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Letter to the editor

Weekly protesters find support grows

Peace activists brave heat, humidity and drive-by insults to make their views known.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published July 17, 2007

DUNEDIN - The shade of Edgewater Park does little to alleviate the shirt-sticking, humidity-choking, it's-July-in-Florida heat.

It's the middle of the week, the end of the day and mosquito-biting hot, yet about 10 men and women are standing along Dunedin's waterfront road in T-shirts and hats, holding signs and waving to drivers, two fingers in the air. Peace.

"Tax breaks for the rich, body bags for the poor," reads one sign.

"Dissent is patriotic," reads another.

They don't have a group name but their weekly protests are announced in the newspaper and on www.stpeteforpeace.org.

They're there every Wednesday from about 4:30 to 6 p.m. reminding drivers slowing down at the corner of Edgewater Drive and Main Street that there's a war going on.

In the beginning, about two years ago, they said most drivers waved back, finger in the air. One finger, straight up.

But the mood here, as recent polls suggest is true of much of America, is different now.

The peace protesters of Edgewater Drive are getting waves, thumbs-ups and supportive honks.

Some honks are a brief beep.

Some are a little more confident: beep, beep.

Then there are the BEEEEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEPs.

The beeps and waves come from Mercedeses and Toyotas, Hondas and BMWs. The Hummer that drove by was quiet.

A guy in a Ford Expedition has one hand on his cell phone, the other honking his horn.

"We needed to educate the community that it's okay to be against this war," said Melissa Baird, a Tarpon Springs resident and real estate agent who has been protesting for two years.

Their numbers double and triple in the winter when the snowbirds are in town. The group used to meet at various spots on U.S. 19 but drivers threw stuff at them so they opted for a safer place on a slower corner.

Sometimes the protesters are called traitors or communists.

The name-callers are becoming more aggressive as support for the war wanes, said protester Danny Buckley, 62, a retired pharmacist living in Dunedin and a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve whose son is in the Navy Reserve.

"Just the presence of dissent comes as a surprise to many people," he said.

The corner at Edgewater Drive and Main Street is a demonstration of the right to free speech.

One group can wave a sign that says, "Bush lies, troops die," while a shirtless young man driving a car south on Edgewater Drive can scream obscenities at them out of his window.

Many of them say getting a reaction is better than apathy.

[Last modified July 16, 2007, 22:18:25]