Senate Sergeant At Arms Terry Gainer planned to engage in a discussion with members of the popular social networking site Facebook on Tuesday afternoon about crowd control problems that occurred on Inauguration Day. Thousands of people with prized tickets to President Barack Obama's swearing in last Tuesday were held in a tunnel under the National Mall and missed the ceremony. More than 5,000 of them joined a Facebook group page called "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom."
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies quickly apologized for the incident, attributing the problem to unprecedented crowds and many unticketed people moving toward the Capitol and into the 3rd Street Tunnel where the ticket holders were directed. Gainer agreed to log on to Facebook and answer questions on a discussion board for an hour, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The specific thread will not be posted until Gainer signs on and the Web address can be found here. The Facebook announcement ends with the plea: "Please be respectful."
Update: In his 1,000 word welcome, Gainer apologized to those who did not get on Capitol grounds, were stuck in the tunnel, had negative interactions with police officers, and those who experienced all three situations. The number of citizens adversely affected remains unclear, Gainer wrote, but the information he was given was less than 5,000. He has since seen photos from the tunnel and streets near the purple gates and watched hours of video. "I saw thousands of people in massive groups...They yelled for information and guidance. It apparently fell on deaf ears. Whether it is 5,000 or 10,000, it is too many," he said.
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