Today was the day the “Say No to Torture” Protest by the southwest weekend of protest group also sponsored by code pink.
The day for my wife and I, started at 9 am as we headed to town to pick up a new Flag, a quick stop at the local “Evil Wal-Mart” and we were on our way to the park to counter protest. The park they chose to begin their protest is named “Veterans Memorial Park” and I am saddened by the fact that they chose this park to meet. Did they chose it to spit on the Veterans or just out of bad taste?
The “other side” had been advertising heavily in the local paper. By advertising, I mean they had stories printed on the protest from Friday to today. The protest was scheduled to start at 10 am and we arrived at 10:15 or so.
The crowd was around 25 at that time. I have never seen them kick off a protest on time in the three years I have counter-protested. We parked well away from the “other side” and proceeded to the main entrance of the park carrying our signs and flag. The road we were standing next to is the main commercial road in Sierra Vista and has a fair amount of 4 lane traffic to see our signs.
We received many honks and thumbs up from passing motorists. We greeted all the protesters who couldn’t make it on time with our signs usually countered with a peace sign and a glare coming from the car. Many drove “Evil SUV’s” to the protest which I found odd, since from the signs they carried this was also an anti-oil protest. I saw none ride in on bikes.
There were many out of state plates among the protest crowd and from what I saw not many locals.
The crowd grew to the 200 - 250 range over about an hour, made up mostly of old hippie retreads and young uniformed college aged people. As Sassy and I stood by with signs and flag in hand Sharon arrived to add to our counter-protest. She was more than welcome with her large “HOME OF THE FREE” sign. We had seen a Channel 4 vehicle arrive from Tucson and head directly to the cluster of protesters.
They eventually came in our direction and were unloading when one of the friendly protesters pulled up and began telling us to stop the war. I retorted “Stop the Terror” and was replied to with a rant that ended with You, the rest I can’t repeat. He then gunned his motor and drove away as I yelled at him “that was rude Sir and doesn’t show much class“.
I believe the Channel 4 news crew heard the entire exchange as they were walking toward us. Channel 4 did a short interview with me and I stated that “we were here to show support for the troops.” As of this writing I don’t know if any of my comments were aired. Soon after Channel 4 left, Channel 9 arrived and Interviewed Sharon, whose Husband was a Korean and Vietnam War veteran.
She stated these were the same type of people who treated her Husband with such disrespect upon his return from Vietnam. It is quite possible they were the same people since the majority of the protesters did look like hippie retreads. At about 12:30 we packed up our signs and headed to the main gate of Fort Huachuca to hopefully meet up with other Counter-Protesters.
The protesters were scheduled to stumble from the park to the main gate starting at 1:30 PM and we wanted to be there to greet them As we neared the gate we were greeted by a street lined in American Flags somewhere between 75 and 100 Allies. We were very happy to see the added support since the three of us at the Park did feel a little lonely.
This was a spirited group including Freepers, AZHSer General Pat (She says Wayne gave here that name) and SandRat. I am sure there were other Freepers there but I did not get their names so to them I say sorry I didn’t mention you but I knew you were out there and hopefully will give us your view of the event as a reply to this posting. There were many signs of support for the Troops and blaring horns of support from people driving by. Pat had the crowd fired up with her chants and patriotic music blasting from her sound system.
A special mention goes out to the Army and Iraq War Veteran who brought his entire Family including three young daughters out to Support the Troops. The girls were terrific and led many chants from the good guy side of the house. The Police had asked that we be on the opposite side of the street from where the “Marchers” were and the majority of the counter-protestors complied.
The person who had gotten the permit for the counter protest stated that his permit allowed protesting on both sides of the street and he and General Pat as well as The Colonel along with a few more hardy souls stayed on that side of the street. I had to leave as I get a little vocal and somewhat aggressive toward them and thought it was best to have the distance to keep me calmed down.
Finally at almost 3 PM the protesters finally straggled up tired after their 3 mile hike from the park. They were met with many jeers and boos as well as quite a bit of verbal abuse not to include cursing. I was rather proud of our side for this as I could see some were very upset by the protesters.
They straggled past us carrying Posters and signs with every loony statement you can think of. Most wouldn’t even look over at our side of the street but chose instead to stare at the sidewalk. One group decided to fashion coordinate and dressed in Orange Jump suits in support of the terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. They did look quite stylish in comparison to some of the outfits that were worn by the other protesters.
I think Salvation Army would have turned most of the clothing worn by the protesters into rags rather than try to sell them as used. During this slow gaggle march by the protesters “The American Legion Riders” came by with Flags flying and revving their American Made Iron to ear splitting levels to our pleasure and the protesters displeasure. They circled around the block several times till the entire mob had passed us and lined up next to the highway in a disorganized line.
In summary I want to say a good time was had by all counter-protesters. I believe that the other side was not very pleased by the strong counter-protest and I, for one vow to be there next year and every year after that till the Lord calls me home to show that Americans support our Troops and most don’t believe what the protesters were spouting.
Paragraphs are your friend, and you’re welcome ;-)
Dateline Sunday 16 November 2008 Sierra Vista, AZ., Fort Huachuca. Today was the day the “Say No to Torture” Protest by the southwest weekend of protest group also sponsored by code pink.
