Angry in the Great White North

Written on April 8, 2004:

The Casey Sheehan his friends and family remembered was the actively involved Eagle Scout and St. Mary's Catholic Church youth who "gave 1,000 percent and it always from his heart."

Casey Sheehan grew up in Norwalk in Southern California and moved to Vacaville in 1993 with his parents, brother Andy, 18, and sisters Carly, 23, and Jane, 18. His family attended church at St. Mary's Catholic Church where Casey was very involved.

"His whole life revolved around the parish ministry," his mother Cindy Sheehan said.

For the past two days, the family has been visited by large numbers of friends who knew Casey Sheehan or community members who wanted to express their sorrow at his loss.

One friend who worked with Casey Sheehan at Mervyns called to express her sorrow and say that Casey Sheehan was never late to work. One older lady drove by to hand the family a condolence card and $100 for a memorial fund.

And the family:

"The community's support has been phenomenal," Pat Sheehan said. "This is a city thing too and not just family thing."

The family expressed their own sorrow for the other families who have lost loved ones in the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We have had a terrible loss and we realize that at the same time there are other families who have lost those they love too," Pat Sheehan said.

Cindy Sheehan said her sorrow is also mixed with pride at seeing and hearing from so many people whose lives Casey Sheehan has touched.

And donations?

The Sheehan family is asking that any memorial contributions be made c/o Casey Sheehan's Memory, Camp Pendola, Diocese of Sacramento, 2110 Broadway, Sacramento, CA., 95818.

Of course, at Gold Star Families for Peace, donations go to the organization itself, for the stated purpose of assisting families who have been impacted by the war.

Of course, any family with a son or daughter who is in the military has been impacted by the war, whether they are in theatre or not. In fact, all families have been impacted by the war, it could be argued. And to have the President impeached would be a form of assistance, right?

We believe that lying to Congress and the American people is traitorous and constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors" and are impeachable offenses. We will be calling on members of the House of Representatives to begin a Resolution of Inquiry into the memo as first step to introducing Articles of Impeachment against George Bush, Dick Cheney and everyone in the Cabinet who also lied. It is not only the House's obligation and duty as sworn elected officials to do so, it is also their responsibilities as members of humanity. GSFP members have had valuable, loved and indispensable loved ones murdered for the deceits of this Executive Branch of our government.

If you are thinking of making a donation in memory of Casey, but are disturbed by the politics of GSFP, then make your donation to Camp Pendola and the Casey Sheehan Memorial. If you do, know that you are doing what the Sheehan family had wanted people to do, not so long ago.