Attending inauguration gives locals ‘marvelous’ memories
Several local residents made the trip to Washington, D.C., to witness Friday’s presidential inauguration. Here are some of their stories:
When Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee Martha Fluor and a group of 19 Orange County Girl Scouts started planning in April to attend the inauguration ceremony, they realized they could be witnessing the swearing-in of the nation’s first female president.
November’s election proved otherwise, as voters elected Republican Donald Trump to the Oval Office instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Nevertheless, Fluor and seven other troop leaders chaperoning the girls, who range from sixth grade to high school, saw Friday’s festivities as a memorable occasion as Trump was sworn in as the 45th president.
“I still think it’s an experience,” Fluor said. “It’s not about one party or the other but about the orderly transition of authority and power and how we do it democratically. Those are the opportunities we are focusing with the girls: what it means to be a citizen, how to be engaged in the process or engaging with civil discourse.”
The chaperones and Girl Scouts departed from Orange County on a red-eye flight Wednesday night, landing in Washington on Thursday morning. Later that day they toured the Pentagon and the Smithsonian Institution.
They rose at 4:30 a.m. Friday to drive to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and walk four miles to the National Mall.
National Guardsmen were stationed at various locations along the route, Fluor said in a text message.
At one location the group had to wait 45 minutes to move through a checkpoint.
“We saw a lot of signs and Trump hats and shirts,” Alexis Litvak, a 13-year-old Costa Mesa Middle School student, said by phone.
By 10:40 a.m., they found a grassy area near the Washington Monument and sat on blankets to watch the inauguration on a large television monitor.
Trump began his speech shortly after noon in Washington. As he repeatedly did during the campaign, Trump criticized government leaders over losses of U.S. jobs, decaying infrastructure, decline of the middle class and other issues.
“January 20, 2017, will become the day the people become rulers of this nation again. Forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” Trump said.
While he spoke, Fluor said in a text message: “Among the cast of thousands, we are experiencing mixed reactions to President Trump’s speech. Regardless of the positions, the vast majority are respectful and peaceful.”
Fluor relayed some of the girls’ initial reactions to the speech: “Cool, diverse, interesting, patriotic.”
“We all saw a different side of Trump than we saw during the election,” said Gabriela Monge, 15, a Laguna Hills High School sophomore. “His speech was well-written and more formal. I felt inspired.”
The group saw some demonstrations with people holding signs, but nothing disruptive, Fluor said.
“It was a marvelous experience,” she said.
“To go and see the inauguration is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Alexis said. “It’s amazing to see how they do it. Before, I had not even seen the inauguration on TV.”
The group planned to visit Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery before flying home Sunday.
Third go-round for Costa Mesa councilman
The inauguration was the third that Costa Mesa City Councilman Jim Righeimer has attended. He previously witnessed both swearing-in ceremonies for George W. Bush.
“It’s a very festive attitude; people are just really excited here,” Righeimer, a Republican, said in a phone interview from Washington. “Obviously the people that are here are mostly all Trump supporters, so they’re really excited about having the new administration come in.”
Righeimer said it was particularly striking to see the peaceful transition of power from one administration to another, especially since that doesn’t happen in many other areas of the world.
“There’s a lot of optimism here,” Righeimer said. “We’ll see if he sticks with his word and if he works to get everybody to come together. But clearly you can sense he’s going to do what he thinks will move the country forward.”
‘It’s so wow”
As he rode 11 hours by bus this week to Washington from Culver Military Academy in Indiana, Nicholas Kerr mentally prepared himself for Friday’s inauguration.
The 16-year-old Newport Beach native and his polo pony were performing there with other members of the academy’s Black Horse Troop.
“It’s just now dawning on me what an experience this is — what an honor this is,” the teenager said. “It’s amazing to be part of the action.”
Nicholas had been practicing with his horse, Pardon Me, for three months, cantering, weaving in and out of complex maneuvers, trying to keep up with the fast pace while staying in formation. His 56-member mounted unit was appearing in the inauguration parade for the 17th time, dating to 1913.
“Wow. It’s so wow,” Nicholas said.
For Michael Lawler, 63, a Newport Beach attorney specializing in estate planning who was attending his third inauguration, “every time is an amazing time to remember.”
He went to the first inaugurations of presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and was finance director for Reagan’s inaugural ball committee. That connection helped him nab tickets to Friday’s Trump inauguration, where he and his wife, Barbara, 59, would sit about 100 yards from the podium where the 45th president stood.
The couple also had a private meeting with John Roberts, chief justice of the Supreme Court.
In 1981, Lawler competed against Roberts to be clerk to former Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Roberts got the job.
“All this excitement leading to the big day makes Washington the place to be,” said Lawler, who squeezed in tourist stops, including a tour of the Trump winery in Charlottesville, Va.
The Lawlers danced at the Ambassador’s Ball honoring the diplomatic corps and hosted by officials from Slovenia, the birth country of Trump’s wife, Melania, the second first lady born outside the United States.
Daily Pilot staff writer Luke Money and Los Angeles Times staff writer Anh Do contributed to this report.
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