Protests, reactions fray nerves outside home of Caylee Anthony's family

Above: Caylee Marie Anthony

Willoughby Mariano and Walter Pacheco Sentinel Staff Writers
September 12, 2008

Thursday passed much as days typically do on Hopespring Drive, thanks to the infamous case of missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony.

Protesters angry at her mother, Casey, who faces a child-neglect charge, ate fast food on the sidewalk and smoked cigarettes outside her home in east Orange County.

They cursed at family members as they came and left. Family members cursed back.

Then Casey's brother Lee Anthony blazed into the driveway in a black Ford Mustang, missing a family of protesters -- including two school-age girls and a toddler -- by inches. One girl bawled. Mothers shouted. Cameras surged forward to tape it.

You can't slow down to give them a chance to move!" a crowd member shouted.

Neighbors are so frustrated by such scenes that an attorney representing the homeowners association said she plans to ask a judge today or Monday to order the protesters to limit their activities.

"We do not care if the content supports or criticizes the Anthonys. What we hope to accomplish is to restrict the time, place and manner of the protest to reasonable activities and hours," attorney Karen Wonsetler said.

She represents the 127 homeowners living in the Chickasaw Oaks Phase 3 subdivision that includes the home Casey Anthony shares with her parents, George and Cindy Anthony. Residents have had little peace and quiet since Caylee Marie's disappearance became public.

Protesters from all parts of Central Florida have been gathering outside the home since Orange deputies re-arrested Anthony on Aug. 29. The charges involved checks stolen from a friend in July.

The Anthony family has fought back. At one point, George Anthony yanked a protester's lawn chairs from the patch of grass between the sidewalk and street. Cindy Anthony confronted a female protester in a face-to-face argument on the sidewalk.

Lee Anthony attacked a Lake County woman's sign that read: "I wouldn't let my dog go missing for 1 month without looking!"The Hopespring Drive home has become a local attraction. Curious motorists slow their cars to take in the scene. Gawkers come just to watch.

On Thursday, a man brought a 3-foot-by-3-foot tombstone-shaped chunk of plastic foam that read, "Caylee Anthony 2005-2008, Our angel rest in peace."

"This is insane. This is [expletive] insane," Cindy Anthony said as she walked across her front yard.

"You can't come out of the house. You're a joke," protester David Marzullo, 27, of Bradenton shouted to her.

Kalani Bowles, 18, a Valencia Community College student who came to show his support for Casey Anthony, got into a shouting match with Marzullo. Two women wearing " Bithlo Mud Racing" T-shirts joined in. Then came Lee Anthony, who nearly hit protesters with his car.

Deputies arrived, and Lee told them he honked to warn the protesters before pulling in."You lie like your sister!" a member of the crowd shouted. Protesters said they support restrictions on their activities.

Shirley Blake came with seven other members of her family to demonstrate after the Dr. Phil show called one of them and asked if she would be interviewed."Why should other families suffer for what one family has brought?" said Blake, gesturing to the otherwise peaceful block.

Marzullo said the protests shouldn't continue too late into the night. He said he tried to be respectful of the neighbors by being quiet, but when he sees the Anthonys, he can't help but shout.

Frank Farley, a psychologist and professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, said he isn't surprised that people gather outside the Anthony home."I think we're seeing a kind of basic shift in this society toward people being more willing to express themselves," Farley said.

For the most part, protesters have gathered on the sidewalk or the patch of grass between the sidewalk and street -- all considered public property.

Deputy Carlos Padilla of the sheriff's office said that if a judge decides to limit protests they must tread carefully because of the First Amendment right to gather."Our legal staff will work that out and figure what has to be done," Padilla said. "It's upsetting to the Anthonys and their neighbors, but it is a touchy subject and we have to be careful."