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Just wanted to give you a little background on why we stand at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Oil City...I am Beth Wagner, and my brother Fulton Schaffner (OIF Veteran) and I began standing publicly after Mary Ann Caton (history asst prof at the UNIVERSITY OF PITT AT TITUSVILLE) and her “grassroots group” 5th District Peace Project stood one block from my brothers house protesting the war, but supposedly “supporting the troops” thus the beginning of the the signs you see around the area stating “SUPPORT THE TROOPS, END THE WAR”.
They publicly call OUR TROOPS the TERRORIST and claim that President Bush is the one who blew up the Twin Towers in NY....the 5th District (a modgepodge of VFP and WIB members) had the audacity to stand at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial holding Civil/Peace Flags there as they denounce our gov., our flag, and our military IN THE NAME OF “PEACE”-as they have done in Pleasantville and in Franklin also.
Here is a LETTER TO THE EDITOR I wrote and actually got published stating my opinions of the goings-on:
BEFORE JUMPING ON THE “PEACE” WAGON, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

As I read a blurb from The Derrick about a supposed Civil War/ Peace Flag in which an Assistant Professor of History and Political Science teaching at UPT claimed to have been around since the Civil War, I wondered if I had missed something in history class. As a veteran, I felt the need to investigate this flag.
Instead of becoming more educated on the Civil War/Peace Flag, I became more baffled. Only a few web sites, one of them entitled ‘The Civil Flag’-Forgotten Flag or Flag of Fiction? and another entitled The United States Civil Flag for Peacetime mentioned such a flag. After spending time comparing notes from both, I realized that this professor of history apparently DID NOT DO HER HOMEWORK. Her mention of the flag being in existance since the Civil War and for some reason phased out was almost verbatim of the web site claiming this to be a real American peacetime flag. Does this prove that this flag ever existed before the year 2000 for the purpose of protesting war, I believe not. If I put a pair of red white and blue underwear on a stick, authored a website about it, stood publically claiming it “ a peace flag from a certain era that just phased out for some reason”, does it make it a real flag? NO, OF COURSE NOT! It is down right disgraceful for one to stand publicly claiming peace, but allowing your members to call our troops terrorists, misleading the public about a peace flag, and assuming because of your teaching status that no one will question your groups motives.
This act has only enraged a community who pledges allegiance to the ONLY official flag of the United States of America. As Americans, we all have the right to stand publicly in support of our beliefs, but it is wrong to purposefully mislead the puplic. I believe we ALL desire peace, and I will continue to stand publicly in support of our troops and their mission.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE ALL KEEP UP ON THE HAPPENINGS OF OUR AREA.....AND BRING ALL AREA TROOPS SUPPORT GROUPS TOGETHER AS “ONE” IN SUPPORT OF OUR TROOPS AND THEIR MISSIONS-This is what the 5th District Peace Project, Women in Black, and Veterans for Peace have done in NW PA...and Mary Ann Caton can thank her friend Judith Etzel for printing all of the propoganda against our troops....WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF WE ALL HAD A FRIEND WORKING FOR THE PAPER (BY THE WAY, JUDITH’S HUSBAND IS A MEMBER OF THE VETERANS FOR PEACE ALSO)...