thedrifter
01-07-07, 11:55 AM
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Love and losses
An anti-war demonstration in Garden Grove draws two Gold Star mothers and dozens of other protesters.
By VALERIE TAKAHAMA
The Orange County Register
Judy Probst wrote her son's name on one of the thousands of small wooden crosses that stretched along Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove on Saturday.
Her son, Michael, was killed in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq in February.
"I'm here so that what happened to my son doesn't happen to someone else's," said Probst, of Irvine.
The Gold Star mother was among the 50 or so people who marched, waved signs, listened to speeches, wept and consoled one another during a 24-hour vigil to protest the war in Iraq.
Their signs read "Honor the Dead, Heal the Wounded," "No War" and "Worst President Ever." Probst's carried the message, "Bush Lied, My Son Died in Iraq."
Pat Alviso, a member of Military Families Speak Out, said the event was held to commemorate the "horrific milestone of 3,000 American deaths" in Iraq. Protesters wanted to send a message to legislators at the start of the new session of Congress.
"We used to say this is Bush's war. Our message to Congress now is, you cannot say you oppose the war and then vote to fund it," Alviso said.
They also aimed to be part of the debate over whether the U.S. should send more troops into Iraq, a plan that President Bush is expected to announce this week.
Supporters of the war argue that more troops are needed to help the Iraqi government get on its feet and to ensure that the country does not become a source of regional instability.
Members of the group began assembling before 9 a.m. and affixed 3,006 miniature crosses, crescents, Stars of David and American flags to a fence running alongside a vacant lot. By mid-morning, they learned that a new count had increased the number of deaths to 3,031.
Despite the steady roar of traffic and frequent blasts of horns from passing cars, the overall mood was somber. Around noon, a woman standing beside a flag-draped box read a roll call of fallen soldiers. Another woman sounded a gong as each name was read.
One of the names belonged to Vickie Castro's son, Jonathan Castro, 21, who died in December 2004. He was among 14 soldiers killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in a mess tent on an American base in Mosul.
Castro, a high school math teacher from Corona, said she had spoken with her son the day before the bombing.
"The last thing he said was, 'Don't worry, Mom, I have no idea of dying,' " she said.
Like Probst, Castro, also a Gold Star mother, said she felt compelled to speak out in hopes of saving the life of another mother's child.
"I've been criticized. I've had people tell me I'm dishonoring my son," she said.
"No mother wants to be told that, especially one who has lost her only child."
Not all the protesters were members of the Orange County-South Bay chapter of Military Families Speak Out, which organized the event. There were Vietnam veterans, parents with toddlers, suburban moms and students.
Kathy Hundemer, a school nurse from Los Alamitos, began protesting on Wednesday nights at the Orange Plaza in September 2004. She said she'd noticed a change in the public's attitude.
"When we started out it was two-to-one against us with boos and thumbs down. Now it's two-to-one in our favor," said Hundemer, a member of Code Pink, an all-female peace organization. "People honk for peace and cheer and give us thumbs up."
Members of the group planned to stay overnight at the site and sleep in folding chairs on the sidewalk beside the temporary memorial. They intended to remove the crosses, flags and other symbols early this morning.
"If our kids can be in the boiling heat and freezing cold, we can do this," Alviso said. "This is nothing."
Contact the writer: 714-796-6087 or vtakahama@ocregister.com
Ellie
Love and losses
An anti-war demonstration in Garden Grove draws two Gold Star mothers and dozens of other protesters.
By VALERIE TAKAHAMA
The Orange County Register
Judy Probst wrote her son's name on one of the thousands of small wooden crosses that stretched along Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove on Saturday.
Her son, Michael, was killed in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq in February.
"I'm here so that what happened to my son doesn't happen to someone else's," said Probst, of Irvine.
The Gold Star mother was among the 50 or so people who marched, waved signs, listened to speeches, wept and consoled one another during a 24-hour vigil to protest the war in Iraq.
Their signs read "Honor the Dead, Heal the Wounded," "No War" and "Worst President Ever." Probst's carried the message, "Bush Lied, My Son Died in Iraq."
Pat Alviso, a member of Military Families Speak Out, said the event was held to commemorate the "horrific milestone of 3,000 American deaths" in Iraq. Protesters wanted to send a message to legislators at the start of the new session of Congress.
"We used to say this is Bush's war. Our message to Congress now is, you cannot say you oppose the war and then vote to fund it," Alviso said.
They also aimed to be part of the debate over whether the U.S. should send more troops into Iraq, a plan that President Bush is expected to announce this week.
Supporters of the war argue that more troops are needed to help the Iraqi government get on its feet and to ensure that the country does not become a source of regional instability.
Members of the group began assembling before 9 a.m. and affixed 3,006 miniature crosses, crescents, Stars of David and American flags to a fence running alongside a vacant lot. By mid-morning, they learned that a new count had increased the number of deaths to 3,031.
Despite the steady roar of traffic and frequent blasts of horns from passing cars, the overall mood was somber. Around noon, a woman standing beside a flag-draped box read a roll call of fallen soldiers. Another woman sounded a gong as each name was read.
One of the names belonged to Vickie Castro's son, Jonathan Castro, 21, who died in December 2004. He was among 14 soldiers killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in a mess tent on an American base in Mosul.
Castro, a high school math teacher from Corona, said she had spoken with her son the day before the bombing.
"The last thing he said was, 'Don't worry, Mom, I have no idea of dying,' " she said.
Like Probst, Castro, also a Gold Star mother, said she felt compelled to speak out in hopes of saving the life of another mother's child.
"I've been criticized. I've had people tell me I'm dishonoring my son," she said.
"No mother wants to be told that, especially one who has lost her only child."
Not all the protesters were members of the Orange County-South Bay chapter of Military Families Speak Out, which organized the event. There were Vietnam veterans, parents with toddlers, suburban moms and students.
Kathy Hundemer, a school nurse from Los Alamitos, began protesting on Wednesday nights at the Orange Plaza in September 2004. She said she'd noticed a change in the public's attitude.
"When we started out it was two-to-one against us with boos and thumbs down. Now it's two-to-one in our favor," said Hundemer, a member of Code Pink, an all-female peace organization. "People honk for peace and cheer and give us thumbs up."
Members of the group planned to stay overnight at the site and sleep in folding chairs on the sidewalk beside the temporary memorial. They intended to remove the crosses, flags and other symbols early this morning.
"If our kids can be in the boiling heat and freezing cold, we can do this," Alviso said. "This is nothing."
Contact the writer: 714-796-6087 or vtakahama@ocregister.com
Ellie