CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — War protesters will have a new and bigger gathering place when they return in August to President Bush's adopted hometown: a 5-acre lot bought with insurance money Cindy Sheehan received after her son was killed in Iraq.
Gerry Fonseca, a fellow war protester who acted as Sheehan's agent, said he recently bought the vacant lot about a mile from downtown Crawford — and about 7 miles from Bush's ranch — for $52,500. About half the land is pasture, and the other half is woods, he said.
"If Cindy Sheehan came to town, I don't think anybody would have sold her any property," Fonseca, of Eagle Rock, Mo., told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Sheehan, of Berkeley, Calif., reinvigorated the anti-war movement last summer with her peace vigil, which started in ditches off the road to Bush's ranch. As it grew, the group also set up its protests on a private, 1-acre lot closer to the ranch.
Sheehan told the AP in an e-mail Thursday that the group wanted more space.