In 1982, Jim Ferlo first came to public attention in Pittsburgh when he was a leader in the fight to persuade Nabisco Corp. to keep its East Liberty plant open.

His role as a community activist in that cause and many others eventually led to his election to City Council. After more than a decade there, the Lawrenceville resident was elected state senator in 2002.

But the button-down atmosphere in Harrisburg has done little to take the street-fighter instinct away from Ferlo.

That was evident yesterday when Ferlo, an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in Iraq, flew to Crawford, Texas, to join Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch.

Sheehan, the Vacaville, Calif., woman whose son was killed in Iraq and who is president of Gold Star Families for Peace, has been outside Bush's ranch during his five-week working vacation, asking for a meeting with the president to discuss the war.

"I know it's symbolic, but I think it's very important to stand by this woman," Ferlo said during a telephone interview from Detroit Metro Airport. "I just want this individual mom to realize there are people out there who support her."

Ferlo said he intends to join Sheehan at her vigil through Friday. He also plans to attend a national rally against the war scheduled for Sept. 24-26 in Washington, D.C.

As part of her effort to honor her son, Army Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, Cindy Sheehan has set up dozens of white crosses with the names of Iraq war victims outside the Bush ranch. Although she was part of a group that talked with Bush earlier this year, she has asked unsuccessfully to meet individually with him. She also has invited the president to a prayer service at noon Friday.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to say yesterday whether Bush would attend.

Sheehan's efforts have grown to the point where she has hired a public relations firm to handle news media requests and has established a Web site, www.meetwithcindy.org.

But she said yesterday that since she "came out here and sat down on a lawn chair" 10 days ago, the interest her cause has generated "got out of hand and just turned into a media circus." She added: "I don't want to be distracted. Our message is to bring the troops home."

Sheehan's organization also has called for community vigils across the country tomorrow evening. Three are scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in this area: in Frick Park at Beechwood Boulevard and Nicholson Street, Squirrel Hill; on Sheridan Avenue near Division Street, Bellevue; and in the 800 block of Franklin Avenue, Aliquippa.

"I've just been moved by this woman's courage," Ferlo said. "I think she's trying to turn her anger in a particular way to give her son's life even more meaning than he showed in dying an honorable death."

Sheehan's efforts are not without political ramifications. The locations for tomorrow's candlelight vigils are listed on the Web site of the liberal political action committee Move On, and the conservative organization GrassTopsUSA of Lorton, Va., has called on Sheehan to stop her efforts because it claims that she is encouraging terrorists to continue their attacks by showing weakness in America.