West Tennessee locals to attend Trump inauguration

ALAMO, Tenn. — As Donald Trump’s inauguration nears, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to travel to the nation’s capital.

Ann Strongs of Crockett County is just one West Tennessean who will see the new president take office on Friday in Washington, D.C.

She said after hearing Donald Trump speak in Millington this past February, she knew she would go to his inauguration if he was elected.

“He just has such a genuine, warm feeling,” she said. “He parted the way where we were standing in line to greet him at the airport in Millington for a veteran to be wheeled up in his wheelchair,” she recalled.

Strongs said she will be driving in on the big day, but others will be taking a bus.

Elaine Ervin of Memphis organized a bus trip to give more people in the area a chance to go.

“I think that everybody that is an American citizen should one time go and just experience that exchange of power,” she said. “It’s absolutely spellbinding.”

The bus will leave Memphis Tuesday night and stop to pick people up in Jackson, Nashville and Knoxville before arriving in the nation’s capital.

While some West Tennesseans will be there in person, others, like State Rep. Jimmy Eldridge, said they will be there in spirit.

“Certainly I have a lot to do here in my own district of West Tennessee,” he said. “I won’t be able to attend, but I will be watching a lot of it on the news and on the TV.”

For those still looking for a way to make it to the inauguration, Elaine Ervin said she is still taking names for those who want to go.

Even though her bus is currently filled, she is looking into renting a bigger one. You can contact Ervin at 256-508-1212.