By LAUREN L. DILLARD
Of the News-Register

CARLTON - It could have been a bell or it could have been a drum. Organizer Annette Madrid decided a drum would best serve to honor the losses.

Her anger grew after each name was read.

Standing outside Carlton's downtown park on Main Street - in their first protest ever - 10 residents of McMinnville and Carlton read aloud the names of those who've lost their lives in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Eighty-three soldiers have died since just Aug. 1, pushing the total death toll toward the 4,000 mark.

The Carlton vigil coincided with a national campaign protesting illegal guns, but was associated only with a peace vigil held in McMinnville.

Six candles burned at Madrid's feet as she struck the drum. Each candle represented the passing of another year since the United States declared a "War on Terror" and began dispatching troops to the Middle East.

"I think everyone knows someone who's been involved in this war," said Madrid, a 20-year resident of Carlton.

Signs reading "Standing for peace," "Bring them home" and "War is not the answer" jutted at angles toward the street and passing traffic.

One man stopped and responded to the latter by asking, "Then what is the answer?"

He didn't wait for one, but Madrid offered one anyway. The answer, she said, is talking rather than fighting - in diplomacy.

"You can't just occupy someone's country," Madrid said.

Two different flags - one featuring the dove of peace on a light blue field, the others the nation's red, white and blue stars and bars - flew streetside in Carlton.

"I've felt this war was wrong from the beginning," said Carlton resident Liz Crockett. "It needs to end."

Even though the protesters were standing on the sidewalk in a small town in Yamhill County, they felt like they were accomplishing something.

"It's never been done so I'm glad this many people showed up," said Carlton resident Lisa Lawson, who has a son in the military. "Bush got us into a war that we shouldn't be."

Car horns honked as drum beats sounded and names were read. There were a few yells and one vulgar gesture.

"That's fine," Madrid said. It gets people thinking, she said.

More than 3,700 soldiers have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom so far. That translates to a full hour of beating the drum, one beat per second.

"If it was my son or daughter, I'd want people on their main street beating a drum or ringing a bell," Madrid said.

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