Posted on 07/29/2006 8:40:06 AM PDT by Grendel9
CRAWFORD, Texas Like many folks in President Bush's adopted hometown, 83-year-old Robert Westerfield isn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat for the town's newest resident: war protester Cindy Sheehan.
"I wish she'd stay away. Crawford's a Republican town, and she's a dumb Democrat," Westerfield, a lifelong Crawford resident, said Friday while sitting on a bench outside a gas station on Main Street.
Sheehan, whose monthlong war protest near Bush's ranch last summer attracted more than 10,000 demonstrators, recently bankrolled the purchase of a 5-acre parcel near downtown to be used for future protests, including one next month.
The protesters group said it outgrew a 1-acre lot about a mile from Bush's ranch that a sympathetic landowner provided. Several hundred demonstrators returned to the lot over Thanksgiving and Easter.
Now many of the town's 700 residents fear the traffic congestion, noise from rallies and odor from portable toilets _ complaints from residents near the other campsite _ will affect those closer to town.
"When it's here, it affects a different set of people," Teresa Bowdoin said.
Gerry Fonseca, a Vietnam veteran who attended the protests in August and April, returned to Crawford in June to help the group look for property.
Fonseca said he doubts that any Crawford landowner would have sold to Sheehan or other protesters, so he didn't reveal his connection. Fonseca, who lost his Slidell, La., home in Hurricane Katrina, told sellers about that part of his life and that he wanted to build.
He bought the $52,500 lot in mid-July, using insurance money that Sheehan received after her oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.
The lot is a tenth of a mile from a small "Welcome to Crawford" billboard featuring a picture of Bush, smiling with his hand in a thumbs-up sign, and his wife.
The land is comprised of pasture and tree groves. Trucks began dumping gravel for a driveway on Friday, and water lines will be installed next week. Fonseca said he is still trying to arrange for electricity to be hooked up.
Although the site is more than 7 miles from Bush's ranch, it will have more space for the group's large activities tent, camping area and parking.
"This is close enough. We're still protesting in the community that he chose to live in," Fonseca said.
Sheehan said when the camp is no longer needed, she plans to donate the land to the city for a park to be named Spc. Casey Sheehan Memorial Peace Park. Sheehan said it would have a playground, because "Casey loved children and peace."
When Sheehan first arrived in Crawford last August, demanding to meet with the president during his monthlong working vacation, she and others set up tents in ditches off the winding, two-lane road leading to the ranch.
But the area became crowded as weekend protests swelled to several thousand people _ and spurred counter protests with Bush supporters _ so a sympathetic landowner let the group use his parcel that was even closer to the ranch.
Then last fall, county commissioners enacted roadside camping and parking bans to prevent similar protests. Some demonstrators returned to Sheehan's original makeshift campsite during the November and April protests for a civil disobedience action and were arrested. Sheehan was not among them.
In late June, Sheehan and four others sued the county over the ordinances, saying they want to return to what became an "international symbol of protest against the Iraq war."
Tammara Rosenleaf, one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, said she is glad the group now owns a lot but that some protesters may return to Sheehan's original site because it is considered "the soul of this movement."
Bill Johnson, owner of the Yellow Rose of Texas gift shop, disagrees with Sheehan's views of Bush and the war in Iraq and said he hopes protesters are considerate of their new neighbors. Last summer, the group disrupted the peaceful country life of some rural residents near Bush's ranch, he said.
"I don't want her rights taken away. Her son fought and died for this country," Johnson said. "But on the other hand, she needs to be respectful for what our country stands for."
She continuously makes trips around the US, accumulating travel/hotel/eating bills which have to tota a tidy sum. December of 2005 she traveled to London and Ireland; so far in 2006 she's flown to Venezuela and Australia. I doubt these fares are coach class. And now, the $50K+ for the Crawford land.
Just how much DOES a beneficiary receive from one of these war casualty policies?
Did the twisted witch use any of that money to buy a headstone for her son's grave yet?
Most of the reports I've seen describe a life insurance policy, which may be some amount in addition to whatever the military death benefit is. So it's unclear. Why doesn't someone ask her who's paying for what?
And, of course, there's the cost of all those Jamba Juices for her "fast". . .
A contract entered in on false pretenses can be nullified on the discretion of a judge. The sale of this land can and should be contested in court.
You could probably Google around for the benefit specifics. I don't know what they are these days, but when I was in, it was a pretty tidy sum.
The search phrase you'd be looking for is SGLI or Serviceman's Group Life Insurance.
Good thouhgt. But you know the MSM
would never do that.
Just how much DOES a beneficiary receive from one of these war casualty policies?
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Just as much as the anti-American dupe, Soros, wants to give her...
So basicially he lied
She a liar POS. She is merely a Moveon.org Propaganda prop.
I've been told that Casey's insurance policy was $250K
And that is if she received all of it and if the money wasn't split up within his family (father, brother & sisters)
MY burning question is WHY won't the press ask Cindy if it's true that Casey was raised by her ex? Did she even participate in raising her child that she now so openly mourns??
Geeez...she hasn't even moved in yet,and she's already causing problems.Fast forward five years from now.Cindy's sharing her ramshackle lean-to(sp?)with dozens of stray cats and dogs.Feces litter the floor,along with stacks of old newspapers,magazines and other items "salvaged" from dumpsters.....
7 miles away - she's desperate!
I call BS. Like all libs she can only be "generous" with money extracted from others.
That was completely debunked last year. What happened was, Cindy was set to appear on a talk show, cancelled, and was replaced by a wannabe Cindy whose background is as you describe. Somehow, that woman's family situation got mixed up with Cindy's.
I note that there are trees on the recently acquired Sheewhine property.
Certainly, SOMEbody would sell that Gold Star Mother a nice long piece of rope and a couple bottles of Jack Daniels, now wouldn't they?
Hint to Cindy:
a.) Drink the Jack
b.) Dwell upon your dwindling celebrity status.
c.) "Do The Dew"
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