Bush supporters outnumber Crawford critics
Star-Telegram ^ | 8-28-05 | Jack Douglas Jr.
CRAWFORD - President Bush's supporters poured into Crawford by the thousands Saturday, for the first time outnumbering war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan, who began a vigil here three weeks ago, demanding a personal meeting with the vacationing president to talk about her son's death in Iraq.
With police security tight and the heat intense, tempers flared, and traffic was clogged. But by late afternoon, only two people had been arrested for what the Secret Service described as a minor "attitude thing."
An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people attended a pro-Bush rally in Crawford, waving flags and pledging allegiance to U.S. troops. At times, they accused Sheehan of dishonoring the death of her son, Casey, who was in the Army.
Jeannine McEwin, 69, said she and her husband, Harold, made the six-hour trip from their home on Toledo Bend Lake, a mile from the Louisiana border, to help conservatives overcome the numeric dominance that anti-war demonstrators have had in Crawford since Sheehan came to town Aug. 6.
"The left has had so much publicity, and we have sat back and done nothing," McEwin said. "We have allowed them to take over."
Harold McEwin, 70, said he came to support Bush and the war in Iraq.
"When I was 8 years old, I walked the streets of Shreveport picking up metal coat hangers to be used to build bombs and bullets" for World War II, he said. "I started out my patriotism right there."
An additional 800 to 1,000 war protesters were on hand Saturday, many of them shuttled from the Peace House in Crawford to encampments along Prairie Chapel Road, which leads to the entrances to Bush's ranch. The day's events, closely monitored by police on the ground and in helicopters, easily broke the record for the number of people participating in demonstrations in Crawford since Bush turned his ranch into the "Western White House."
Bill Perkins, a retired alcohol and drug counselor from Austin, said he came to support Sheehan's contention that her son died in an unwarranted war. Referring to the president, Perkins said, "We think he lied and got us into this mess."
Neither supporters nor detractors saw Bush, who was believed to have been at his ranch.
Emotions ran the highest at a bend on Prairie Chapel Road, with war protesters on one side, Bush supporters on the other and local police and state troopers in the middle. The protesters accused Bush of lying about his reasons for going to war in Iraq, answered by a sign held by a Bush supporter that said, "Repent you Treasons."
Police also expressed concern that several families who lost children to the war had planned to enter the war-protest camps and pull up crosses bearing their children's names. It was not immediately known whether that happened.
"We want to so bad we can taste it," said Sandy Watson of Phoenix, whose son, Michael Williams, was killed in Iraq in 2003. "We don't want [Sheehan] to have our son's cross out there."
Instead of facing off with the anti-war crowd, Bush supporter Shawn Wroblewski of Jefferson Township, N.J., said she asked the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to look for a cross bearing the name of her son, John Thomas, a Marine killed in Iraq last year. "Two weeks ago I called the Crawford sheriff and asked him to kindly remove my son's cross if it was there. He assured me that he would," Wroblewski said.
Milton Pittman of Arlington and Libby Patterson of Fort Worth said they drove to Crawford to show their support for Bush and were amazed by the large crowds. "I think it shows the freedom of speech that we have in America," Patterson said.
Pittman agreed, calling the pro-Bush crowds "very cordial, like regular people" while saying the anti-war demonstrators seemed "confused."
Sheree Kirsch of Mansfield also drove to Crawford on Saturday -- to sell her barbecue sauce at the local restaurant, not realizing that she would find herself in the middle of a national debate and one of the largest war demonstrations since the Vietnam War.
"I did not know this was going to be today," Kirsch said as she tried to keep pace with the line of people asking for free samples of sauce and chips. "Everybody I've talked to in here has been pro-Bush." |
