Saturday afternoon, dozens of Vermonters waving Canadian and American flags gathered at the I-89 overpass on Williston Road in South Burlington to support the Canadian truckers in Ottawa protesting government mandates. Among them was John Covell, one of the two main organizers of the ongoing event. In a brief Vermont Daily Chronicle video interview, he talks about how his concern for the future of freedom drove him to come out, alone, to the overpass.
“I came out here to wave my flag, because I didn’t know what else to do,” Covell said. “That’s when I met my friend Steve, and between the two of us we decided to make it a regular thing.”
Steve is Steve Bedard, the first of a growing throng of other Vermonters concerned about the real loss of freedom in Canada and what it may mean for potential loss of American freedom.
Driver response on the heavily-travelled Williston Road I-89 overpass was generally favorable. But flagwaver Tom Licata noted a few exceptions in his online comment to this story after it was posted on Saturday:
“Just after parking my car at Staples Plaza and walking towards the I-89 overpass with my American flag draped over my shoulder, a gentleman rolled down his window and screamed “Nazi”.
“Though I witnessed many ‘middle fingers’ one in particular stood out. An upper-aged bitter-clinging looking woman rolled down her passenger window, craned her head towards it, stuck her ‘middle finger’ out towards me and screamed, “[editor edits out adjective of Anglo-Saxon origin describing copulation, followed by noun synonym for person born outside of marriage]!”
“This was witnessed by at least two other people. As I was standing by the curb, holding my American flag in one hand and waving at passing cars with the other a white vehicle, I believe a Volvo, accelerated towards me and brushed me back from curbside.
“Two separate times I witnessed two drivers take both their hands off their steering wheel and proceed to give me – not one – but two simultaneous ‘middle fingers’.
“All this from the ‘tolerate’, ‘belonging’, ‘diverse’ community of progressive-Democrats, little doubt. ‘Equity’ is socialism. Never forget that. Freedom is constitutionalism. ‘They’ want you to forget that.
“On the plus side, I’d say about two-thirds of the vehicles that responded in some fashion responded positively with some combination of honking, waving or providing a thumbs-up.”
The Canadian government’s aggressive suppression of the peaceful truckers’ protest may have unforeseen implications, said Vermont Stands Up co-organizer William Moore of Johnson. “In the 1960s and 1970s this type of government tyranny ended up with students shot dead at Kent State and FBI bombing apartment buildings of the Black Panthers in Philadelphia. How soon history forgets…”
All photos and videos by Guy Page unless otherwise credited
Categories: Covid-19
Great FREEDOM RALLY today on the Bridge in So. Burl. with many great, dedicated Vermont Patriots!
I arrived about 1:20pm and the snow was pouring down and the winds were whipping hard, it was cold. I loved joining these Patriots. John & Steve Bellows are doing a great thing.
There were 95% support for us being out there today. A couple vehicles gave us the No. 1 finger. It was sad to see 1 car with MS age kids flipping us off. Nice parents! Flipping off the American flag and Freedom. No political flags or signs at this Rally.Just pro-America!!! Simply disgusting, we have tickets to Cuba or Russia for them. God bless American & Canadian truckers and everyone.
Gregory Thayer
Thank you for running, sorry you didn’t have more support with in the party…everyone should be supporting this, Did you see Scott, Paul and Benning there? Just curious.
Thank you for standing for all of our freedoms. If they fall so will we and we will be another Venezuela. They faced this just 10 years ago and now they are starving to death. If we do not stop this take over of our country we will all be under the same.
Let me share with you five experiences of mine while holding the American flag at the Freedom Rally:
1) Just after parking my car at Staples Plaza and walking towards the I-89 overpass with my American flag draped over my shoulder, a gentleman rolled down his window and screamed “Nazi”.
2) Though I witnessed many ‘middle fingers’ one in particular stood out. An upper-aged bitter-clinging looking woman rolled down her passenger window, craned her head towards it, stuck her ‘middle finger’ out towards me and screamed “[a common two-word obscenity: noun referring to childbirth outside of marriage, preceded by adjective referring to sexual activity].”
3) This was witnessed by at least two other people. As I was standing by the curb, holding my American flag in one hand and waving at passing cars with the other a white vehicle, I believe a Volvo, accelerated towards me and brushed me back from curbside.
4) Two separate times I witnessed two drivers take both their hands off their steering wheel and proceed to give me – not one – but two simultaneous ‘middle fingers’.
All this from the “tolerate”, “belonging”, “diverse” community of progressive-Democrats, little doubt. “Equity” is socialism. Never forget that. Freedom is constitutionalism. “They” want you to forget that.
5) On the plus side, I’d say about two-thirds of the vehicles that responded in some fashion responded positively with some combination of honking, waving or providing a thumbs-up.
God Bless the United States of America.
An interesting poll, Tom. Hopefully the 1/3rd – 2/3rd proportionality of your experience is accurate. But beware the tendency to assign motive to one’s appearance, as opposed to their actions. My Volvo, for example, has an American Flag decal on the tailgate, its only decal other than the inspection sticker, and its owner is committed to protecting and defending the United States Constitution.
Please remember that the Burlington area represents one of the most Marxist dumps in the entire east coast. They are brainwashed beyond belief and hate concepts such as ‘Freedom’.
Thank you for your efforts. Standing up takes courage. We need more people like you. Guy, i like your version of the cuss words. 😉
Thanks! On Vermont Daily Chronicle, people can say ANYTHING but they have to do so without profanity and personal, malicious attacks. Them’s the House Rules, Podner.
Thank you Tom and Greg for sharing what you experienced standing up for a free society and humanity. I watched what happened in Ottawa – for 22 days no violence until Friday when the police showed up. Now, Ottawa resembles a police state. Those who flipped you off and shouted at you do not represent humanity – they represent the broken corrupted system they cling to knowing it’s going away – just like those police officers beating peaceful Canadians in Ottawa. The awakening is happening – the evil is recoiling and blindly striking. Stay the course and hold the line!
I hate to say it but clearly a socialistic totalitarianism system is already here. Its no longer a matter of prevention but instead we must destroy it and return to our Constitutional roots as a republic of freedom run by the people. May God bless America.
God bless the truckers
If you believe in grassroots freedoms in the US, you need to read Howse’s book – Marxianity. The encroachments of socialism and those opposed to our freedoms are much stronger than you want to realize. It is entwining it’s tentacles into churches and pushing their social concerns upon the freedom lovers who genuinely share concerns for people with needs. Be careful – there’s deceptive twists in the mix.
Thanks Tom for your report. Thanks to all truck drivers and freedom lovers carrying a torch to keep those freedoms alive.
I’m encouraging everyone to read “Live Not by Lies,A manual for Christian dissenters” by Rod
Dreher. How soft totalitarianism is here and what we can really DO about it & be prepared. Truth.