Don’t tread on me. Help protect our freedoms. Tea Party Patriots.

These were just a few of the sayings plastered on posters at the second annual gathering of the Greenville Tea Party Association on tax day yesterday.

The group met on the steps of city hall to speak out against being “taxed enough already”, the credo from which they derive their name.

Brenda Bowen, coordinator for Greenville Tea Party Association, handed out glasses of sweet tea and copies of the U.S. Constitution from the shade of a tree outside city hall.

“We realized and we know that this country can not sustain its current fiscal policy,” Bowen said. “We are going to go down the tube if we don’t do something.”

Copies of contact information for senators and representatives were placed on the flag-adorned tables, next to the agenda for the evening.

“We are trying to get people informed and get them involved,” Bowen said. “We are just trying to have a voice about where this county is heading.”

After an invocation from Ron Gibson, Suanne and Amy Lewis sang patriotic music.

Members of the Greenville Tea Party then took turns giving testimonials on what lead the to the Tea Party.

“I am concerned about our debt and what this means for future generations,” Mary Jones said.

Jones held a copy of the Constitution that the Tea Party was handing out while she spoke. The pamphlets were only a few inches wide, Jones pointed out.

“Just imagine what the Constitution would look like if the makers of the health care bill wrote it,” Jones joked. “I don’t think we could have brought it in here today with a trailer.”

The keynote speaker for the evening was retired Navy Capt. Charles R. Parker. Parker said he got involved with the group after attending a previous meeting of the local Tea Party Association.

Parker said he was there for a clear reason: to talk about the tax situation in Congress.

“The folks that work hard and save are going to have most of that taken away from them to pay for health care bill,” Parker said.

More information on the political group can be found at their Web site, greenvilleteapartyassoc.ning.com.