Showing posts with label Westboro Baptist Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Westboro Baptist Church. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Westboro hate group stalking another fallen Marine's family

They pick and choose which families to target. With all the fallen coming home, they do not show up at all of them, thus, they stalk the families. Simple as that. Maybe they go after the funerals they think will get them the most attention? It looks that way since they're preaching their message of hate only at certain funerals, with their posters about thanking God for the fallen.


Controversial Westboro Baptist Church to protest local Marine's funeral

Posted: Jul 05, 2011 8:56 AM

TOPEKA, KS (WMBF) The controversial church congregation out of Topeka, Kansas that is known for contentious remarks and actions at the funerals of fallen soldiers has declared it will make the trip to Mullins High School on Wednesday.

According to a press release from Westboro Baptist Church, the religious unit travels the country in protest of military funerals because the services "have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy, where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom & play taps to a fallen fool."

Gunnery Sgt. Ralph "EJ" Pate, Jr., 29, of Mullins was an explosive ordnance disposal technician assigned to Second EOD Company, Eighth Engineer Support Battalion, Second Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Lejeune, NC.

WMBF News spoke to Pate's family Tuesday about WBC's planned protest. The family says it's a major burden in an already tough time, but they're doing what they can to ignore it.

"It is about saying goodbye to EJ not about anything else. This is the family time tomorrow. It's to pay the last respects to EJ. Let the family mourn and move on," said John Ryan, Pate's brother-in-law.

Flags are still at half staff in Pate's hometown and residents there say they're appalled by WBC's attempt to ruin their local hero's funeral service.
read more here
Westboro Baptist Church to protest local Marine's funeral

Friday, July 1, 2011

Westboro protestors a no-show at soldier’s funeral

Westboro protestors a no-show at soldier’s funeral

Jun 30, 2011 6:01 PM
By Tom Plahutnik, Web Editor/Producer
By Liz Gelardi, TV5 Reporte

HARBOR BEACH, Mich. -
A Mid-Michigan soldier was laid to rest Thursday after giving his life in service to his country. Now there's some relief for family and friends of 21-year-old Army Pfc. Brian Backus as it appears a controversial church group did not protest outside the service.

The Westboro Baptist Church originally planned to picket, but apparently they failed to show up.

TV5's Liz Gelardi reported that the situation seemed like a publicity stunt and that members of the Patriot Guard motorcycle group say this has happened before when the church claimed it would show up, and then failed to do so.
read more here
Westboro protestors a no-show at soldier’s funeral

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

Ryan Newell is resting on his three-wheeler in a row of motorcycles in a Wichita garage, its door open to the steamy weather.

Just sitting there, it's hot enough to sweat, but the 26-year-old looks comfortable, calm, wearing his ball cap backward and smiling.

The garage is a refuge for the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran. Just being there with his friend and fellow veteran Tony Sparling among the shiny, powerful machines boosts Newell's morale after what he's been through — disabling war wounds, PTSD, and a run-in with a controversial Topeka church that got him in trouble with the law and drew national attention.

People still call him Sgt. Newell even though he's no longer in the Army. He was a sergeant returning from a mission in Afghanistan in 2008 when an improvised bomb detonated.

"We lost everybody in the Humvee that day except for me," he says.
read more here and see video report
Veteran in Westboro case looks to move beyond his legal troubles

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Army veteran pleads in Westboro stalking case

He is a double amputee, deciding to "stand up" to Westboro hate group but he ends up with two years probation. They get to do what they want and when they want, stalking any family they want, but get away with it? How is this justice?

Army veteran pleads in Westboro stalking case
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 23, 2011 14:23:20 EDT
WICHITA, Kan. — An Army veteran charged with stalking and conspiring to harm members of a controversial Topeka church pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

An attorney for Ryan Newell says his client pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of false impersonation of an officer, which are misdemeanors.
read more here
Army veteran pleads in Westboro stalking case

Monday, June 20, 2011

Westboro Baptist to protest Marine's memorial

Westboro Baptist to protest Marine's memorial

Controversial church to be near Gaston service today.

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Jun. 20, 2011

Members of a controversial church plan to protest today's memorial service of a 21-year-old Marine from Gastonia who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

But friends of Lance Cpl. Nicholas O'Brien say they are making plans to drown out Westboro Baptist Church's message.

Those close to O'Brien say the protest threatens to sully the memory of a young man who turned down a baseball scholarship to serve his country.

But a spokesman for the Topeka, Kan.-based church said it is spreading God's word using a powerful platform and its First Amendment rights.

