Friday, September 08, 2017

Oconee County Political Parties Supporting North Oconee High School 9/11 Memorial Project

**YAF Student Chapter**

NOTE: As of 2 p.m. on Sept. 10, this event is to be held as planned. Oconee County Schools, however, are closed on Sept. 11 due to anticipated severe weather.

Oconee County’s Democratic and Republican parties have sent notices to their members asking them to join in Sunday’s 9/11 Never Forget Project at North Oconee High School.

Organized by the North Oconee High School Young Americans for Freedom chapter, the event is centered around placing 2,977 flags on the front lawn of North Oconee High School to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.

Student members of the YAF chapter have asked for help from the community in placing the flags, beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Community members also can donate $1 for each flag in the memorial.

“This is a non-partisan event,” Chapter Founder Olga Kukharsky said in a news release about that memorial. “Everyone–Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all want to honor the victims of 9/11.”

Invitations

Tammy Gilland, chair of the Oconee County Republican Party, sent out a notice to members late last night.

“This a non-partisan event,” she wrote. “I do know the Oconee Democrats plan on participating. We need a strong presence from the Oconee GOP there as well as volunteers.”

A newsletter from the Oconee Democrats went out early this morning.

“If you are available to help, this is a nice bipartisan effort supported by both parties, both financially and in manpower,” the note said. “We could use your help to make quick work of all those flags... and if you could come wearing blue, it can help show our strength, too.”

Local elected officials and candidates have been invited as well.

YAF Chapter

Philip Brown, principal at North Oconee High School, said today that YAF is a recognized student organization at the school and the event is an official school activity.

“We are asking that everyone--students and community members alike join us on Sunday,” Kirk Shook, macroeconomics and sociology teacher at North Oconee, said in an email message on Aug. 25.

Shook is the YAF chapter advisor.

Those wishing to participate should meet on the front lawn of North Oconee High School to help us set up the flags so they are ready for Monday morning, Sept. 11.

The high school is at the intersection of Hog Mountain Road and Rocky Branch Road in the west of the county.

YAF is “committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values,” according to its web site.

No comments: