‘Proud Patriots’ group meets

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

As an impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump loomed, a group of Marion County Trump supporters held a secret meeting Thursday evening.

The meeting was supposed to be secret. A reporter was at first welcomed to the meeting, but a few minutes later told to leave.

“This is a closed meeting, invitation only,” Rose Davidson said. “How did you know about it?”

Davidson said the group will have a public meeting later and advertise it so “anyone can come.”

The “Proud Patriots Club” met at the Marion library. About 20 members were there soon after the 7 p.m. meeting start time.

Among them were county commissioner Kent Becker, ousted county commissioner Dianne Novak, and Marion residents Jeremy Ensey and Fred Putroff.

A banner on a table read “Make America Great Again 2022.”

Becker said the group plans to have more meetings later to see if they can inspire more cooperation from people on both sides of the political aisle.

“They want to find middle ground with the left and the right,” Becker said. “They think it needs to happen on the local level because it’s not going to happen in Washington.”