Read more: Westboro Baptist to protest Marine memorial

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Westboro hate group met by thousands of protectors at Marine's funeral

Westboro Baptist protest at Marine's funeral met by thousands of protectors
Church group draws counter-protest
5:46 AM, Jun. 14, 2011
Written by
Erin Quinn
The Tennessean

Bikers revved their engines. Thousands of protesters waved American flags.

On one side of the street, the signs read: “Nashville: No place for hate” and “God loves Sgt. Kevin Balduf.”

On the other side, they read: “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God is your enemy.”

But beyond all that, inside the protective walls of a quiet church, lay a young man in Marine dress blues.

On May 12, Nashville native and Marine Sgt. Kevin Balduf, 27, was killed in combat in Afghanistan. Much closer to his home, Christian fundamentalists in Topeka, Kansas, planned their trip to protest his funeral.
read more here
Westboro Baptist protest at Marine's funeral



Raw footage from the protest and counterprotest: Protestors and counter-protesters stand near the funeral of Marine Sgt. Kevin Balduf.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Hundreds show up to honor fallen soldier against Westboro groups hatred

Hundreds Pay Respects to Soldier, Ward Off Protesters

The whole town of Jamestown, Pa., has 600 to 700 residents.

But Friday, there were several times that many people in the small community for the funeral services of Army Capt. Joshua McClimans, 30, who died last month in Afghanistan.

They took their places along Liberty Street, waiting to see if a threatened protest against McClimans by members of the controversial Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church would ever materialize.

"We will not stand back quietly while someone tries to disrupt the memory of a man who lived and breathed and died for our rights and our freedom," said Tammy Hodge, of Jamestown.

McClimans was killed April 22 as he was on his way to work at Forward Operating Base Salerno, in Khost province near Kabul. He was a member of the 848th Forward Surgical Team based in Twinsburg, Ohio. He would have turned 31 next week and had a young son, Max.

The Westboro Church has become known for sending members to military funerals, carrying obscene signs and shouting that the deaths of servicemen and women are God's way of punishing us for accepting homosexuality. After learning the church had listed McClimans' services on its list of demonstration sites, Hodge went online herself using Facebook to encourage others to support the Captain's family and friends. The effort drew hundreds from surrounding communities and even other states.
read more here
Hundreds Pay Respects to Soldier, Ward Off Protesters

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Senator Olympia Snowe's Bill to Give Military Funerals More Protection

Bill to Give Military Funerals More Protection



April 14, 2011
Portland Press Herald
WASHINGTON -- Families of fallen troops "have earned the right to bury their loved ones in peace," says U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.
And in the wake of a Supreme Court decision earlier this year to permit the Westboro Baptist Church to carry on its disruptive protests at military funerals, lawmakers must step in with stronger protections for those families, says Snowe, R-Maine.
On Wednesday, Snowe introduced the Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans Act -- dubbed the SERVE Act -- an effort to keep raucous protesters from getting too close to military funerals and increase penalties for breaking the rules of conduct.
Snowe's involvement in the issue was prompted by a Maine high school student's campaign to ban such protests.
"Those who fight and die in the service of our country deserve our highest respect," Snowe said in a prepared statement. "The SERVE Act strikes a balance between the sanctity of a funeral service and the right to free speech."
Snowe's proposal would alter federal law to increase the "quiet time" in which protests are prohibited before and after military funerals from one hour to two hours, and increase the distance that protesters must stay from services.
read more here
Bill to Give Military Funerals More Protection

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Jury rules against Westboro hate group, acquits West Virginia man

W.Va. man acquitted in Westboro spitting trial
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Apr 9, 2011 15:32:53 EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia man has been acquitted of battery charges for spitting on a member of the Westboro Baptist Church during a protest outside a Catholic church in Charleston last year.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Billy Spade of Hico was found not guilty by a jury in Charleston Municipal Court on Friday after deliberating for less than an hour.

Spade told jurors that as the son of a deceased coal miner, he was offended by protesters holding signs that said “Thank God for dead coal miners.” But it was the sign that said “Thank God for dead Marines” that prompted him to take aim at Shirley Phelps-Roper’s sign and spit at it.

Spade said a roadside bomb killed a friend whom he considered a little brother while he was serving as a Marine in Afghanistan.
read more here
W.Va. man acquitted in Westboro spitting trial

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Patriot Guard adds 10,000 additional members within weeks of the decision

Add me to the list now. I just joined. Considering how many posts I do for them along with rides we have done with them, it only made sense to join. After all, I adore them and what they do. Why haven't you joined yet?


