LA MARQUE — It was a packed house in the La Marque Council Chambers, hallway and any other room at city hall where people could fit Saturday for U.S. Rep. Pete Olson’s first town hall meeting in the city.
More than 300 people crammed into the building to voice — and often times shout — their views on energy plans, the federal stimulus bill and health care reform.
The large turnout caught Olson staffers and La Marque Mayor Geraldine Sam, who organized the event, off guard. Still, the Republican congressman, whose 22nd congressional district includes parts of Galveston County, managed to spend three hours offering his views and getting an earful in return.
It was a mostly favorable crowd for Olson in the Democratic-leaning city, although some die-hard Democrats made their presence known shouting their displeasure with the congressman’s statements on health care reform in particular. Even those who back Olson’s stand on the issues let their frustrations dominate their comments.
While at time tense and raucous, the crowd never came close to exhibiting the extreme ill behavior of other town halls that have made national television news in the last month. Only once did Olson have to step in and encourage the crowd to allow discourse and let cooler heads prevail.
By far, the hottest topic was health care and the reform legislation being considered now in the U.S. Congress.
Often the majority in the crowd expressed their frustration and at times outright anger at what they consider to be government takeover of health care. Others who support the plan backed by the White House and the Democratic majority in Congress argued the current system is broken and “at a crisis level.”
Even a group of Girl Scouts found themselves part of the debate. Cali Brown, 9, of Clear Lake, was joined by some Galveston County Scouts to hand out different colored ribbons that served as code for how those attending felt about health care reform.
Brown, who said she was inspired to get into the health care debate after watching her mother struggle to find insurance to cover the family, plans to send the ribbons to Congress as an informal poll of what people expect from the government when it comes to reform.
She said most of those who pulled ribbons for her project chose the aqua marine-colored piece of cloth that represented a desire for improving the system.
