Antiwar camp losing appeal with Bush neighbor

[paineinthearse]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/15/antiwar_camp_losing_appeal_with_bush_neighbor/

Antiwar camp losing appeal with Bush neighbor
Actions by both sides, spotlight from media said to be disruptive
By G. Robert Hillman, Dallas Morning News | August 15, 2005

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Larry Mattlage has had enough.

He's tired of all the commotion at the antiwar camp across the road from his ranch house. He wants all the cars out of his ditch, and the antiwar protesters, the pro-war demonstrators, and the media to leave. So, he's closed the iron gate to his small spread outside of town and posted ''Sorry, We're Closed," and ''Help Wanted" signs. And yesterday morning, as Cindy Sheehan and a small gathering of other antiwar supporters prepared for a worship service, he stood in his goat pasture and fired a shotgun into the air.

''I'm getting ready for dove season," he said when reporters pressed him. ''I'm practicing." His message, though, was unmistakable as he talked. ''These neighbors out here are upset," he said. ''I don't want nobody getting hurt. I just want them to pack the damn tents and go where they came from."

Within minutes of his shotgun blast, sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents, who protect President Bush at his nearby ranch, rushed in. McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch said he counseled Mattlage to exercise some restraint. ''He's on his own property," Lynch said. But he warned that Mattlage can't just ''shoot across the road." ''Everyone needs to use restraint in this situation out here," the sheriff said.

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''Look," said Mattlage, who has a longstanding deal with NBC News for a view from his property of the president's ranch, ''when they first came out here, I was sympathetic to their cause. They, as American citizens, have a right to march and to protest." But ''they're just like company," he said. ''If you had had your brother-in-law in your house for five days, wouldn't it start stinking after a while?" In a statement, Sheehan said protesters had not infringed on Mattlage's property. ''As to the neighbor's suggestion that we go home, we suggest he talk to his permanent neighbor, President Bush. We are not leaving until President Bush meets with us and answers our questions about why our sons are dead."

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