Sheehan will miss tour's Albany stop

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September 13th, 2005 12:34 PM

Sheehan will miss tour's Albany stop

By Carol DeMare / Times-Union

ALBANY -- Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan will not be on the bus when her tour group arrives at the Capitol on Wednesday, opting instead to join veterans in Louisiana working on hurricane relief.

Local supporters learned over the weekend that Sheehan's plans had changed, but members of her group, the "Bring Them Home Now Tour," will carry on the day's program as planned, said Elaine Hills, who is with Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace.

Sheehan also canceled a stop in Syracuse that was scheduled for today. She was to arrive in Albany tonight, but went to Covington, La., to meet with Veterans for Peace. The group had been part of her national tour.

The veterans "have been running relief efforts out of Covington and providing food and clothing and satellite communication on their bus" so those displaced by Hurricane Katrina can contact family members, Hills said.

Gold Star Families for Peace, of which Sheehan is a co-founder, is a sponsor of the tour and will be among the hosts in Albany where at least six activists will talk. While Sheehan, whose son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed in Iraq last year, "is the spark of the movement, there are others on the tour who have also lost their children, and they will be speaking to us," Hills said. "We anticipate local families with loved ones in the military will be joining us. And we will honor local families who have lost loved ones."

Late last month, after a weeks-long vigil near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Sheehan began a cross-country bus tour that will culminate in a peace rally in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24.

In Albany, a symbolic Camp Casey will be set up at 10 a.m. in Capitol Park West to honor those who have died in Iraq. At noon, the rally will move to the front of the Capitol. At 6:30 p.m., demonstrators will walk around the Capitol in a memorial procession and into Chancellor's Hall across Washington Avenue in the state Education Building for a 7 p.m. forum

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