Thread: Thousands lining up for Trump rally at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster County

PHOTOS: Trump in Lancaster

Thousands lining up for Trump rally at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster County

JEFF HAWKES and HEATHER STAUFFER
Staff Writers 7 hrs ago (54)

The first person in line for Donald Trump's rally tonight is a Democrat who twice voted for President Barack Obama.

Jim Curry, a 32-year-old attorney and the mayor of Middletown, Dauphin County, arrived at Spooky Nook Sports about 6:30 a.m. wearing a Trump T-shirt and anticipating a spirited rally.

By 3 p.m., more than 3,000 were in a line that snaked through the building and then outside.

Badly outnumbered were 18 protesters, who were relegated to a cordoned-off area behind the parking lot.

Jim Curry, the mayor of Middletown, Dauphin County, was the first in line to attend Donald Trump's campaign rally Saturday at Spook Nook Sports Center.

“To hear him say things that everyone says at their kitchen table that they won't say in public, that I thought was a breath of fresh air,” Curry said, explaining how Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, won him over.

“Is he perfect? No. No candidate is perfect,” Curry said, but he considers Democrat Hillary Clinton far worse, calling her untrustworthy and too tainted by scandal.

Curry said he thinks Obama's presidency has been divisive and the country is in worse shape than when he was elected.

“The health care is a disaster. Our national security is a disaster,” Curry said. “It's poor leadership, in my opinion, and it's about time we had somebody who is not a politician.”

This is Curry's fourth time attending a Trump rally.

At one point some Trump supporters in line began chanting, “Lock her up!” – a common anti-Clinton rallying cry.

“He wants to make America the way it was. I'm all for that,” said Joe Nasuti, 57, a disabled roofer from Myerstown, Lebanon County. He and his wife, Dottie, who is a retired packager, were the second and third in line, having arrived about 7:30 a.m.

Joe Nasuti said he's going to the polls for the first time in his life to vote for Trump.

“I'm not a bigot, but we can't afford to support all the immigrants,” Dottie Nasuti said. “They're getting free health care. They're getting free education. I don't get that, and I'm retired. I worked all my life.”

The Nasutis wore T-shirts saying, “Proud member of the basket of deplorables,” a reference to a Clinton remark.

They want Trump to fix health care, too.

“Health insurance premiums are skyrocketing since Obama,” Dottie Nasuit said.

Added her husband, “Then you get fined if you can't afford it. That's just wrong.”

High school reunion

Sports competition, birthday parties and other activities were continuing as usual this afternoon at the huge Nook complex.

The Elizabethtown Area High School Class of 1976, for instance, booked the Nook in January for a reunion. More than 100 are expected for the 5 p.m. party.

Lancaster resident Sally Woodman, who's on the reunion committee, said some classmates were concerned when they found out the Trump rally would be happening about the same time.

"Right away we contacted the Nook, and they assured us that they have it all in hand," Woodman said, explaining that they were given special parking passes.

"It’ll be a memorable reunion, let’s put it that way," she said.

Maria Karamanos, 15, with Hempfield Young Republicans, signs up John Sokso of Manor Township to volunteer to knock on doors for the Trump campaign.
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Members of Hempfield High School's Young Republican Club worked the line to sign-up volunteers to knock on doors next Saturday.

John Sokso, 46, of Manor Township, said he's never gone door-to-door, but he agreed to help the Trump campaign, saying, “I don't like Hillary.”

“Trump is trying to bring back what this country was originally founded on,” said Sokso, a sportsman who works for an industrial pump company as a field service representative.

Maria Karamanos, 15, who signed Sokso up to volunteer wishes she was old enough to vote.

“It stinks because this is a really exciting election, and we'll not be able to voice our opinion,” Karamanos said.

She likes Trump's “fresh perspective.”

“With all that's going on in the world right now, I feel like he's the best fit,” Karamanos said.

Her friend, Isabel Freeman, 16, who lives in Lancaster Township and is home schooled, agreed, saying, “He's in line with most of my views and most of my family's.”

Drove from Canada

Xiyang Chen, 31, is a computer programmer originally from China who spent a decade in the United States and now lives in Toronto.

He drove eight hours with his wife and dad to show support for a movement they think is important.

“The U.S. economy really needs help,” he said, noting that while Trump's delivery can be a bit “raw,” he thinks he has the right big ideas and is not beholden to special interests. “As America, we can't keep giving; we have to stop at some point.”

Former Clinton voter

Columbia resident Cheryl Dressel, 57, an electronics inspector, said she used to support Hillary Clinton, even writing her in on the 2008 ballot.

“You can change your mind,” she said, citing Benghazi and flip-flops as key reasons she did. “He tells it like the people want to say it.”

'Fix the mess'

Vic Schreck, 59, of Lancaster, is a retiree who sees Trump as someone hated by both political establishments and in a position to rein in corruption.

“He's going to attempt to straighten the mess out that the Kenyan got us into,” he said. “Look around you; what's not a mess?”

“Anybody who supports someone who is moralless is themselves moralless,” he said.

"Build the wall"

New Jersey resident Joseph Pinkham, 18, is a Navy enlistee supporting Trump because “he's not a threat to national security” and because he likes his stance on immigration.

“We need to build the wall,” he said. “If people want to come into the country, they need to come legally.”

Amish represented

Ephrata resident Aaron Fisher, 36, said he is Amish, a regular voter, and director of the Blessings of Hope food ministry in Leola. He supports Trump “because I believe that he has the guts to say what's true, not just what's politically correct.”

“There might be things that I don't agree with him on,” Fisher said, but he declined to specify what those were.

Protesters confronted

Trump supporter Mike Cahill of Akron speaks with protesters Christine Fry, left, and Michelle Gonzalez outside the Nook before the Trump rally.

Christine Fry and Michelle Gonzalez arrived at the Nook's main entrance with signs saying "Don't Vote for Fear & Hate" and "Say no to Drumpf."

Mike Cahill, 47, of Akron, took exception and got out of line to tell them what he thought. The conversation was civil.

A security employee then instructed the women they had to go to the area reserved for protesters.

"For me, it's just that I'm afraid of the policies and the hate speech that Trump is peddling," Fry said afterward, explaining why she came to protest.

"People were yelling at us and telling us to get jobs and get off welfare," Gonzalez said. "My stomach is doing back flips."

On a grassy patch cordoned off for protesters, behind the parking lot, Kevin Ghaffari, 53, a history teacher from Baltimore, said, “We grew up as kids listening to Donald Trump. I always admired his con, but I didn't think he would pull it this far.”

“Trump's whole campaign makes us feel unhappy about the prospects of democracy,” said Jill Craven, 54, of Lancaster Township, an English professor at Millersville University.

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Nice article about the rally tonight in Manheim!

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