Sunday, June 17, 2007

Bree Walker - New Owner of Camp Casey! A BradBlog Exclusive

Exclusive from Brad Friedman at the BradBlog:

Former TV News Anchor Bree Walker to Purchase 5-Acre 'Camp Casey' Property Near Bush Ranch
Will Keep Property Open to Public as 'Legacy for Peace'; Sheehan to Appear Live in Studio on Walker's Program Saturday...

A former Los Angles newscaster turned progressive talk radio host, Bree Walker, will be purchasing Cindy Sheehan's 5-acre property near the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

Walker, currently a resident of San Diego, was previously a television news anchor in Los Angles and New York. She confirmed the news to us moments ago, in an exclusive interview, that she intends to keep the property "as a ground for freedom and peace" and is considering erecting a memorial there for troops killed in Iraq. She hopes to create a meditation garden on the grounds and to keep it open to the public.

"I'm cashing out my capitalist corporate stocks and buying into a legacy of peace," she told The BRAD BLOG moments ago. Sheehan will be selling the property for the same price she purchased it for so as not to be seen as profiting from the sale, Walker explained.

Walker is the host of the The Bree Walker Show on the Los Angeles Air America affiliate station KTLK AM1150 on Saturdays from 2-4pm PT.

Sheehan will appear in studio with Walker for the entirety of tomorrow's broadcast where, Walker says, she'll "give Cindy the check, and Cindy will give me the deed to the property."

She tells us that she'll be taking calls from listeners during tomorrow's show as she wants "listener input on what should be done with the land."

The BRAD BLOG's creator and publisher, Brad Friedman, is scheduled to appear on Walker's show Saturday as well, at 3:00pm PT, by phone.

In a Memorial Day posting, Sheehan announced that she would be stepping away from her leadership role in the Peace Movement and planned to sell the Crawford property. Originally she had announced the property would be sold on Ebay, but shortly afterwards a group of Bush supporters announced their intentions to try and purchase the land.

That group, "Moving America Forward," had staged protests during Sheehan's original attempt, in the summer of 2005, to meet with Bush in hopes that he would explain the "noble cause" that he had claimed her son, and others, had died for in Iraq.

Bush refused to meet with Sheehan, whose son Casey, an Army Specialist, was killed in an April 2004 rescue mission in Sadr City, Iraq. Thousands of supporters gathered from around the nation to hold a vigil along with Sheehan in 2005 near Bush's ranch during his summer vacation. A national peace movement grew out of her stand that summer. The area where the protests were held was dubbed "Camp Casey."

After the city created new ordinances to keep protesters from occupying public property during protests, Sheehan bought the land where protest gatherings have been held at various times since whenever Bush was to be on vacation.

Ours was the only organization doing regular full-length daily radio broadcasts from the protest grounds that summer. Highlights from The BRAD SHOW's more than 50 hours of special "Operation Noble Cause" radio broadcasts may be heard online here.

UPDATE 6/9/07: Sheehan hands deed to Walker during in-studio appearance on Walker's show. Details, audio, now posted here...

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