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Woman allows protesters to demonstrate on her lawn near Welfare Square

Posted at 6:43 PM, Dec 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-04 20:44:00-05

SALT LAKE CITY - President Donald Trump was greeted warmly inside the Utah State Capitol, but outside protesters demonstrated against him and his agenda by the thousands.  At Welfare Square more protesters demonstrated against Trump’s decision to reduce the sizes of two Utah national monuments.

Homeowner Ellen Young lives right across the street from Welfare Square, and she allowed the protesters to use her property as a hub.

“I smell the bread baking every day, and I live that close and I figured I’m not going live that close and not do something,” said Young.

She had protestors put their signs on her home and hold them while standing on her property when President Trump’s motorcade drove by.  Trump went insides Welfare Square and met with local LDS leaders as he shopped in the cannery for what he later told Utahans was “tuna fish.”

“Figuring out that Trump was coming into my neighborhood was just disgusting and devastating and depressing, and I don't want him here. I am disappointed in the church leaders and their [willingness] to give him the time of day and not stand up for what's right.”

Ellen’s friend Steve Bateman, another protester, said he knows changing anything that happened today was too late, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying to get his voice heard.

“I don't think it's going to change anything but we got to start thinking five or six generations down the line,” said Bateman.  “The land we have is all the land we have left and we got to keep it out of the hands of people who want to exploit it.”

The President signed two executive orders reversing past presidents’ decisions to make Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments.  They were both reversed on Monday with Trump’s signatures.