Local residents witness inauguration of 45th president
Citizens and police officers await the arrival of President-elect Trump at the Capitol.
David Podurgiel and his wife, Laura, residents of North Strabane Township, await President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony Friday morning in Washington, D.C.
Protesters link arms and chant Friday at a protest just outside a security checkpoint in Washington, D.C. Protests started as early as 6 a.m.
Protesters hold signs and lead chants at the #InaugurateTheResistance rally held at the U.S. Navy Memorial minutes before Friday’s inauguration ceremony.
The U.S. Capitol Building is shown draped with ceremonial flags Friday.
Matt Uram of South Strabane Township is a veteran attendee of several presidential inaugurals, but his son, Andrew, 14, went to his first such ceremony Friday.
They traveled the approximately 250 miles from the Pittsburgh area to Washington, D.C., to witness history Friday and absorb in person what others would see over the internet or on television.
Julianne Griffith, 22, of Peters Township, a photography major at Point Park University, volunteered for a long day Friday, shooting for the Observer-Reporter, her college newspaper, The Globe, and posting to social media websites about both Donald Trump’s speech and the inaugural parade. She had covered Trump, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and campaign surrogates, so the inauguration would be the capstone of her political experiences.
“Everything was running pretty smoothly,” she said just after emailing images to the Observer-Reporter and waiting for the parade to begin in the 300 block of Constitution Avenue. “We got through security, all the checkpoints, in about 20 minutes.”
She was hoping to record President Trump and first lady Melania Trump walking together and greeting people.
During the swearing-in ceremony and during the president’s speech, Griffith was a couple of blocks away from a giant screen and said, “We heard most of it. It sound(ed) very similar to what he’s been saying continuously. He kind of had things to say about both political parties, constructive things, and moving forward, which is good to hear. I can’t think of the exact quote, but he said he fights for the people.”
The text of Trump’s speech was, “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. Jan. 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. … I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never, ever let you down.”
Griffith aspires, after graduation, to become part of the working press, and as a credentialed photojournalist, she was within the ranks of what’s known as a “media pen” during Trump’s campaign appearance last April at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh where, as was typical, he called on the crowd to vent its anger at what the candidate called the “lying media.”
She found it “amazing to see how disappointed people are,” but she took the criticism in stride.
“It makes me want to be a journalist even more and do it well,” she said.
Griffith said of her task-filled Friday, “It sprinkled off and on. It was a lot colder than what we expected.” The wind was also blowing off and on. Although at midday she said she wasn’t tired, she acknowledged, “I’m looking forward to getting back to Pittsburgh.”
A short time later, David Podurgiel and his wife, Laura, had been standing for seven hours. Security gates opened at 6 a.m., and Podurgiel, vessel operations manager for Murray American River Towing in Monessen, said, “It’s wait, wait, wait.” The North Strabane Township couple had a good view of both a screen and the speaker’s podium.
Podurgiel called Trump’s inaugural address “one of his best speeches ever. He didn’t boast. You know, sometimes he’s boasting.”
The words that resonated with him were, “It’s not black or brown or white, it’s about patriotism.”
“I think that’s a great line,” said Podurgiel. “He’s reaching out to the community and trying to unify the country. That speech was heavy on patriotism.”
Podurgiel speculated that it may have taken a long time to reach his bleacher seat because of disruption by protesters. “We haven’t really seen anything. We haven’t seen any violent pushing or shoving. We haven’t seen anything disruptive. From where we’re at and what we’ve seen, everyone’s been very civil.”
Matt Uram of South Strabane Township had visited Washington, D.C., for Pope Francis’ first official visit to the United States in September 2015, and he said Friday, “Security is as tight as I’ve seen it.” The Urams were funneled from the subway station to their space in front of the Capitol so they stayed on the beaten path. They noticed snipers on rooftops, but only three protesters.
Those who were in charge of keeping the peace were polite and accommodating, even relocating Uram and son Andrew to a standing-room-only section that put the father behind a tree.
“You do whatever they ask to protect the president and protect the crowd,” Uram said.
“I’m exhausted, but it was an awe-inspiring event,” he said while he was returning home. “I really though (Trump’s) speech was excellent. The rain started pouring, but you could feel the emotion. The crowd was great, the music was just beautiful. The Obamas looked gracious as they walked out. When you talk about that peaceful transition of power, it exists.
“I saw a crowd embracing the new president and the new Vice President Mike Pence. The crowd didn’t like (New York Sen.) Chuck Schumer at all,” Uram said of the new U.S. Senate minority leader, a Democrat.
The weather was bad enough to propel the Urams toward home before the parade began.
“I’d rather have the protesters than the rain,” he said. “Forty degrees chills you to the bone. A lot of compliments to D.C. for pulling it off. I thought they did a great job.”