POULSBO — It was no ordinary day on the northeast corner of Highway 305 and Hostmark.

As dozens of protesters — holding signs in opposition of the United States-led war in Iraq and other Bush Administration policies — streamed onto the 305 crosswalk toward Bainbridge Island, they were met by an equally large assembly of the president’s supporters.

During the brief moments that they passed one another, many on both sides bantered back and forth, with the political divide running deep among the approximately 100 people who attended both rallies.

“Where’s your flags? Where’s your patriotism?” shouted those planted on the corner as the protesters crossed Hostmark.

David Weinstock of Indianola, one of the leaders of the peace walk, ran back toward the flurry of “support our troops” signs and asked if he could have a flag to display on his walk. Staring back at him was Allen McGrew of Bremerton, a veteran of the first Gulf War.

“I’m a veteran,” McGrew said. “I earned this flag!”

Strong emotions and opinions on both sides about the war with Iraq and the appropriate way to support troops in the country brought both sides out to demonstrate Saturday. With the U.S. presidential election looming in November — and opinion polls showing Republican incumbent George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry currently in a dead heat — the event was a microcosm in the political feelings of the nation.

‘We couldn’t

just sit there’

Maddy Reeves, an eighth grader at West Sound Academy, found that she could not digest the Michael Moore documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” without taking action.

Reeves, whose brother, Corbin Lester, helped organize Saturday’s peace walk from Poulsbo to Bainbridge, said Moore’s film — a scathing review of the Bush Administration’s policy in Iraq and on the home front — was a wake-up call.

“Our reaction about (the film) was to go out and do something about it rather than just sit there,” Reeves said.

The group, half of whom were teens, changed its starting location twice, as representatives of both Central Market and Christ Memorial Church disapproved of its meeting on their premises. The march to Winslow Green ultimately began in the new Bad Blanche parking lot, in the former location of Poulsbo Market.

The group prepared signs that varied in their political message, from disputing the war in Iraq to the Bush Administration’s homeland policies it helped create, such as the Patriot Act and the education No Child Left Behind Act.

Reeves and her fellow marchers viewed their opposites from across the lot before marching, seeing many of the “Support our Troops” signs from afar.

“I support our troops, too,” Reeves said. “All of us here supports our troops — but we want to bring them home.”

‘You can’t

support both’

Across the lot and stemming to the highway below, “Support our Troops” and “Bush/Cheney ‘04” signs waved to passersby, soliciting many honks from drivers.

Their demonstration, spurred by Kingston resident Mick Sheldon’s e-mail newsletter “Citizen Alert,” was a reaction to the peace march and also a rally for many causes, including the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

“We’re out here supporting our troops and to add some civility to the debate,” said Sheldon, who created a large sign bearing the words: Fighting Terrorism is Patriotic Too. “I think most of us here are Americans standing up for America.”

Sheldon said he’s fed up with what he called “fringe debate becoming mainstream.”

“They’re calling veterans baby killers and the media is accepting it as regular debate,” Sheldon said. “And that’s not the way Americans debate.”

Terry Harder of Tacoma, a member of the organization Operation Support Our Troops, said that though he believes in the right to protest the Iraq war, one cannot do so and also support the American troops there.

“I would say (those on the peace walk) have a schizophrenic view when they say they don’t support the Commander-in-Chief and what we’re doing in the war and then they say they support our troops,” Harder said. “You can’t take both sides. You either have to support the troops or not.”

Weinstock disagreed with Harder’s sentiments.

“Of course we support our troops,” he said. “But we’re speaking out against what we believe are untruths told to us by our government.”