7,000 are expected in Crawford for rallies

By Jack Douglas Jr.
Star-Telegram

As many as 7,000 people are expected to participate in two large rallies today in Crawford, and local law officials and the Secret Service have stepped up security to "accommodate the numbers."

While the protests are expected to be peaceful, authorities will be watching for anyone in the crowd who is "possibly not a peaceful demonstrator," said Mark Lowery, special agent in charge of the Secret Service in North Texas.

Rallies for and against the war in Iraq are expected to involve between 4,000 and 7,000 people, and some may be "celebrity types," Lowery said.

He said federal authorities have been meeting daily with the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to ensure that demonstrations do not get unruly.

Chief Deputy Randy Plemons said that sheriff's patrols will be beefed up for the demonstrations outside Crawford, population 788, and that extra law enforcement assistance will be available if the town's small police department needs help.

Political observers disagreed on whether the peace movement, which started Aug. 6 in Crawford when President Bush began vacationing at his nearby ranch, will lose steam once Bush returns to Washington.

Cindy Sheehan, the leader of the new anti-war movement and the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, has said she will leave Crawford next week -- about the same time Bush leaves -- and will embark on a bus tour. She has said she will participate in an anti-war rally Sept. 24 in Washington, at the same time that similar rallies are scheduled on the West Coast.

Hundreds of protesters have set up camps near Bush's ranch since Sheehan began a vigil asking for a personal meeting with the president to talk about the war that killed her son, Casey.

Though their numbers have so far been smaller, pro-Bush groups have also set up sites in and around the town to counter the anti-war movement.

Both sides are expected to turn out in large numbers today.

Bush supporters, many of them arriving in caravans, plan a rally near the school stadium in Crawford while, at the same time, Sheehan's followers have scheduled a large gathering 10 miles away, at "Camp Casey II" near a back entrance to Bush's ranch.

The movement triggered by Sheehan is likely to have a lasting effect even after the crowds disperse from Crawford, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

For Sheehan's star status to remain strong in the protest movement, she must keep her message "simple and sincere," focusing on her loss as a mother, Jillson said. If she becomes more politically charged and begins throwing "incendiary bombshells" at the president, "she begins to lose her effectiveness," he said.

Brian Mayes, a Republican political consultant from Dallas, said Sheehan's efforts have only motivated the "far left" activists who are "looking to relive the '60s hippie movement."

"She is equally motivating the conservative base of the country as well as turning off the middle-of-the-road people who view her as a radical, left-wing activist," Mayes said.

--Oh how that bushevik just don't want it to be true.. Hey dimbulb... yall have been stedily loosing REAL republicans since 2000.--