William Long, Speaks at March 3 meeting

Optimist-Outlook By Don Jones
Marianna Optimist Club Activities

"We’ve Got To Get To The Capital On Time!"
William Long and his wife, Gwen, pose together for a historical photo, for their family album, in front of the U.S. Capital Building, as they wait for President Barak Obama’s Inauguration to take place.
Long, who recently returned with his wife, Gwen, from their trip to attend President Obama’s Inauguration, in Washington, D. C., described their, once in a lifetime adventure, before his fellow, wide eyed, members of the Marianna Optimist Club during last week’s breakfast meeting at the Gazebo Restaurant. Other than a little traffic encountered on Interstate 95, their 15 hour drive to and from Washington was pretty much uneventful. However, not surprisingly, their four day stay at the Sheraton Inn cost them $400 a night for each of four rooms for the entire party. Unexpectedly, most other things were very reasonably priced. Their meals and daily sundries where pretty much what you would expect to pay in Marianna. For example, a bottle of water was just one dollar.
On the other hand, transportation to and from their hotel was a bit frustrating at times, particularly frustrating was finding the subway train completely full, without even standing room, as early as five O’clock on the morning of the inauguration. Fortunately, however, there was other transportation available; a little less known Metro Line, got them to the inauguration on time, but placed their party about five football fields away from the action. There were, however, a sufficient number of large video screens strategically located about the viewing grounds which Long referred to as, "Jumbo Trons." It could have been worse, it was rumored that as many as two or three hundred observers were trapped in one of the subway tunnels for several hours.
Due to the large crowd, and potential need for crowd control, there was a large contingency of police patrolling the area. However, the very large crowd, without exception, behaved exceptionally well during the entire ordeal. In Long’s words, "Everyone was on the same page." Furthermore, he said, "It was almost as if you were with your neighbors back home, having a back yard get-together; every one was considerate and very cordial. Also, despite the fact that the entire trip set the family budget back by approximately $4,000.00 dollars, I would do it again at the drop of a hat." Long passed around, for the audience to see, his invitation and guest ticket that he received from Congressman Allen Boyd, representing Florida’s 2nd district.