So. La. Patriots host meeting

A local Tea Party group says it wants to keep citizens informed on today’s happenings in government.

It plans to hold a meeting tomorrow evening to get its mission started.

The South Louisiana Patriots will hold their first general meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lighthouse, located at 317 Venture Blvd., in Houma.

“We want our local people to start getting involved in what’s going on in local, state and federal government,” the group’s chairman Stacy Hargenrader said.

The South Louisiana Patriots are a Tea Party group that was established in May.

“We started off as a group of around eight or so people who would sit in a living room and watch documentary movies,” Hargenrader said. “One day we decided we wanted to do more.”

The group now has a full 14-member board of directors and is seeking a status as a 501(c)(4) organization, defined as, “organizations that are generally civic leagues and other corporations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, or local associations of employees with membership limited to a designated company or people in a particular municipality or neighborhood, and with net earnings devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes,” according to Hargenrader.

The group’s chairman said the goal of this week’s meeting is to “uphold and promote the three core values of the national Tea Party agenda, fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets.”

“We are very, very big fans of Ronald Reagan,” Hargenrader said. “And pushing the policies he did when he was in office.”

Thursday’s meeting is designed to, “attract, introduce and assimilate charter membership to establish and assign political action teams supporting conservative agendas,” according to Hargenrader.

Anyone wishing to receive more information about the South Louisiana Patriots and what they do are asked to call (985) 232-0882 or email SouthLouisianaPatriots@gmail.com.