Patriot Guard Riders expand mission
Group isn’t just antidote to Westboro Baptists anymore
By Philip Grey - The Leaf Chronicle
Posted : Saturday Apr 2, 2011 16:22:46 EDT
Mario Chavez is adamant about a lot of things. One is that he and his fellow members of the Patriot Guard Riders do not want to be forever defined strictly in the context of their opposition to the Westboro Baptists.

However, at the present time, trying to tell the story of one without the other is like trying to talk about World War II without mentioning Germany. A recent film by noted documentary maker Ellen Frick showed why.

Last Monday, Chavez and other PGR members — including Ward 2 Councilwoman Deanna McLaughlin and Deb Saunders of the Fort Campbell Casualty Affairs office — were gathered at the home of Pam Wynn, assistant state captain for the PGR, to screen the documentary, “Patriot Guard Riders.” Though the film was largely centered on the PGR, its motivations, and its appeal to veterans and current military members, the Westboro Baptist group was also an integral part of the story.

After the screening, Frick, along with PGR members and supporters of the group, stayed to talk about the film, but mostly to talk about the PGR. Also present was Kari Upchurch, the wife of Spc. Clinton Robert Upchurch, a 101st Airborne Division soldier killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2006.

Situations like the one Kari Upchurch experienced are one reason that the PGR and the Westboro Baptists are so firmly fixed together in the public mind.

As for Westboro, many PGR members feel that the PGR has won the war, even as Westboro has prevailed time after time in the courts. Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Westboro Baptists, the PGR picked up 10,000 additional members within weeks of the decision, according to Annette Robeck, Tennessee PGR state captain.

read more here
Patriot Guard Riders expand mission

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Patriot Guard documentary premiere sells out

Patriot Guard 'Riders' takes to the screen
Patriot Guard documentary premiere sells out



By Jared Council


EVANSVILLE — Those engine-revving, leather-clad bikers, who began aiding military families in 2006, for the first time are profiled in a film.

More than 400 people came to see its sold-out premiere on Evansville's East Side on Sunday afternoon.

"These guys are true patriots," said former Congressman Brad Ellsworth, who attended the premiere of the documentary "Patriot Guard Riders" at Showplace Cinemas. "Some are vets and some aren't, and no matter the weather, they show their patriotism and respect for our troops."

The group Patriot Guard Riders began in 2006 when a few American Legion riders in Kansas coalesced in response to protests by the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members believe that soldiers' deaths are God's way of punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.

Since then, the Patriot Guard Riders group has grown to nearly 250,000 members nationally, with about 250 in the Tri-State.

Families that have had the Patriot Guard Riders as part of their cortege during their military funerals have often thanked and commended them. In the film, a top Westboro member shared her thoughts.

"The first time I saw them ... was in Chelsea, Oklahoma," said Shirley Phelps, a member of the controversial Kansas group that often protests at military funerals, in the documentary.

"And no joke: They started revving those engines, and the earth shook."
read more here
Patriot Guard documentary premiere sells out

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mom of fallen Guardsman needs help fighting Westboro

Patty Sourivong thought she heard the worst words when she was told her son was killed serving in Iraq. Then came news that Westboro was going to to picket the funeral. This meant her son was selected as a target. They don't protest every military funeral. They pick the ones they think will get them the most attention. It also meant that Westboro stalked the family, showing up at the funeral.

The Westboro Group has lawyers that can fight any legal battle for free. Some of them are lawyers. They manage to be protected under free speech and as a "church" so the law protects whatever they do more than they protect the families they target. There is so much wrong here it is hard to know where to begin.

Free speech is important and needs to be defended, no matter what people want to say, but this isn't about free speech. No one has tried to silence them, even though most people in this country wish they would stop. What this is about is forcing families to listen to them, see their signs at the moment they are trying to bury someone they love.

Mother of fallen 'Ironman' soldier fighting ruling on funeral protests

By MARK CARLSON, mark.carlson@sourcemedia.net
Thursday, March 17, 2011

IOWA CITY --- The mother of a fallen soldier wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that permits protesters outside military funerals. Patty Sourivong said she is launching a campaign to collect signatures from others who, like her, don't support the ruling.

"Everyone who signs it is a voice for those soldiers," she said.

The ruling was in favor of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who have protested at hundreds of military funerals nationally. The group says the casualties are God's way of punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.

Spc. Kampha Sourivong, an Iowa City West High School graduate and a member of the Iowa Army National Guard 1st Battalion 133rd Infantry "Ironman Battalion," headquartered in Waterloo, was killed by enemy fire while serving in Iraq in 2006. Members of the church traveled from Kansas to picket at his funeral.