The day for my wife and I, started at 9 am as we headed to town to pick up a new Flag, a quick stop at the local “Evil Wal-Mart” and we were on our way to the park to counter protest. The park they chose to begin their protest is named “Veterans Memorial Park” and I am saddened by the fact that they chose this park to meet. Did they chose it to spit on the Veterans or just out of bad taste? The “other side” had been advertising heavily in the local paper. By advertising, I mean they had stories printed on the protest from Friday to today.
The protest was scheduled to start at 10 am and we arrived at 10:15 or so. The crowd was around 25 at that time. I have never seen them kick off a protest on time in the three years I have counter-protested. We parked well away from the “other side” and proceeded to the main entrance of the park carrying our signs and flag. The road we were standing next to is the main commercial road in Sierra Vista and has a fair amount of 4 lane traffic to see our signs. We received many honks and thumbs up from passing motorists. We greeted all the protesters who couldn’t make it on time with our signs usually countered with a peace sign and a glare coming from the car.
Many drove “Evil SUV’s” to the protest which I found odd, since from the signs they carried this was also an anti-oil protest. I saw none ride in on bikes. There were many out of state plates among the protest crowd and from what I saw not many locals. The crowd grew to the 200 - 250 range over about an hour, made up mostly of old hippie retreads and young uniformed college aged people. As Sassy and I stood by with signs and flag in hand Sharon arrived to add to our counter-protest. She was more than welcome with her large “HOME OF THE FREE” sign.
We had seen a Channel 4 vehicle arrive from Tucson and head directly to the cluster of protesters. They eventually came in our direction and were unloading when one of the friendly protesters pulled up and began telling us to stop the war. I retorted “Stop the Terror” and was replied to with a rant that ended with You, the rest I can’t repeat. He then gunned his motor and drove away as I yelled at him “that was rude Sir and doesn’t show much class“.
I believe the Channel 4 news crew heard the entire exchange as they were walking toward us. Channel 4 did a short interview with me and I stated that “we were here to show support for the troops.” As of this writing I don’t know if any of my comments were aired. Soon after Channel 4 left, Channel 9 arrived and Interviewed Sharon, whose Husband was a Korean and Vietnam War veteran. She stated these were the same type of people who treated her Husband with such disrespect upon his return from Vietnam. It is quite possible they were the same people since the majority of the protesters did look like hippie retreads.
At about 12:30 we packed up our signs and headed to the main gate of Fort Huachuca to hopefully meet up with other Counter-Protesters. The protesters were scheduled to stumble from the park to the main gate starting at 1:30 PM and we wanted to be there to greet them
As we neared the gate we were greeted by a street lined in American Flags somewhere between 75 and 100 Allies. We were very happy to see the added support since the three of us at the Park did feel a little lonely. This was a spirited group including Freepers, AZHSer General Pat (She says Wayne gave here that name) and SandRat. I am sure there were other Freepers there but I did not get their names so to them I say sorry I didn’t mention you but I knew you were out there and hopefully will give us your view of the event as a reply to this posting.
There were many signs of support for the Troops and blaring horns of support from people driving by. Pat had the crowd fired up with her chants and patriotic music blasting from her sound system. A special mention goes out to the Army and Iraq War Veteran who brought his entire Family including three young daughters out to Support the Troops. The girls were terrific and led many chants from the good guy side of the house. The Police had asked that we be on the opposite side of the street from where the “Marchers” were and the majority of the counter-protestors complied.
The person who had gotten the permit for the counter protest stated that his permit allowed protesting on both sides of the street and he and General Pat as well as The Colonel along with a few more hardy souls stayed on that side of the street. I had to leave as I get a little vocal and somewhat aggressive toward them and thought it was best to have the distance to keep me calmed down.
Finally at almost 3 PM the protesters finally straggled up tired after their 3 mile hike from the park. They were met with many jeers and boos as well as quite a bit of verbal abuse not to include cursing. I was rather proud of our side for this as I could see some were very upset by the protestors. They straggled past us carrying Posters and signs with every loony statement you can think of. Most wouldn’t even look over at our side of the street but chose instead to stare at the sidewalk. One group decided to fashion coordinate and dressed in Orange Jump suits in support of the terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. They did look quite stylish in comparison to some of the outfits that were worn by the other protestors. I think Salvation Army would have turned most of the clothing worn by the protestors into rags rather than try to sell them as used.
During this slow gaggle march by the protesters “The American Legion Riders” came by with Flags flying and revving their American Made Iron to ear splitting levels to our pleasure and the protesters displeasure. They circled around the block several times till the entire mob had passed us and lined up next to the highway in a disorganized line.
In summary I want to say a good time was had by all counter-protesters. I believe that the other side was not very pleased by the strong counter-protest and I, for one vow to be there next year and every year after that till the Lord calls me home to show that Americans support our Troops and most don’t believe what the protesters were spouting.
P.S. For Wayne; I met the Colonel and he was outstanding. I also met A Man I believe was named John White with the Colonel and he was great also.
Great job! I’m surprised the whineys lasted till 3pm. They usually have to stop and have tofu every 30mins to keep going.
Great job guys. I miss my Hereford house and would have joined you if I still lived there.
Thank all of you for being there! You made me smile.
Great AAR, SSBN Sailor!! Thanks to all of you FReepers who were there.
Herald’s Article w/ comments at: http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/11/17/news/doc49211f399bbd7231937105.txt
Notice that Vitale and the other two did not get arrested or cited, just banned from post for a year.
Very good report, but note how much better Sandrat and others made it look with a little punctuation.
Hint: Do your write-up in MS Word, then cut and paste.
Gathering of Eagles ! Where are you ?