Posted on 01/11/2003 9:10:19 PM PST by fivetoes
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WOW!It was an extraorniary double Freep day in Northern Colorado. First, the usual Freep with the VFW at Mulberry and College in Ft. Collins. Afterward some of us showed up in Loveland.
Freepers in attendance this week were:
CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC and daughter
Trteamer
RandallFlagg
Softengine
RMRattlesnake and family (drumming son)
Bikertrash and son
MollynMe
fivetoes
The usual members of the VFW Post 1781, Joe, Jim, Harry and several others.
and Roy, Dick, Paul and John from The Colorado Patriots Fife and Drum Corps.
There seemed to be a touch of tension in the air today. Treamer, RandalFlagg and myself showed up an hour early and took a position on the South West corner. The honking began immediately. When the Dr. Suess character showed up, he had a look of confusion on his face as he saw us standing on what he thought was his corner.
Eventually during the hour all four corners were occupied by both sides. We had the NE and SW and they had the NW and SE corners. There were more people than ever before. A Ft. Collins' police van showed up and parked over by them for a while and I am told he later stopped by our side of the street. There was definately a lot of foot traffic and mingling on corners with the opposing side while waiting for the traffic lights to change.
I did the usual peacmakers tribute a few times on the bullhorn: Blessed Are the Peacemakers the United States Army, United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Coast Guard aannddd the United States Marine Corps. Everyone gave the resounding Ooh Rah!
I did let them know that they were being supported by the communist party USA, who also are against US miltary action. If you want to see for yourself go here www.cpusa.org (hyper link not provided on purpose)
Dick and I arrived in Loveland for round two and got there just as they did. It was not long after that CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC and his daughter arrived.
We were visited by a very nice looking young lady who stopped by to thank us for being there. She is a Marine stationed in Southern California.
About 2:10 I saw a Loveland police car come into our parking lot and go into the real estate office on our corner. She was in there for about fifteen minutes and came over to us and walked directly towards me. I remember thinking "I must look like a ring leader, why is she walking right toward me" LOL
She said that she recognized me from weeks past and would like a pow wow with one of us and one of them. She asked me who on the other side was a regular. They had already done their kumbia circle and were leaving the scene. I pointed out the rather tall bongo player and she walked across and invited him and I over to her vehicle to explain the situation.
It appears as though the lady in the real estate office has been constantly complaining about the noise which includes the constant cars honking, the bullhorn dialog and the constant, mundain, beating of the same bongo tune over and over and over. She asked that we take the word 'HONK' of of our signs, not use the bullhorn and please stop playing those infernal bongos. She went on to explain that neither the police or the lady in the real estate office had any problem with us being on the corner as is our right. However, inticing drivers to honk and making other noise would be considered 'disturbing the peace'. She said that she realizes that people will still toot their horns in support of our cause and that was nothing we had control over.
A few weeks back if you recall, I and the other side were contacted by a different police officer with the same take the "HONK' off of our signs request. I changed my sign to say Show Your Support for Our Troops. They have a sign that reads HONK FOR PEACE which has been used every week since. Since I was being talked to by the officer I asked just exactly what was my responsibilty when other Freepers and concerned individuals show up. I am to inform them of our little discussion about disturbing the peace and that there may be citations issued. You have been so informed.
Back to the beginning of the conversation with the police officer; The bongo player stands a good head taller than me and had that looking down on me look. As she began talking to us I interupted her to inform her that I a concealed carry permit. It is a requirement that whenever a CCW holder is contacted by a member of law enforcement the CCW holder is to furnish this information immediately. Without missing a beat or batting an eye, she thanked me for the information. Well that big bongo player now knows that not only am I a war monger, as they like to call us, but I am also armed. He no longer had that lokkoing down on me look. Yes folks a firearm IS the great equalzer. Just like the old saying on the M-16s 'Be afraid of no man, no matter what his size. Just call on me and I will equalize.' I guess I will be looked at differently by them. LOL
The officer stayed around for a while and we all had a nice talk with her. She said that when the lady called she [the officer] could hear nothing but horn honking in the background on the telephone. The real estate lady even tried making her phone calls from the back office, but it did not help. I did tell her that we were there only because they were there. If they go away we would too. This my friends disputes the newpaper article in the Reprter Herald that they were getting favorable honks from drivers 10 to 1. That was before the Freepers arrived. They cannot make that claim any longer.!