"They're just plain heartless," his mother said. "Who goes to a service or a gravesite to picket somebody?"
read more here
Mother of fallen Ironman soldier fighting ruling on funeral protests

The rest of us have the right to listen or walk away. We have the right to read something or avoid it. The court managed to protect kids from having to see x-rated magazines by passing laws but they can't manage to pass a law to protect families during a funeral? Free speech only means something when people are also free to listen or not. Being forced to listen to it during a funeral with a captive audience is not free speech. Sourivong needs all the help she can get to fight for all the other families to come so they won't have to feel her pain.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Westboro "pastor's" son says kids were abused

Added On March 16, 2011
HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell talks with Nate Phelps, the son of the pastor who founded the Westboro Baptist Church.



Also
Gold Star Mom
Woman asks justices to reconsider Westboro case
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 17, 2011 4:03:35 EDT
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Iowa City mother of a soldier whose funeral was picketed by members of a Kansas church wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that such protests are constitutionally protected.

Patty Sourivong has started a petition campaign. She says she has no lawyer and knows that persuading the court to take another look at its 8-1 ruling earlier this month is a long shot.
Woman asks justices to reconsider Westboro case

And also today

Hearing for vet accused of Westboro stalking
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 17, 2011 9:06:18 EDT
WICHITA, Kan. — The attorney for a disabled Army veteran accused of stalking members of a Topeka church says his client will not waive a hearing at which the government must present evidence supporting the charges.
McPherson — who lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan — is charged with felony conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and five misdemeanors.
read more here
Hearing for vet accused of Westboro stalking

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Bill Would Heavily Restrict Funeral Protests by Westboro Group

Bill Would Heavily Restrict Funeral Protests

March 14, 2011
Stars and Stripes|by Leo Shane III
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger has said that Congress cannot stop groups like the Westboro Baptist Church from picketing military funerals, after the Supreme Court upheld the groups' First Amendment rights last month. But the Maryland Democrat also believes that lawmakers can put restrictions on those protests to protect mourning families.

Last week, Ruppersberger introduced legislation that would prohibit protests five hours before and five hours after military funerals, and force protestors to gather at least 2,500 feet away from the event. He said the rules would preserve the protestors' right to free speech without harassing the military families.
read more here
Bill Would Heavily Restrict Funeral Protests

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Westboro wants to collect from Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder's Dad to finance more protests?

What kind of a twisted outcome is this leading to? First, a family calling themselves Westboro Baptist Church decides to protest at funerals. Legally they believe they have a right to do this no matter what anyone else thinks and now the Supreme Court has backed them up on it. They didn't seem to explain how free speech should be allowed to force people to listen. That is exactly what Westboro has been doing to the families. They are a captive audience. Families have to be there but Westboro does not. They target and stalk the families but that's ok with the Supreme Court.

Top that off with the startling fact Westboro targets families when they decide which funeral to protest at. Consider this. According to Icasualties.org, there have been 4,439 US deaths in Iraq and 1,496 in Afghanistan. Westboro claims they are protesting the fact that the military has gays serving in it. The whole military. Yet they do not protest every funeral. In other words, they target certain ones. Since they are claiming to be protesting gays and holding signs up thanking God for the deaths of the soldiers, they are also making public statements against the fallen suggesting they were gay. After all, if they are supposed to be all about being against gays in the military and all homosexuals, show up and protest at certain funerals, then they are targeting these fallen along with their families.

The Supreme Court is fine with that? Isn't it illegal to stalk someone? Isn't it illegal to harass someone? Isn't terrorism illegal?
terrorism
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal
2. the act of terrorizing
3. the state of being terrorized
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

That isn't bad enough. Westboro is now seeking to collect for legal fees from Snyder's Dad. But even that isn't bad enough. Margie Phelps is happy about all of this because she plans to use the money to finance more protests!

Westboro member and lead lawyer Margie Phelps said it was nobody's business whether the church used the money to finance more funeral protests.

"He intended to shut us down and he announced that far and wide," she said. "And the Pentagon backed him up on it. That was their plan. And now they're going to finance some of it, that's how they see it. It's a beautiful, poetic thing."

But this was fine with the Supreme Court? How can any of this be justice for anyone other than this group of haters to stalk, target and terrorize?
Marine's dad to defy Westboro on court costs

By ANDY MARSO, Capital News Service
Published 03/09/11


TOP: Albert Snyder, right, pauses during an interview in York, Pa. The funeral of Albert Snyder's son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, left, was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church.
BOTTOM: Westboro Baptist church member Gabriel Phelps-Roper, 10, and his sister Grace Phelps-Roper, 13, both of Topeka, Kan., protest at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder in Westminster, Md.
WASHINGTON - The father of a Marine killed in Iraq won't pay the nearly $100,000 in court costs charged by Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed his son's 2006 funeral, in the wake of his unsuccessful lawsuit against the group, his lawyer said.

