Valley supporters of Obama celebrate

Photo

Idalis Little, 11, of Campbell, sports an Obama scarf made by Choffin Career & Technical Center students taught by Kathy Duraney for the Pre-Inauguration party at Price Memorial Church, Wednesday January 14, 2009.

By Jon Moffett

The group will leave Monday night from Lincoln Knolls Plaza to get to the inauguration festivities Tuesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Not even subzero temperatures and icy roads kept supporters of President-elect Barack Obama from celebrating.

About 25 people gathered in the basement of Price Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Methodist Church on Dryden Avenue for a dinner and celebration of next week’s inauguration.

“We’re having a pre-inauguration get-together, because we’re going to be leaving Monday night at midnight to go to the inauguration,” said Vera Horton, who organized the trip. “We’re all excited and happy about it, so we’re all getting together.”

Horton, 52, will lead a group of about 50 to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. The group consists of people from all over the state, she said, who wish to show their support. They will leave from Lincoln Knolls Plaza on Campbell Bus Company vehicles and stay overnight in Gettysburg, Pa. Horton said the group will attend the parade Tuesday morning and the ceremony at 11:30 and tour sites in Washington for the remainder of the afternoon.

Barbara Loewit, 57, of Boardman, is going on the trip and is excited about the historic meaning of the ceremony.

“I am so interested in seeing history, and I think because I’m getting older, I’m realizing my mortality, and I don’t want to miss things,” she said. “So when I saw this on the news, I called to talk to Ms. Vera; I was really interested in being a part of the happening.”

Loewit, a retired schoolteacher, said the impact of the inauguration represents a new way of thinking in the country.

“I remember a lot of frustration that the black community had in this area,” she said. “I was here in the ’60s whenever the riots were downtown ... I’ve seen wonderful progress.”

Also going on the trip is Joanne Smallwood, 52, of Youngstown. She said the most important theme of the Obama administration is unity.

“Without unity, you can’t do anything,” she said. “When everybody is thinking the same, acting the same, reacting the same, working together and having unity, there’s nothing we cannot accomplish.”

Horton said she wouldn’t have been able to put on the dinner without help from her niece, Idalis Little. Little, 11, a fifth-grader at Campbell Middle School, is ready to see history that could define her lifetime.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “To see a part of history is awesome. To have Barack Obama as our president is just great, and for this country, it is just a miracle. We came a long way.”

When asked if she thought the day would come when a black man was elected president, Loewit said, “You know, I didn’t. But neither did I think that the Berlin Wall would ever fall.”

Horton said there are still roughly 10 seats available on the bus. People who want to go can call her at (330) 565-4278. The cost of the trip is $150, but the rates could go down, depending on interest.