***FRED*** Mattlage offers his private land for Camp Casey!

[Bluebear]

One of President Bush's neighbors will allow use of his land by dozens of war protesters who have camped in roadside ditches the past 11 days, giving them more room and halving their distance from Bush's ranch.

Demonstrators said Fred Mattlage made the offer because he sympathizes with them. The protesters' makeshift camp off a winding, two-lane road leading to Bush's ranch has agitated other residents, who complained of traffic jams and blocked roads.

Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., started the vigil Aug. 6 to honor her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq last year. Sheehan has vowed to remain through Bush's monthlong ranch visit unless he meets with her and other grieving families. Mattlage's Monday night offer, accepted by protesters Tuesday, will put them about a mile from Bush's ranch, said Hadi Jawad of the Crawford Peace House, which is helping the group....

A telephone message left for Mattlage by The Associated Press wasn't immediately returned Tuesday. A distant cousin who owns nearby land, Larry Mattlage, fired a shotgun twice into the air Sunday but no one was injured. Fred Mattlage said he does not share his cousin's frustrations with the group, Jawad said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050817/ap_on_re_us/peace_mom_6&printer=1

[Wetzelbill]

1. good for Fred

:)

[kbm8795]

22. this really is very kind of him. . .

and. . .as a sidebar. . .just what will this do for the counter-protesters? Won't they have to stay 1.5 miles away in the ditches?

[me b zola]

2. A good write up

I'll pop over to rate it up :)

[merwin]

3. Isn't that the guy that shot the gun?

[Bluebear]

5. Cousin, see 4th paragraph

Guess he won't be invited to the Shotgun cookout :)

[Howardx]

6. distant cousin

dig the gir avatar!

[merwin]

10. Shows the diversity of many families.

I'm a huge huge huge Invader ZIM fan... insanely huge fan. :-)

[BikeWriter]

7. No, it says in the text it's his cousin.

[despairing optimist]

8. No, Fred is the guy's cousin.

I read it in one of the articles about the incident leading to Fred's offer.

The "silent majority" is starting to take a stand. Out of that awful cross-mowing and shooting comes some good.

[katinmn]

11. A "distant cousin" Fred said. LOL

[despairing optimist]

17. He's distant now!

Ah, families. I could tell stories, but that's for another thread.

[uppityperson]

4. What a generous offer.

Thanks Mr. Mattlage.

[Joey Liberal]

9. If he's a veteran, the GOP will smear his service n.t

[spanone]

12. Kick for Fred!!!!!!!!

:toast:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

13. Bravo Fred!!

You're a good man.

:applause: :yourock:

[Generic Other]

14. Great news!!

Bless you Fred!

[LosinIt]

15. 1 mile from the "ranch", doesn't that put her closer?

I thought the original site was 5 miles away, but could easily be wrong.

On a completely different note, I just noticed that if your hand is in the wrong place on the keyboard, when you attempt to touchtype "mile" you type "nuke" instead. That was pretty disconcerting to see nuke show up on the screen when I wasn't expecting it.

[faithnotgreed]

21. you are correct - on all counts i might add

[tridim]

24. Cindy just said they're right next to the main gate to the pig farm

:) :) :)

[Maru Kitteh]

16. THIS is the Mattlage that actually DESERVES a gift basket!

Where's the thread for putting a gift basket together for this guy?

[kbm8795]

23. I do agree. . .and you know what I think would be really nice?

Something from each region. . .each state where a protester comes from...you know, goodies like jam, and...cheese...maybe rose bushes...stuff like that. It could be like a really nice giant way of having the whole country thank him from each little area.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. That is a nice idea, I could bring him the best sweetcorn in the world

From the Corn Husker state!

Cool idea there!

[JohnnyBoots]

18. Evolution at work!

[madmax]

19. Thanks for the show of decency, Fred

A :toast: to Mr. Fred Mattlage.

[never_get_over_it]

20. Fred Mattlage vs. Larry Mattlage

yep the freak in chief quite a uniter not a divider - Bless you Fred Mattlage!!!!

[FreedomAngel82]

26. How nice!

Yay! How nice. :D

[seabeyond]

27. i love him,......fred i love you. this is just kind. thank you

good for fred

[no_to_war_economy]

28. even closer to the pig farm

this is great, room for a stage, sound system, video screens, pyrotechnics, bring in grandstands, get bruce springsteen out there with willie nelson, AAR will set radio operations, Al Gore TV there, where the hell is Al-Jazerra

[Gelliebeans]

29. Fred is the bee's knees! n/t

[FizzFuzz]

30. You mean Cat's Pajamas

;)

Hooray for Fred and all the good people in the world.

Great ideas about sending him a thank you. Fred c/o the Crawford Peace House, I presume?

[Gelliebeans]

31. don't cha love those old

sayings hee hee ;)

[FizzFuzz]

32. yep :) wonder if there's a list online?

put that on my "to google" list.....

[Lisa]

33. a big thank-you for Fred!

I'm sure that there are other people in the Waco and Crawford area who, if they see that the protesters are patient and respectful, will also begin to show their support.

Kudos to Camp Casey and the Crawford Peace House organizers, who've set an exemplary standard.