Family — The Blankenship family of Wytheville, Va. and the Tucker family of Sparta stand together during the Life Chain that was held on Sunday to protest abortion. Pictured are (from left) Elliott and Avery Blankenship, Nathan Tucker (barely visible behind his mother), Linda Tucker, Hannah Tucker, Caroline Blankenship and Marcella Blankenship. Playing on a blanket in the background is Rebekah Tucker.

Life Chain event held in Sparta

About 56 people registered to take part in a Life Chain pro-life event on Main Street in Sparta on Sunday. They were greeted mostly with silence, but a few motorists honked horns and offered gestures of approval.

The event stated in Sparta in 1997, said organizer Mary Sue Boyette. “We have had a chain every year since,” she noted.

She said more than those who registered took part in the event, although no official tally was made.

The life chain, which always is held the first Sunday in October, is a nationwide effort sponsored by a group called “Please Let Me Live,” based in California.

The event is not really an abortion protest, said Boyette. “It is a stand against abortion in our nation and a time set aside to pray for our nation and for those

The line of protesters stretched from the current county office building nearly to the new county office building.

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