Turnout burnout

As Terri Schiavo's life ebbed, an expected army of pro-life foot soldiers turned up AWOL | Joel Belz, Lynn Vincent

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - They built it—but almost nobody came.

From the welcoming entryway to the Woodside Hospice, bright orange snow fence stretched 500 feet to the east on 102nd Street and another 500 feet to the west. The barrier—at some points four layers deep in a town where it never snows—was there not just to protect the hospice complex. Pinellas Park police installed the fence to restrain and control the big crowds they were told might arrive from all over the United States to protest what was happening inside the hospice, where Terri Schiavo edged near death after medical personnel removed her feeding tube on March 18.

One policeman told WORLD his department had been warned that as many as 25,000 or even 50,000 people might show up on Palm Sunday weekend. His department, he said, was ready. "We built it," he said, "and they can come."