Here are the pictures of the Ft. Collins rally. In all the excitement in Loveland, I forgot to take pictures. Does that mean I flunk photo journalism 101? LOL
This is Treamer and RandalFlagg taken before the noon rally as a few of them gathered across the street.
This is a shot of the flag on the SW corner taken from the SE corner as I made my way over to the NE corner. Are you with me?
The Colorado Patriots Drum and Fife Corps. Dick on the bass drum, Roy on the snare drum, Paul playing the bag pipes, John on the fife and RMRattlesnake's son on the other snare drum. 
A shot of the good guys and gals.
At one point the guy in the Dr. Suess hat found himself on the wrong corner. He did not stick around long.
Here are a couple of shots of patriots on the SW corner. That is RandalFlagg, Treamer and CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC
Here are a couple of shots of the Ft. Collins police van. The first is behind them in the parking lot and the other is when it passed by the SW corner.
This is Softengine with her newest sign. She does a good job with signs.
The back of Leon's VFW jacket.
The back of RMRattlesnake's jacket.
A parting shot of the SW corner on my way to Loveland. I know I should have both hands on the wheel. LOL
I was there in 68 or 69 when anti war radicals marched down North College and were going to slop blood on the war memorial up by the Northern Hotel. The police did object to that and a few stalwart souls turned away several thousand punks.
Good Job Freepers. Keep it up.
I'm going to miss you folks. I told my Wife about our FReep (I hadn't realized just how tired I really was until the drive back to Denver) and she said she hoped it was fun. Upon retrospect (OO, Big word), it'll be better when I come back because I will have time to make out some killler signs and hopefully get some Denver-area FReepers to ride up with me; strength in numbers.
Jim Robinson, you really started something wonderful here. This is such an addictive thing to do.
I got off work around 05:40 and went home. Woke my Son up at 7 and made him breakfast (He's an eggs and potato man, just like his daddy) and started up around 8. En route, I was listening to my recorded re-plays of The Savage Nation to gear myself up for the FReep. I arrived at the Safeway parking lot really early -around 9:30- and was reading a magazine until Trteamer arrived. We sat and talked for a while until Fivetoes drove up, then gathered our gear and headed to the SW corner. We hadn't even set up our stuff yet and the horns started. I admit, I wasn't too swift with the sign making department (I stopped by a Wal-Mart and picked up a THICK black magic marker and a 2'X2.5' desk calender with, "CRUSH TERROR WITH BOTH TALONS" on a 4' stick, which I never used) but I hoped to make it up in the bullhorn department.
The peaceniks arrived after 11(Sleeping in after all night dope-fests, chopping and snorting Prozac) and set up shop. Our "USA ARMY PARATROOPER" arrived and crossed by us saying, "After I'm done, I'm gonna go read my bible." We wondered which bible he was referring to; probably missing some pages. CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC arrived with a HUGE number of signs (Most of them being revealing about the peaceniks) and stayed with us on our corner. As Trteamer already stated, 2 female peaceniks walked by and told us why they oppose war, "I have kids in the military. I don't want them hurt." She either has absolutely no trust in her kid's abilities, or in the finest and strongest military force in the world, I told her so. I also stated, "I've been there and I'll tell you that it's the people of Iraq that will get rid of Sadaam. The military operation will probably be over in a lazy afternoon." She, of course, wasn't listening. There was also a guy that was holding an 8X11 sign with TINY words on it getting on the rambunctious side; holloring, "I'm a vet, too!" and waving at us. I wondered if his medical marijuana perscription ran out early. I also noticed that the Good Times burger joint behind us was filled with people plastered at the windows watching the festivities.
After a while, Fivetoes went to join the good guys at the NE corner (Bagpipes and Fivetoes are like bullets and bullseyes -can't keep 'em apart) and we were exchanging calls back and fourth. Occasionally, I bellowed out to the peaceniks...
"The people of Iraq deserve better than Sadaam."
"I'll bet the Iraqi people wish they could do what we're doing. Of course you know what would happen...."
