In 1976, Linda O’Brien traveled with her mother to Slovakia, her grandparents’ homeland.
“It was still under communist rule in 1976 and the churches laid in ruin from World War II,” O’Brien said. “They would not clean up the debris because you were not allowed to speak the name of God nor were you allowed to be part of the communist party and receive any kind of benefits such as a basic job.”
That trip had a lasting impression on O’Brien and made her appreciate living in America, where people’s freedoms are guaranteed in a constitution that has been enforced for more than 200 years.
Then last year, O’Brien said she took the bold step of challenging Sarah LaTourette to represent Ohio District 76 in Columbus.
She wanted to send a message to LaTourette’s father, Steve LaTourette, a longtime U.S. Congressman.
“I didn’t appreciate his betrayal of conservatives nor his attack on Christian conservative candidates whom he verbally boasted about taking out,” she said.
Her campaign brought her to parts of Portage County, where she was exposed to the Portage County Tea Party-hosted “Liberty Camp for Kids.” Started in 2013, the camp was intended to be a hands-on, fun and educational experience that allowed children to learn about the people and the key events involved with the founding of America.
O’Brien decided to volunteer as a teacher at the camp because it was aligned to her values. She played the role of King George III, who ascended to the British throne in 1760 and ruled for 59 years.
“I made up this whole approach to sending out the kids to work and they would get paid for their work,” she said, explaining she used large coins she had collected from European travel.
“I used those coins to pay them with, but then when they came in from working I took all their coins as tax — for the stamp tax and the tea tax, and everything else that King George was doing to Americans during those day,” O’Brien said. “I took away all their big coins and I left them one shiny brand new American penny.”
The scene quickly changed and the children became Sons of Liberty, and they threw tea into the harbor.
“The end of that story message is you still have your penny and on your penny it says, ‘In God We Trust,’ because your liberties, your freedoms come from God, not from government,” O’Brien said. “So, I became an instant believer in Liberty Camp; I saw what it did to the kids, I heard what it did to the kids.”
O’Brien concluded Liberty Camp needed to be brought to Geauga County and she became what she called a “Sons of Liberty solo soldier” in that message.
The Geauga County Tea Party agreed to sponsor the camp.
The inaugural Liberty Camp, for children in grades 1-6, will be held July 27-31 at Geauga Park District’s Chickagami Park in Parkman Township.
It’s a half-day camp, from 9 a.m. to noon, broken into 20-minute segments.
“They will rotate through the chronological clock, so to speak, of the founding days of America,” explained O’Brien.
On the first day, the children will be in Boston, but under the rule and oppression of George III.
“They will actually go aboard a ship that I am having made and they will throw tea into what will represent Boston Harbor,” she said. “They will be dressed as Indians at that point because that is what the Sons of Liberty did so that the Indians would get blamed.”
As the clock ticks, the children will learn about the battles of Trenton, Lexington and Concord, and they will be like the soldiers walking through ice water with their feet wrapped in newspaper and rags.
Everybody who works the camp will be dressed in period clothing, so they look the part.
“They will learn about how our government was formed as a republic with the checks and balances that were designed for it, and they will sign the Declaration of Independence with their name, by using a quill pen,” O’Brien said.
There will be games of the period such as the stick and hoop game. And there will be snacks of the period.
“Nothing that will be happening there will be from today as they know it,” she added.
The message will be that freedom is not free, O’Brien said; it comes from God and not the government.
“There have been many who have sacrificed before us, so that we remain free, and that we must be diligent in how we manage our lives and our government so that the generations after us remain free,” she said.
The number of campers is limited to 60 — and the children do not need to live in Geauga County.
The cost is $30 per child for the week. Scholarships are available for students who cannot afford the $30.
Roughly $3,500 to $5,000 needs to be raised to hold the camp, based on figures O’Brien said she received from Portage County.
So, the first thing she did was raffle off her timeshare, which raised several thousand dollars.
Now, O’Brien and the Geauga County Tea Party are hosting a fundraising concert — Fiddle for Freedom — on May 3, from 6-9 p.m., at Word of Grace Church, 9021 Mayfield Road, in Chester Township.
“I named it Fiddle for Freedom and that’s really what it is. It’s a bluegrass concert. The subtitle to it is, ‘Honoring God, Country and Family,'” O’Brien said.
Two groups will be performing: The Stockdale Family Band, of Bolivar, Ohio, a nationally-recognized five-piece band that includes guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and bass, and The Family Dog Band, a local band that will open the Sunday night concert.
A Stockdale Family Band show entertains with music, but also with lively farm tales and comedy, too.
Some readers may recognize the Stockdales from their past appearance on ABC-TV’s reality series “Wife Swap,” in 2008. The band has earned first place in four regional band contests and second in both the national “Single Mic Championship” and “Youth in Blue-grass” band contests.
Concert tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for veterans and children, and can be purchased online at www.geaugateaparty.com. All proceeds go to fund Liberty Camp.
For more information on the concert or Liberty Camp, or to help at the camp, call O’Brien at 440-338-1582.
