Published: October 11, 2008 11:51 pm            

Hundreds with Palin tickets turned away

Inside Cambria County War Memorial Arena on Saturday, an enthusiastic crowd waved signs and roared for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

But outside, the mood was much different.

Many ticket holders for the campaign rally were shut out when, just before Palin began to speak, local officials decided that the arena could not safely hold any more people.

It is not clear how many were turned away. One official estimated that as many as 2,000 Palin supporters, some of whom had waited for hours, never got inside.

“I’m sure there were a lot of upset people,” said Pat Lape, Johnstown Fire Department deputy chief. “But we have to do what’s safe for everybody.”

The Palin rally drew a huge response, with residents gobbling up thousands of free tickets in Cambria and surrounding counties. More than 4,700 tickets were distributed in Johnstown alone.

The War Memorial has seating for 4,000, with additional standing room on the floor.

Lape estimated that at least 5,000 witnessed the Palin speech.

In an interview after the rally, Lape made note of how many exits circle the arena’s floor. And he said emergency officials follow strict guidelines when determining how big a crowd can be allowed to get.

“There’s a calculation,” he said. “You have to have so many square feet per person to exit a building safely.”

Although some standing room remained on the War Memorial’s floor, Lape said he was forced to make a decision even as attendees still were filing through metal detectors at the arena’s front doors.

“We did not exceed capacity, but we were right at the brink,” Lape said. “And that’s why the doors were closed.”

But for a lot of Palin devotees, enthusiasm had turned to frustration.

Karen Bowman of Ebensburg, a Northern Cambria High School teacher, said she had arrived in Johnstown at about 7:30 a.m. and had a ticket.

But she could not get inside.

“I have students who are going to ask me about my experience here today,” she said.

“The (McCain/Palin) ticket lost votes,” she added. “And it gave the protesters ammunition.”

Her daughter, Shippensburg University student Kristin Bowman, was bitterly disappointed at not being able to see Palin.

“There were seats left inside,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”

To make matters worse, there apparently had been some confusion about how to line up outside the War Memorial.

One line circled to the side and rear of the arena. City police Capt. Andy Frear said his officers had no choice but to disband that line because the area had to be cleared for Palin’s arrival and entrance.

In the end, though, that wouldn’t have mattered if the arena had enough room for all ticket holders.

Ticket allotment was determined by the McCain campaign.

Rob Gleason, who chairs the Cambria County and state Republican committees, said he was not sure exactly how many tickets were distributed throughout the area.

Still, he apologized to those who were left out.

“We certainly didn’t oversell on purpose,” Gleason said.

He said a general rule of thumb is that when free tickets are handed out, as few as

60 percent of all ticket holders will show up on the day of an event.

That obviously was not the case on Saturday.

“When a person takes a ticket in Johnstown, they come,” Gleason said. “And hopefully, a lesson was learned.”

Still, the crowd remained generally orderly. Frear said there were no arrests made.

And Gleason took the crowd’s size as a positive for the upcoming election.

“It was a wonderful event,” he said. “The people of this region are to be congratulated for turning out.”



Tribune-Democrat City Editor Arlene Johns contributed to this report.

        

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