Arrest In Texas Protest Cross-Up

AUGUST 16--Meet Larry Northern. The Texas man, 59, was arrested last night and charged with criminal mischief for allegedly driving his pickup truck over wooden crosses erected near the roadside campsite of Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who has brought her antiwar protest to President George W. Bush's Crawford doorstep. A row of the memorial crosses, which carry the names of U.S. soldiers killed during the Iraq war, were destroyed when Northern, a Waco resident, allegedly drove his truck (which was dragging a pipe and chains) over them. The crosses are part of an encampment Sheehan has dubbed 'Camp Casey' in honor of her late son, a 24-year-old Army Specialist killed in action last year. Sheehan has said she will not budge from the road leading to the president's ranch until he meets with her to explain 'why our sons are dead.' Northern is a Waco realtor and gun enthusiast who has served as president of a local 'shooting sports facility' (click here to see Northern and fellow gun club officers posing in front of an American flag). (2 pages)