They shift site, but not their stance (West Chester FReep of Moonbats)

After almost five years of Saturday-morning demonstrations outside the Chester County Courthouse in West Chester, Iraq war protesters yesterday made their move.

To a sidewalk across from the courthouse.

"We don't want a confrontation," said Karen Porter, a lawyer from West Goshen Township who heads the Chester County Peace Movement.

On the courthouse steps, wearing military fatigue trousers and a black beret, Chris Hill said, "Today is a win."

A Philadelphia hospital patient registrar, Hill is national director of operations for the organization Gathering of Eagles, which supports the war.

Standing alongside a Civil War memorial on the courthouse lawn, Hill said, "This is where we belong."

At that northwest corner of High and Market Streets, his demonstrators waved large U.S. flags and signs such as "We Gave Peace a Chance and We Got 9/11."

(On its Web site, the Gathering of Eagles' mission statement reads, in part, "We will accept nothing less than total, unqualified victory in the current conflict.")

On the southeast corner of the intersection, Porter's folks waved signs such as "Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home."

Two West Chester police cars were parked on a High Street sidewalk across from the courthouse. Though a few folks from one camp drifted across to the other between 11 a.m. and noon, there were no incidents.

The West Chester antiwar demonstrations began in November 2002 - four months before the invasion of Iraq - but until early last month drew only "10 to 30 people on average," Porter said.

Yesterday, each side estimated a total of about 125.

A similar confrontation occurred in Doylestown Borough in January 2003.

Members of the Doylestown Friends Meeting had been staging Tuesday-evening antiwar rallies since September 2001 near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial outside the Bucks County Courthouse.

But after a Vietnam veteran led a counterprotest, the Quakers moved to Main and State Streets, a block away.

James Donnelly, Doylestown Borough police chief, said Friday that the antiwar demonstrations continued each week, "very small, very peaceful," while the counterdemonstrations had lasted "only a week or two."

Until six weeks ago, there were no counterprotesters in West Chester.

But in his Market Street apartment two blocks away, a retired 20-year Navy veteran who works in inventory control for a medical firm had been seething for a while.

"So," Rich Davis said, "on Sept. 8, I walked up there with my own sign: 'Warning. Leftists Trying to Demoralize Our Troops.' "

Larger gatherings followed.

Yesterday, Mike Conti, 55, an Air Force veteran who is an air traffic controller at Philadelphia International Airport, stood on a High Street curb a few feet from Sue Maletsky, 63, a retired artist from West Chester.

"We are fighting global terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head," said Conti, who lives in Exton. "I believe in doing that in Iraq and Afghanistan and, if need be, Iran also."

Maletsky held a sign reading "No Pre-emptive Strike on Iran."

Softly, she said, "Every fiber in my body does not want to be here."

But she was there, she said, because "I'm so terrified there is going to be World War III."

Contact staff writer Walter F. Naedele at 610-701-7614 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.

Some great descriptions in this article: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/

"These are not bad guys," he said of his fellow counterprotesters. "These are patriotic bikers. It's a cheap shot to say that a bunch of jack-booted motorcycle thugs are bullying a bunch of old Quaker ladies." (snip)

Charges of intimidation are "totally bogus," said Wayne Lutz, 53, of Glenside, an Army veteran and Pennsylvania coordinator of the Gathering of Eagles. He showed up for the victory rallies on his Harley. "Maybe some people are intimidated by my appearance," he said. He described himself as 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, with a shaved head, a long mustache, tattoos and an earring. He usually wears biker leather, camo and a vest. "People see somebody like me and immediately assume the worst," said Lutz, a church administrator. "They make judgments based on their preconceptions and bigotries."

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They shift site, but not their stance

Weekly antiwar protesters cross West Chester street.