Brave Texan makes intelligent case

CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush might have made his peace with the antiwar encampment outside his Texas ranch, but his next-door neighbor has taken up arms.

The incident occurred Sunday morning as activists gathered for a prayer service in the tent village set up by Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq and who is demanding a meeting with Bush to discuss the war. On the other side of Prairie Chapel Road, Larry Mattlage hopped into his pickup, barreled across his pasture and pulled up to a fence within a few hundred feet of the protesters. He climbed out of the cab, retrieved a shotgun from the back and fired at least one blast into the air.

"I done made my case. It's over," he said as he shooed away a reporter from the gated entrance to his ranch.

"I wish I had the nerve to do something like that," said Army Sgt. Vernon "Dusty" Harrison, who spent a year in Iraq and owns an adjacent property. "I salute his bravery."

The White House declined to comment on the incident.

Quoted verbatim from The L.A. Times