WILKESBORO, N.C. — Sally Ferrell bounded from the truck and grabbed a posterboard sign that read: "War is not the Answer."

Over the years, she's organized dozens of peace vigils like this one being set up in a parking lot. Find common ground, she has always preached, and any conflict can be resolved.

But she's now engaged in a conflict of her own — a dispute over military recruiting in high schools that has polarized rural Wilkes County.

For three years, Ferrell has asked permission to distribute pamphlets and other materials that warn students to think twice before joining the military. But the school superintendent has stopped her, calling her activities unpatriotic. The American Civil Liberties Union, calling it a First Amendment issue, has threatened to sue.

"The students need to know there are alternatives to the military," said Ferrell, a Quaker. "But they're not getting the other side."

Recruiters have turned to high schools to help fill the ranks of the all-volunteer military. And they need them more than ever. After five years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and longer deployments, the military has been hard pressed to meet recruitment demands. They say U.S. casualties — more than 4,600 soldiers killed and 64,000 wounded in both wars — have dampened recruiting.

COURT BATTLE LIKELY

In recent years, thousands of people like Ferrell have joined dozens of counter-recruiting groups. They say recruiters have given young people misleading information about military service and often target high schools in poor and rural areas where options for graduating students are limited; the activists want students to know they have prospects besides the military.

Most schools have allowed counter-recruiters inside. Wilkes County's opposition could trigger a legal battle.

"Are we going to pursue litigation? I think it's pretty clear that the school board isn't giving us any choice to do anything else," said Katherine Parker, legal director of the ACLU's North Carolina chapter.

Wilkes County has a military tradition going back to Col. Benjamin Cleveland, a Revolutionary War commander who helped defeat the British in the Battle of Kings Mountain.

It's a rural county where people worked in textile mills and furniture factories until those manufacturing jobs left. They've been replaced by fast-food and retail jobs. The faltering economy has made Wilkes County a fertile recruiting ground for the military, members of Ferrell's group said.

"Many students feel like they have no future," said Tom Morris, 56, a retired engineer and small-business owner.

Pointing to an abandoned furniture factory across the street, he said, "At one time, hundreds of people worked there. There was hope. Now, it's empty. There are just no jobs."

TEACHERS UPSET

Helen Clark, another activist, recalled the night Ferrell decided to become a counter-recruiter. They were having dinner with friends, including several teach-ers. She said the teachers were upset that recruiters were at the county's five high schools weekly and approaching students in the lunchrooms.

"They felt they were putting too much pressure on teenagers to join the military," said Clark.

Initially, Superintendent Stephen Laws reviewed Ferrell's materials and told her in spring 2005 that he wasn't going to allow her in the schools. He said the military was a good career choice for students who weren't going to college. He also didn't think people should say anything negative about the military.

The school board backed Laws' decision.

In September 2005, Ferrell turned to the ACLU. Two years passed before the group reached an agreement with the board: Ferrell would be allowed in the high schools twice a semester.

But by December, Laws said he had enough. A principal had complained to him about some of the materials, and Laws told Ferrell her message was no longer welcomed.

Recruiters say the controversy has made it more difficult for them to do their job.

Before Ferrell's campaign, they had unfettered access to schools and students.

Now, they can only visit twice a semester. And when they do, they have to stand at a table outside the cafeterias. They can't sit down and talk with students while they're eating lunch.

High schools are still the best place for leads, said Army Sgt. R. Scott Gianfrancesco, 38.