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Handful of people show up for canceled Springboro Tea Party Rally

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 6:17 PM Saturday, April 17, 2010

SPRINGBORO — A handful of people showed up at North Park on Saturday morning, April 17, looking for the Springboro Tea Party rally that was advertised on the party’s Web site but failed to happen.

In the week leading up to the non-event, the rally’s speakers canceled due to a posting on a Twitter site maintained by Brian “Sonny” Thomas, organizer of the rally and founder of the Springboro group. The posting made derogatory and violent comments toward Hispanics.

Then on Thursday, Thomas turned himself into police on domestic violence charges involving menacing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, in addition to violating a temporary protection order, a first-degree misdemeanor.

He remained in the Warren County Jail on Saturday. A jail official said a court date in the case has been set for May 4 at 4 p.m. But before turning himself in, Thomas did not change the posting for the rally on the party’s Web site. He has declined comment.

“There’s nobody here but me,” said Bill Hicks of Waynesville, who arrived at the park just minutes after the advertised start time of 10 a.m. Hicks said he wasn’t aware of the controversy swirling around Thomas.

“I just came here looking for some common sense” to be put back into politics, he said.

The 61-year-old Waynesville resident is a machinist who said he can’t afford health insurance for himself and his wife, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

“I don’t get anything out of the Republicans or Democrats anymore,” Hicks said. “I have a little five-year-old grandson. I don’t know what’s going to happen to his future. That’s what I’m here for.”

Bonnie Grooms, a Springboro resident and Fair Tax advocate who has attended several other Tea Party gatherings, showed up at North Park soon after Hicks to see if the rally would actually occur.

“Tea Party people are good people like me who want the best for our kids and our future,” Grooms said. “We need to get taxes and regulations off of businesses so we can get jobs back in this country.”

Patrick Leet, 59, of Springboro, said he showed up to express his unhappiness with the nation’s current leadership. “The first thing they need to do is replace everyone in Washington and start all over,” he said. “The way things are going I can’t afford to retire.”

Springboro police said the group will be charged for the use of an officer even if the rally didn’t occur.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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