Several shots heard near protestors but no one hurt
By David Edwards on 8/14/2005, 4:38pm PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Larry Mattlage is a neighbor of George Bush in Crawford. He says he was sympathetic to the anti-war protesters when they arrived but has gotten tired of the crowds.

Deborah Mathews reports for The Iconoclast...

"Wait! Someone is firing a gun. (pause). He fired it into the air about five times. He appears to be a local inside the fence line on private property. Now he has thrown what looks like a shotgun into the front seat of a pickup, and he's stomping off out of sight. I wonder where he went.

"Now he's coming back out. I'm out here standing on the road. He's got a no parking sign in his hand, walking toward his fence. I'm going to go try to talk to him. I've got to hang up."

(three minutes later)

I went over and talked to the man. He is Larry Mattlage, who says he is on his property and just posted a no-parking sign.

"We're going to start doing our war and it's going to be underneath the law," he told me. "Whatever it takes. So y'all go find another place to do whatever you do. 'Cause this is our front yard and back yard."

I asked, "Do you mean the protestors?"

Wait.....now there's some Secret Service and cops. I'm going to get closer to hear what they're saying. People in bullet-proof vests are here now. Two Secret Service agents are now walking up his driveway towards his house, with Mr. Mattlage. A member of the Sheriff's Department has arrived. Mr. Mattlage is waving his arms now. All of them are now walking back this way.

CNN just reported on the situation and it seems that Mr. Mattlage claims he was preparing for dove hunting season.

"This is Texas.", he says. He is clearly agitated.

The CNN video clip is available here. (Windows Media format)

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