The Scene: A hot, mostly sunny summer afternoon in Anderson, Ohio.

The parade was to begin at noon about on Beechmont Avenue about a mile east of it's end near Five Mile Road.

I was coming from another parade in Montgomery, so I was already sweaty, but the car AC cooled
me off and I parked (as I had planned) in a garage on Five Mile, near the end point of the parade.

As usual, I walked along the parade route, trying to get to where the parade was starting..

There were a lot of people, and even though there were lots of positive statements regarding the sign,
there was still some hostility to the message, as I'd seen in previous parades.

Some scouts led the parad with a banner.

There was nobody handy to take a picture for me, so I took one myself.

The first of the bagpipe bands came by.

Followed by some of our extremely religious county sheriff's hardware.

And then more bagpipes.

Why? I don't know.

This is a shot looking along the parade route. Lots of people!

Democrats

Square dancers.

Laser tag Pirates.

Booooooo

Mooooooo

Booooo again!

Could it get more commercial?

(Our service blows... the competition away.)

Skittish horses, novice riders, nervous trainer.

The kid to the left of the guy in the road was shocked by the sign.

The trip back to the car, walking along with the parade, was a bit rough.
The sign drew a lot of boos, a few smatterings of applause, and I was told
to go home, go to France, go to Russia, and go to hell.

At one point I was called a communist by a big beefy guy wearing a tee-shirt that
had "Bare-Fisted Boxing" written on it. He had a gigantic chest
and arms as thick as tree trunks. We exchanged some words as I passed,
and I started back to give him an ear full, but  but a cop
corralled me and moved me along. That oaf was lucky. If not for that cop,
the oaf would have found out just how bestial he could be!

At another point a young soldier in full desert camouflage  came up to me and
asked "Why the sign, sir?" I said because the war in Iraq was based on lies and
we had no business being there. He said he'd just gotten back from there. I said
I was glad he'd made it back in one piece and that I hoped all our troops would be
back safely and soon. He said he disagreed that the war was based on lies. I said
I thought he was wrong about that, but I wasn't surprised that he had that opinion.
Just then a parade-watcher came up and shook the young man's hand and said
he agreed with him and not with me. I said, well, you are both wrong. They were
having a pleasant encounter, so I left them to it.

There were more boos and more applause, all the way along the rest of the parade
route. It was hot, it was long, and it was raucous, but it was worth it.

Notice:
Today's sign event page, too, is dedicated to patriots everywhere.

More fun later,

Ray

Written July, 4, 2006