As there were no reporters from the MDJ, I doubt that the vigil and march last night (August 17th) was mentioned (It wasn't).  One lady from the AJC was taking notes.  So until we get a regularly published electronic newsletter letting you know what's coming and how it went - here goes.

130 people from all over North Georgia came together in front of the Marietta Courthouse last night.  The candlelight vigil was impressive by the sheer number of people at an event that was not widely publicized.  About 20-25 Cobb Democrats were amongst the throng of progressives.  The closest thing to a Republican was a libertarian member of Veterans for Peace (VFP) - nice T-shirt and big VFP flag on a pole.

The leader said that the event was supposed to be a silent vigil for 30 minutes starting at 7:30. Before and after this time, folks waved their signs and smiled at cars going by. The smiles and waves were returned along with honking horns.  Then the group marched around the square once chanting, "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!"

A member of the Cobb Democrats membership committee wore his "Cobb Democrats" T-shirt and passed out about 50 copies of the Cobb Democrats contact literature - asking people if they liked meeting with progressives more often and inside a building. I hope there is contact info on our web site for the Women Democrats and Young Democrats. There were a lot of ladies and young folks there.

Three ladies came from Rome, another from Woodstock, a couple from North Fulton, and a gentleman from Dalton who thought that he was the only Democrat around. When he found out about meetup.com on the computer, he felt much more optimistic.

By 9:30 everyone had left, (but) I wouldn't be surprised that more vigils/marches will occur in Cobb County, maybe close to your precinct. We'll see.

 
[Click on thumbnails for larger photos - S. Bellman]