BUSH PROTEST

Brad Watson reports

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DALLAS - About 50 people joined Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist whose son was killed in the war on Iraq, in a protest this afternoon near former President George W. Bush’s Preston Hollow home.

The march was sponsored by the Dallas Peace Center, which has been involved in protests with Sheehan since 2005, when the California mother staged a prolonged demonstration outside Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Protesters gathered about 4:30 p.m. at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane. From there, they walked about a mile to John J. Pershing Elementary School, which is near the Bush home on Daria Place.

"I think this is going to be the protest of the summer,” Sheehan said in an interview this morning. "It’s really picking up a lot of energy."

Organizers did not apply for a permit from the city and were required to stay on sidewalks and not cross or impede major streets, said Trish Major, communications director for the Dallas Peace Center.

"My guess is that the neighbors would probably rather that we not be there," Major said, anticipating a cool reaction.

"But it’s also important to remember this is the neighborhood that welcomed the Bushes warmly, and they knew that by having a person of this stature in their neighborhood, this is something they would have to deal with."

One neighbor who was less than enthusiastic about Sheehan's appearance was Debbie Valentine. Outside her home down the street from the Bushes is a large sign, decorated with a Texas flag, that says, "Welcome home, George and Laura. Thank you for making America a safer place for our family."

Valentine said: "I understand their right to protest, but this is just disrespectful."

But Erika Davis, one of the protesters, wasn't interested in niceties.

"Who cares about rudeness?" she said. "What about all of the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed and maimed in the war?"

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Bush supporters also showed up in opposition of the protestors.

Sheehan said people who live near the former president would be joining the march. She would not provide names.

"I’m sure most people who live there won’t be happy with the protest," she said. "But we’re going to be exercising our rights as Americans to do this and hopefully people who don’t agree with us, and us with them, will agree that all sides have the right to express their opinion."

"There won’t be any civil disobedience or anything," Major said. "There will be no climbing of the gates."