
system Chancellor Steve
Wrigley introduced in 2017
to better tailor course offer
ings to the state’s 21st cen
tury workforce needs.
Columbus State Uni
versity graduated the univer
sity system’s first two nexus
degree holders last month,
both in film production.
Gordon State is expect
ed to draw many of its film
production students from
nearby Southern Crescent
Technical College, which
offers an associate’s degree
in film.
Georgia is the third-
highest employer of epide
miologists in the country.
The University of Geor
gia already offers an epide
miology masters degree,
while Georgia State Univer
sity and Georgia Southern
University offer master’s in
public health with a con
centration on epidemiology.
Still, many of the state’s un
dergraduates with epidemi
ology majors leave Georgia
to attend the University of
Alabama at Birmingham.
Georgia students who
graduate with a master’s in
epidemiology can be re
cruited to work in a variety
of governmental institutions
within the state, the most
prominent being with the
federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
continued from page 10A
meeting in Effingham
County. Beginning this
year, all volunteer coaches
must be certified each year
of their service through the
National Alliance for Youth
Sports (NYAS).
Smith said, “The
GRPA is now requiring
every volunteer coach to
get NAYS certified in order
to coach. This course will
help our volunteers learn
how to correctly handle
certain situations and in re
turn make the participants’
experience a lot better.”
He explained that the
top-quality NAYS Coach
Training features two com
ponents: Coaching Youth
Sports and a sport-specific
training. The Coaching
ited federal buildings. They
were excited just being
there,” Davis said.
As they neared the Cap
itol, Davis took note of the
police cars fined up along
the streets, “I heard one of
the female officers say, “The
captain says we need to suit
up!”’ The order was relayed
down the fine and the offi
cers started putting on tacti
cal gear. “They turned from
police officers to military-
style security in no time,”
Davis said. She wondered
what was going on. “There
is something going on that
we don’t know about,” she
said to her friend.
Most of the crowd at
tending the rally was still
at the Mall listening to the
President’s speech when
Davis and her friend ar
rived at the Capitol. They
observed about 300 people
who they assumed to be
Trump supporters or just
tourists standing on the
steps of the Capitol. No bar
ricades barred their prog
ress up the steps then, but
police soon arrived to start
putting barriers in place.
“The media said that the
crowds broke through bar
ricades, but there were no
barricades there at first,”
Davis recalled. “You are al
lowed to go into the Capitol
and some of these people
were there as tourists,” Da
vis said, opining that most
likely some of the people
who arrived early were not
aware that there was an is
sue with entering the struc
ture.
In a few minutes af
ter reaching the Capitol
grounds, Davis and her
friend realized the at
mosphere had suddenly
changed, that there was ten
sion in the air. Agreeing that
they were not only uneasy,
but also cold and hungry,
Davis and her friend de
cided to walk back to the
apartment to get something
to eat and to warm up. “That
is when everything broke
loose. As soon as we were
one block away, we heard
helicopters and sirens in the
area of the Capitol.”
As they made their way
back to the apartment Da
vis and her friend noticed
that small businesses along
their route were beginning
to shutter and displayed
signs announcing that they
would be closed for the rest
of the day. “Word was get
ting out.” Davis did not get a
full perspective on what was
transpiring until arriving at
the apartment and turning
on the television.
In retrospect, she said
of the incident, “I felt some
thing was not right. I felt
like something had been
planned, but I didn’t know
what or by whom. I don’t
think security was prepared
for what happened. They
should have had barricades
up the day before if they did
not want people entering
the area.”
On the plane flying
home, Davis and others
who had attended the rally
were in a much different
mood. “They were angry
and felt the riot was orches
trated. They felt the Demo
crats planned to make the
peaceful protesters look bad
in every way they could.
People on the plane agreed
that the rioters were not
typical Trump supporters.”
She added, “Trump
supporters are not violent
people. They did not burn
cities down when he did not
win. Alot of people believed
militants were planted in
the crowd that day”
Davis has no regrets
about attending the rally in
Washington. “I was abso
lutely glad I went because
I was part of history.” But
she denounces the violence
that became part of the day.
“Violence creates violence
and it is not the right thing
to do.”
When asked about her
take-away from the events
of January 6, Davis said, “I
have always been patriotic
and somewhat involved in
local politics. Now, I feel like
we as a people have allowed
this to happen because we
have been so complacent.
I will not be that way any
more. I will be more active
and more proactive in local
and national politics.”
Admitting frustration
with the way the Presiden
tial and Georgia Senate
elections turned out, Davis
is adamant the vote was sto
len but that this cannot be
proven because of the cor
ruption of politicians. “Our
voice does matter and we
have to hold our govern
ment representatives re
sponsible and accountable.
I think that a lot of people
feel the same way.”
Davis said she has
noticed a transition with
Americans who are start
ing to realize the division
of parties is causing a divi
sion in the country. “People
are saying we don’t need
these parties anymore or we
need to create new ones. I
think that we need to stand
together, unite. I think
sometimes we need a good
shakeup to determine what
we must change.”
Davis offered, “My
Mom calls me the eternal
optimist and that has caused
a lot of disappointment in
my fife, but I still remain op
timistic that our Republic
will come together, that we
will unify. We will get this
mess straightened out and
we will hold our govern
ment accountable. This is
too close for comfort. Our
First Amendment rights are
being violated. It’s scary.”
Youth Sports portion cov
ers topics that all coaches
need to know, such as
working with parents;
motivating kids; building
confidence; instilling good
sportsmanship; safety; and
nutrition and hydration;
among many other areas.
Smith said, “In the
sport-specific training,
coaches learn how to teach
the basic skills and funda
mentals of the particular
sport they are coaching,
as well as effective drills to
use during their practices.”
He emphasized,
“Without the volunteer
coaches, there is no way
we could have our leagues.
There is no way that the
VRD staff could coach
every team, coach all the
practices, and coach every
game. We greatly depend
on our volunteers and
greatly appreciate their
time for helping the pro
grams we offer in our com
munity.”
Plans are to provide
this training in a group set
ting before the upcoming
sports season.
Baseball usually draws
over 500 kids for a two-
week registration period.
As a health precaution, reg
istration will be done on
line or over the phone.
Billy Ragan, Airport
Director, reported that
preparations to host the
2021 Vidalia Onion Fes
tival (VOF) at the airport
include submitting a re
quest for nonaeronautical
use of a public airport to
the Georgia Department
of Transportation. This 27-
page document is ready for
approval by the VOF Com
mittee.