Antiwar Protester Vows to Continue Vigil Despite Vandalism at Texas Site
By Elisabeth Bumiller
The New York Times
Wednesday 17 August 2005
Crawford, Tex. - Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has set up a vigil near President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday that she was "very disturbed" that a local resident had mowed down hundreds of small crosses bearing the names of other dead American soldiers, and that her now 10-day protest was "only the beginning" of what she described as a growing national movement to bring all American men and women home from the war.
Ms. Sheehan also said she would soon be moving her increasingly crowded roadside encampment, named Camp Casey after her son, to a large tract even closer to the president's ranch. "A kind gentleman from down the road offered us the use of his property," Ms. Sheehan told reporters on Tuesday night. Ms. Sheehan identified the man as Fred Mattlage, whom she described as a distant cousin of Larry Mattlage, a local resident who fired a shotgun across the road from the encampment on Sunday afternoon.
Ms. Sheehan said the property, which is near a Secret Service checkpoint about a mile from Mr. Bush's ranch, would have plenty of space for the parked cars that have jammed the roadside. Fred Mattlage could not be reached on Tuesday to confirm Ms. Sheehan's account.
In the meantime, a group of Mr. Bush's neighbors appeared before the McLennan County Commission on Tuesday morning asking that a no-parking zone near the president's ranch be expanded, which would effectively force the camp to move to the town of Crawford, seven miles away. Neighbors have complained of traffic jams and blocked roads, and some said they worried about the safety of their children, who started school on Tuesday.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081705I.shtml
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