Loveland 912 Project, The First Year
by Tom Buchanan
July, 2010

It has now been a little over a year since we first met as a group of concerned citizens tired of screaming at our televisions and pounding our fists on the dashboards of our vehicles as we listened to the radio informing of us of how our American Heritage was being systematically destroyed.

As I reflect on the progress of the Loveland 912 Project events of the past year I cannot be help be overwhelmed at the determination of our members to fight the destruction of America and our resolve to defend the Constitution and restore the Republic to its founding principles.

We started out on March 13, 2009 at Penguins Ice Cream and Coffee Shop watching the viewing of Glen Beck's broadcast of 'We Surround Them.' The program was designed to inform Americans that we were not alone in our angst about what was going on in our country.

Out of that meeting came the call to form a Loveland 912 Group and host our own Tea Party on April 15, 2009. That would allow those that could not attend the Denver or Ft. Collins Tea Parties to be able to express themselves. There was no master email list to send invitations to so a 912 Loveland Colorado Facebook page was created that immediately gathered new members. There was a flurry of activity going on in the background to make it happen. I registered at various national Tea Party sites to promote the Loveland Tea Party and the emails came in constantly right up until the day of the party.

We expected around 150 people to show up, but there was twice that many there a half hour before the official beginning. The final attendance was over one thousand. To be blunt, we were overwhelmed and unprepared for the turnout. We did manage to get almost 300 people to sign up and get involved. It was a great day and a very vocal, but peaceful crowd.

We met the next day for recap of the activity and decided that we needed a larger venue. We decided to rent the Pulliam building on May 6, 2009. At the May 6th meeting there were 65 people in attendance and the discussion of how to proceed as a group was lively and diverse. It was at this meeting that we formed our mission statement 'We the people of the Loveland 9-12 group are committed through our actions and efforts to defend the Constitution and restore the Republic to its founding principles.'

We have attended city council meetings voicing our opinions on various budgetary topics.

At the next meeting on May 26, 2009 we elected a board and formed committees. We formed several committees including Preparedness, Legislative, Rallies and Events. After that meeting we were on our way to incredible expansion of membership and involvement.

We had several public events throughout the summer starting with the America is Great Rally and Picnic at North Lake Park on May 30, 2009.

Next on the agenda was Independence Day at North Lake Park. The Education Committee did an outstanding job with the re-enactment of the Declaration of Independence throughout the park! We were joined by the Northern Colorado Fife & Drum Corps that led us in a parade throughout the park and ended with the firing of canons, which was a crowd pleaser.

Throughout the summer we participated in several parades We had a welcoming presence in the Greeley Stampede Parade and the Larimer County Parade. We handed out pocket constitutions and information about the Loveland 912 Project and after each event our membership expanded.

Getting out in the public in a non-confrontational manner is good and joins us together, but we also have a more serious mission which includes getting in the face of elected officials who view their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic as meaningless words.

We began a nine month long battle to defeat the National Health Care Bills on July 17, 2009. It was the Nationwide Health Care Freedom Rally in front of Betsy Markey's office in Ft. Collins. There were over 500 people surrounding her office that included members of the Loveland 912 project and the Northern Colorado Tea Party.

Throughout the year we were out in the streets at every opportunity, voicing our discontent with the government take over of heath care and all the ramifications that it would entail. Our group distributed leaflets on doorsteps throughout Loveland on July 25 and 26, 2009 expressing our opposition to the health care fiasco.

The Loveland 912 Project met with Betsey Markey for an hour with a prepared presentation that went very well. It was one more step in legitimizing our organization. We also had a presence at many of her Congress on the Corner Town Hall meetings throughout the recess.

We had local members attend the Sept 12 Taxpayer March on Washington joined by an estimated 2,000,000 protesters and at the State Capitol in Denver.

It did not take us long to out grow the confines of the Pulliam building and in September we made arrangements to meet at Mt. View Church.

We have had a booth at the local gun shows throughout the year

On November 13, 2009, Tea Party of Northern Colorado, Loveland 912 Project and We Will Not Fall sponsored a Candidate Search 2010 Night at The Ranch Friday night. Again, the turnout was far more than expected. We have hosted candidate forums for County Sheriff and Loveland City Council.

From our humble beginnings we have grown to be a force in Northern Colorado politics. We have been in the streets railing against an ever expanding government bent on forcing nationalized health care on us. Loveland 912 Project members have protested at the offices of our elected officials, in the streets of Loveland, Ft. Collins, Denver and Washington DC.

The Project has given patriots the vehicle to express their feelings and step out of their comfort zones and get actively involved in restoring our country to its Founding Principles. No longer can we allow our elected officials to ignore the Constitution and lead us into socialism. We have been awakened and there is no turning back.

We have joined together and invite others to take a stand with us to take back our country. As we grew throughout the year we have had to find larger venues for our bi-monthly meetings. Early on it was suggested that we might scale back to meeting once a month, but we have had no less than one hundred members in attendance every two weeks. Our members are starved for information on what is going on the legislative arena and how to prepare for emergencies. The people of the Loveland 912 Project have stepped up and the Legislative and Preparedness Committees bring valuable information to the membership.

We are proud to have members of the Loveland 912 Project step up to the plate and throw their hat in the ring for elected positions. We have had candidates run for city council, sheriff, house district 51 and the 4th congressional district.

We are an issue orientated organization and we not only protested health care. Some of our brave members braved the bitter cold and protested Climate Gate at National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

On December 15, 2009 we hosted the 10th annual Bill of Rights Day Celebration to honor those undeniable rights of the individual that limit the power of the federal government and make America truly unique in the annals of history.

April 13, 2010 meeting with Tom Tancredo and Jon Caldara was attended by 450 people and was an overwhelming success in launching their petition drives to stop health care at the state level and to stop the United Nations from getting its foot in the door with arms control.

2nd Annual Tax Day Tea Party in Loveland, Colorado was a major event. We lined the South shore of Lake Loveland with more than a thousand liberty minded folks to protest the higher taxes that is going to be need to fund the out of control spending and deficit. We want our children to live free!

It has been a fantastic journey with new friends as we try to restore the American way of life. We have as much enthusiasm as there are issues that need to be addressed. The Loveland 912 Project has 530 members registered at our website and over 700 on our mailing list.

We meet twice a month and our regular attendance averages about 110 people. You can find out more about the Loveland 912 Project by visiting us on line at www.loveland912project.org

Tom Buchanan
Chairman, Loveland 912 Project

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