|
Bush ranch neighbor lets 'Peace Mom' use land
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-16 09:17
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.
A high profile
peace camp set up by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, seen here, is to
move from the roadside outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch to a
private property nearby following mounting hostilities with local
residents. [AFP] |
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.
Demonstrators said they would start moving their tents, anti-war banners and
portable toilets to the new site Wednesday and hope to have the new camp set up
in time for a dusk candlelight vigil.
The vigil will be one of about 1,000 to be held across the country, an effort
organized by liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action, TrueMajority
and Democracy for America.
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.
For more than a week, the rural area has been a traffic nightmare as the camp
attracted hundreds more protesters as well as Bush supporters holding
counter-rallies.
A resident was arrested Monday night after authorities say he ran over
hundreds of small wooden crosses bearing names of fallen U.S. soldiers.
Tuesday morning, several landowners asked county commissioners to extend for
at least two miles the public "no parking" zone around Bush's ranch. The
ordinance now prohibits cars from stopping on the road within about a quarter of
a mile.
Bush, who said he sympathizes with Sheehan, has made no indication that he
will meet with her. Sheehan and other families met with Bush two months after
her son's death before she became a vocal opponent of the war.
|
 | | | MTV to air trip by Jolie to Africa | | |  | | | Wild orgies leave the Great Wall in mess, and tears | | |  | | | Zhou Xun parts with agent company | | |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top Life
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
