Students travel to D.C. to protest health care bill
Jessica Kneller
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann called for opponents of the health care bill to rally during a press conference slated for that Thursday.
Two days later, 20,000 protestors gathered around the Capitol building, including nine Hillsdale students.
Sophomore Elliot Gaiser, a seasoned protestor and one of the students who drove to Washington, D.C., began planning the trip that Tuesday night after receiving a phone call from his family.
"I wasn't sure if I could miss class," he said. "I called a couple people because I really didn't want to drive 20 hours by myself."
Joey Baertschi, a freshman, also had been trying to gather a group.
"I saw it on the news and I wanted to go," Baertschi said. "At dinner I was going around asking people."
After recruiting all day on Wednesday, the two decided to search Galloway Hall in one last effort to gather protestors.
Sophomores Ben Murrey and Lauren Moroder were studying in the dorm when Baertschi and his roommate entered and began taking flags off the walls.
"They said they were leaving in 30 minutes for a press conference," Murrey said. "At first we hesitated, but we packed our bags and went."
Kyle Smith, another sophomore who joined the group, also left on very short notice.
"Between 8 and 8:30 I made the decision to go to Washington, D.C., and one hour later, we left."
Splitting into three cars, the group started for D.C., stopping in Cleveland to sleep for an hour. After meeting up with members of Gaiser's home church, they continued on the 10-hour drive.
While pressing on toward D.C., the chain of cars hit a deer.
"A car in front of us swerved and I saw this deer spinning and flying at us in the air," said Baertschi.
"We caught air on the deer," Gaiser explained, "but we pulled over and there was no damage on the car."
After the long and eventful drive, the group, now consisting of 33 people, arrived at the Capitol at 11 a.m. last Thursday.
Two days later, 20,000 protestors gathered around the Capitol building, including nine Hillsdale students.
Sophomore Elliot Gaiser, a seasoned protestor and one of the students who drove to Washington, D.C., began planning the trip that Tuesday night after receiving a phone call from his family.
"I wasn't sure if I could miss class," he said. "I called a couple people because I really didn't want to drive 20 hours by myself."
Joey Baertschi, a freshman, also had been trying to gather a group.
"I saw it on the news and I wanted to go," Baertschi said. "At dinner I was going around asking people."
After recruiting all day on Wednesday, the two decided to search Galloway Hall in one last effort to gather protestors.
Sophomores Ben Murrey and Lauren Moroder were studying in the dorm when Baertschi and his roommate entered and began taking flags off the walls.
"They said they were leaving in 30 minutes for a press conference," Murrey said. "At first we hesitated, but we packed our bags and went."
Kyle Smith, another sophomore who joined the group, also left on very short notice.
"Between 8 and 8:30 I made the decision to go to Washington, D.C., and one hour later, we left."
Splitting into three cars, the group started for D.C., stopping in Cleveland to sleep for an hour. After meeting up with members of Gaiser's home church, they continued on the 10-hour drive.
While pressing on toward D.C., the chain of cars hit a deer.
"A car in front of us swerved and I saw this deer spinning and flying at us in the air," said Baertschi.
"We caught air on the deer," Gaiser explained, "but we pulled over and there was no damage on the car."
After the long and eventful drive, the group, now consisting of 33 people, arrived at the Capitol at 11 a.m. last Thursday.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lynette
posted 11/25/09 @ 11:10 PM EST
how awesome! way to take initiative and go!!
p.s. it takes much less than 20 hours to get to D.C. from Hillsdale...
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