After we finished -we were determined to stick around until the terrorist sympathetics departed- we packed up our signs and I followed Trteamer to the local VFW and met some really nice folks.
All in all it was a great FReep. See you all on February 22nd!!!
Aw, man. If we start a military operation, and they start any civil disobedience, they're gonna be bothered.
Well, you do have that image of authority and respect look to ya. Maybe it's the bullhorn?
Here's a better thought, though....Maybe she's a FReeper!!! WOO-HOO!!!
Hmm, a patriot who wants the world to be controlled by a bunch of anti-Americans?
(Or does he think writing his stuff with illegibly small letters has made him a patriot? Isn't "patriot" actually a sneer word in Hippieland? These kids are really confused...)
Great freep, BTW!
Come to think of it, I have seen her drive by on more than one occaision giving a smile and a wave. Our conversation with her afterwards was very genuine concerning this matter. I would like to post the details, but prudence advises otherweise. Who knows, she just may be a freeper.
It's completely bogus. As soon as I read the part about the reward, I looked through the whole thing for the details as to who was offering this "Reward". Something like a name perhaps? An address? A phone number? A URL? No? Not a single identifying mark? (Maybe I'm supposed to dust the paper for fingerprints to find out just who is offering this reward?)
I can't believe I wasted my time reading it!
It's funny that someone called into the "Trib Talk" (our newspaper) telephone line where they will print (non-libelous) comments. They complained about the peacenik drummer girl, who really plays horribly, banging on that drum for an hour every Saturday. It really is obnoxious, but I can turn it off. Others aren't so lucky. I can't understand why they are beating the drums of war anyway. Logic doesn't seem to affect them.
My one regret is that I didn't get a picture of my 11-year-old struggling to simultaneously hold up fivetoes' "Blessed are the Peacemakers : The U.S. Army, ......" sign on a tall stick, plus support trteamer's big orange "Give Our Troops a HONK" sign leaning against her, plus frequently honk fivetoes' high-pitched "A-hoo-ga" horn, plus wave to cars ----- all at the same time. Her juggling act was also made more difficult by a gusty wind, and was fairly entertaining to watch! (We always have more signs than we can use at one time, and we rotate them. Also they're handy to have for occasions when new passerby volunteers help out).
The Loveland policewoman was very nice. One thing she mentioned is that one of their own happens to be in the Reserve and is over in the Mideast right now. But it's too bad that we can't use the ahooga horn any more, nor any of the signs with the word "Honk" in them, nor fivetoes' bullhorn! Dang! Well at least it's some consolation that the other side has to stop their monotonous bongoing now, and has to put away their own Honky signs (say ... if we modify the sign to say "Give Our Troops A Honky," will it be legal?) So we traded Bongos For Bullhorns! Fair trade?? I'm not convinced. Well, at least the Honk signs and bullhorn are still legal in Fort Fungus.
Another thing that struck me, was how close the SW corner in Ft Collins is to the Clueless Ones. This is the first time I've hung out there for more than a couple seconds. The NE corner is 7 lanes plus a median away from them, but the SW corner is 5 lanes and no median. You can actually see the whites of their eyes, and read twice as many of their obnoxious signs (I also just realized that motorists waiting at the lights can't read most of their signs).
But standing so close to them adds a new dimension to it. For one thing, you can actually hear each other on occasion. Also, you can make out the facial expressions now. I noticed that they have a lot of seniors over there (we never have more than 1 or 2). I'll bet their seniors are of that certain variety that is easily paniced every other November when the Rats call from their phone banks and scream, "Get down to the polls RIGHT NOW and vote for every Democrat on the ballot, or else the Republicans will eliminate Social Security and take away your medicines and doctors and throw you out on the street!!!" Man, I'm so glad there aren't any seniors among my family or inlaws who are susceptible to that kind of crap.
Well, it's getting late; gotta go. But it sure is great reading all of you other people's Freep posts here every week, as well as the ones from Fresno, Missouri and now Louisville! (BTW what happened to Boston, anyway?) I'll be out of town next week, but am really looking forward to helping out with a new Longmont Freep soon.
It's true, they are, for sure.
It's just that they are patriotic for a different country than the USA. Miserable pukes.
God, please bless our Veterans and current Armed Forces.
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