Anti-war protester Sheehan to move campsite

By Caren Bohan

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – Anti-war protester Cindy
Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said on Tuesday she is
moving her camp closer to President George W. Bush’s Texas
ranch after being offered the use of a piece of land by a
supporter.

The private property was offered by a military veteran who
is a distant relative of a man who had fired a shotgun in
frustration over her vigil, which has been a growing source of
tension in the community.

Sheehan said the hundreds of white crosses put up at her
current camp to honor soldiers killed in Iraq would not be
moved when she relocates. The crosses were the target of a
vandal on Monday night and Sheehan said a small number of
people will stay at the original site to watch over them.

“A kind gentleman from down the road, closer to the Bush
ranch, has offered us the use of his property,” Sheehan told
reporters.

“He offered it because he heard about the shots fired at us
the other day and he didn’t think that was right,” she said.
“He happens to be the third cousin of the person that fired the
shots and so he came down and he said he supports us
100percent.”

The move by Sheehan, expected this week, could help ease
growing friction with local residents, some of whom are seeking
a ban on parking and camping along the country road where she
has pitched her tent.

Sheehan, of Vacaville, California, is in the 10th day of
her vigil on the side of Prairie Chapel Road leading to Bush’s
1,600-acre (647.5-hectare) ranch. She calls her site “Camp
Casey,” after her 24-year-old son who was killed in combat in
Iraq.

Sheehan has demanded a meeting with Bush to urge him to
withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, where at least 1,855 U.S.
troops have been killed.

Bush, who is adamant about not pulling out troops
prematurely, has expressed sympathy for Sheehan’s grief but the
White House has declined a meeting. Sheehan met with Bush in
2004 but wants to talk to him face to face again.

Sheehan’s supporters view her as a hero who has
re-energized the anti-war movement but critics see her as a
publicity-seeking partisan who is dishonoring her son’s status
as a war hero.

A source in Sheehan’s camp identified the property owner as
Fred Mattlage, a distant cousin of Larry Mattlage who fired a
shotgun over the weekend in frustration over the commotion
caused by the vigil. Fred Mattlage was not immediately
available for comment.

“And we are not being forced to move,” Sheehan said. “This
is going to be a better place, we can spread out, we don’t have
to lay in a ditch, we don’t have to stay in a ditch.”

Sheehan’s vigil has attracted anti-war activists from
across the United States — many of them also relatives of
soldiers killed in Iraq — who arrived to offer support, share
a hug with her and join in her daily media events.

But in this quiet farming town of just over 700 people,
many residents have found the activity disruptive.

As hundreds of protesters flocked to Sheehan’s camp site
over the weekend, residents wrote slogans in their car windows
such as “Yankees go home.”

Some residents also want to make clear they disagree with
her politics.

Displayed in front of one Prairie Chapel home was a big
sign that read, “We support our commander-in-chief.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a group of residents showed up at a
hearing of county officials to complain about the traffic
caused by activists and reporters who shuttle back and forth to
the camp site.

They brought a petition seeking to ban parking and camping
along Prairie Chapel Road. No action was taken because the
subject was not an official agenda item for the hearing.

Some 800 white wooden crosses have lined the road near
Sheehan’s camp site. Witnesses said that on Monday night, they
saw a truck dragging a pipe and chains drive over some of the
crosses.

Larry Northern, 46, of nearby Waco, Texas, was arrested and
charged with criminal mischief.