On the first day of the Republican National Convention, Jean Northenor called the Times-Union Monday at approximately 2 p.m. Indiana time to give a first-hand account of the convention in New York.

She is the Third District delegate, selected by the Third District committee, whose members are from Kosciusko, Allen, Elkhart, DeKalb and Whitley counties. Northenor also is serving on the rules committee of the convention.

"It's been uneventful so far," she said of the convention. She said she doesn't know what reports are saying, but she personally really has not seen any protesters. She has attended various convention functions, but no protesters were to be found.

"Security is everywhere. You don't blink your eye" and not seen them, she said. They even have security dogs from as far away from New York as South Carolina.

"The police are so nice, so polite, they tell us they're glad we're here," said Northenor. "You feel really secure here."

All in all, she said, the convention is "going well." She attended the convention Monday morning and was scheduled to return at 8 p.m. Monday.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg already spoke to the convention by the time Northenor called. Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife walked into the convention Monday and received a standing ovation.

Northenor met Zell Miller, the Democrat senator from Georgia, and said he was very friendly. Miller will give the keynote address at the Republican convention.

Northenor also said she was in the same conversation with anchorman Ted Koppel, though she didn't meet him personally.

"Today was just the housekeeping kind of things," she said.

Serving as a delegate and on the rules committee, Northenor has a lot of work to do.

"You just can't believe all the paperwork we've got here," she said.

Northenor is staying at the Embassy Suites on the Hudson River with a friend. Northenor's son from Portland, Ore., who does business in New York, flew in. Northenor said they arrived in the Big Apple Thursday. Friday, they toured Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage. They saw "Wonderful Town" on Broadway and walked around Ground Zero.

"That's a terrible feeling walking around that," she said. One can't imagine what really happened there Sept. 11, 2001. Touring the site, one can still see the damage done.

"Pictures never did it justice," she said.

But even with that in mind, Northenor said, "You feel really secure here." [[In-content Ad]]