Fifty honors students from the University of North Alabama were the first visitors at the King Center Saturday morning.
Not knowing until late Friday night whether it would be open or closed put the visit in a different light for sophomore Jared McCoy. "It makes you realize just how far government funding really stretches," he said.
He was glad Congress finally agreed on a budget, forestalling a government shutdown. "King's influence is a big part of Atlanta's culture," he said. "To have missed this would've meant missing a big part of being here."
At Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Jonathan Crooks, of Roswell, walked into the gift shop. "It was a close one last night," he remarked to the cashier.
He said the budget fight made people question the motives of politicians.
"We pay for all this," he said. "This mountain is full of people with their dogs, kids, spouses. To think for a moment that these historic grounds would have been shut down to the public -- it's just sad."
Victoria Strong, of Marietta, was working up a sweat, walking at the park in preparation for the Peachtree Road Race. A Republican, she said the political battling was necessary to get federal spending under control.
"We need to do what we need to do," she said. "I've had to cut back. I'm on a budget."
But Democrat Fred Carr, standing outside the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., blamed GOP legislators for nearly preventing him from visiting the site.
"We were crushed, because Dr. King meant so much to us," Carr said. "Not to be able to be here because the Republicans weren't doing their jobs? I was offended."
Chris Harper, of Marietta, didn't have much use for either side, believing that each was more interested in cutting down its political opponents than in helping the American people.
"It's very disappointing," Harper said, sweating as he exercised at the Kennesaw Mountain park. "I feel there are very few statesmen left who are willing to stand up and do what's right. I'm not happy with either party right now."
Amy Staniszewski said she breathed a sigh of relief late Friday night when she learned that her husband, who is stationed at U.S. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay on the Georgia coast, would still get his full pay on April 15.
"It definitely makes our grocery list look a lot better," Staniszewski joked.
A political independent, she, like Harper, said she found herself levying blame against both sides of the political aisle.
"This was frustrating, because they knew this was a problem four months ago," she said. "I felt like it became really more about ideology than about trying to get the budget done. This is something that people are going to remember."
But Ann Harness, who was leading a tour group from England at the King Center, said she took the whole drama with a grain of salt, believing that the talk of a shutdown was an idle threat.
"It was never going to happen," Harness said. "They just wouldn't let the government shut down."
About the Author