"We're not just going to write them a check," Sean Summers, lawyer for Albert Snyder, said Friday. "We're going to make them work for it."

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 last week that Westboro's anti-gay protests were speech protected under the First Amendment. The decision upheld the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to deny Snyder's suit against the anti-gay church's founder, Fred Phelps.

Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was not gay, but the church pickets military funerals nationwide because they say soldiers' deaths are God's vengeance for the country's tolerance of homosexuality.

A lower court awarded Albert Snyder $5 million in damages for emotional distress. However, at the Supreme Court, all the justices except Samuel Alito sided with Westboro, which means Snyder may be on the hook for the church's court costs.

Westboro member and lead lawyer Margie Phelps said it was nobody's business whether the church used the money to finance more funeral protests.

"He intended to shut us down and he announced that far and wide," she said. "And the Pentagon backed him up on it. That was their plan. And now they're going to finance some of it, that's how they see it. It's a beautiful, poetic thing."

The Fourth Circuit has already ordered Snyder to pay Westboro $16,510.80. Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly has offered to pick up that cost. Phelps said she would be willing to "barter" with O'Reilly for airtime on his show, "The O'Reilly Factor," instead.

Fox News responded by saying that O'Reilly's offer to Snyder still stands, but he won't trade airtime on his show.
read more here
Marine's dad to defy Westboro on court costs

Thursday, March 3, 2011

We can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity

Albert Snyder was right more than anyone wants to admit right now. Westboro is not just about protesting at military funerals but they have the "right" as they believe to protest at anyone's funeral. They'll show up wherever they think they'll get the most attention.

Westboro Wins Final Court Battle; Marine's Family Saddened
"My first thought was that eight justices don't have the common sense God gave a goat. We found out today that we can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity."
- Albert Snyder

Slain Marine's Father: What Is This Country Becoming?
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder
WASHINGTON -- A lawsuit filed against the Westboro Baptist Church that won judgment in Baltimore ultimately lost at the Supreme Court, and the family who filed the suit is now questioning where the country is headed.

The First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount attention-getting, anti-gay protests outside military funerals, The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.


The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.
The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of the late Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006. Albert Snyder sued church members after they picketed his son's funeral in Westminster.
read more here
Westboro Wins Final Court Battle

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Westboro hate group support by Supreme Court ruling against fallen soldiers

Supreme Court rules for anti-gay church over military funeral protests
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
March 2, 2011 11:07 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The 8-1 vote upholds the right of Westboro Baptist Church members to stage protests
The father of a fallen Marine sued after church members protested at his son's funeral
The U.S. has chosen "to protect even hurtful speech on public issues," Roberts writes

Washington (CNN) -- A Kansas church that attracted nationwide attention for its angry, anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members has won its appeal at the Supreme Court, an issue testing the competing constitutional rights of free speech and privacy.

The justices, by an 8-1 vote, said Wednesday that members of Westboro Baptist Church had a right to promote what they call a broad-based message on public matters such as wars. The father of a fallen Marine had sued the small church, saying those protests amounted to targeted harassment and an intentional infliction of emotional distress.
read more here

Supreme Court rules for anti-gay church

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Westboro Group's hate defeated by love for fallen soldier

According to this report Westboro Group (I won't dignify them by calling them a church) was going to protest at this funeral. The family and other mourners were wrapped in an enormous group of strangers who came out to show their love. Hate is always defeated by love.

Hundreds of mourners pay respects to Bordentown soldier killed in Afghanistan
Published: Saturday, January 22, 2011
By Matt Fair/The Times


BORDENTOWN CITY — Hundreds of mourners – an assemblage of family and friends alongside representatives from police departments, fire companies, emergency medical squads and veterans groups from across New Jersey – gathered this morning to pay their last respects to a Bordentown City soldier who died in combat in Afghanistan last week.
U.S. Army Spec. Benjamin Moore, 23, died Jan. 12 after his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device. Two other soldiers were also killed in the incident.
Moore, a native of Bordentown City, was also a volunteer firefighter and certified EMT with Hope Hose Human Co.

Protesters from the fringe Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group which has made a habit of picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in action, had said earlier this week they would be in attendance.
At the end of the day, despite authorities setting up a staging area well out of sight from the graveside service, no protesters from the group made an appearance. read more here
Bordentown soldier killed in Afghanistanl

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Westboro Baptist Church set to protest funeral for slain New Jersey soldier

Westboro Baptist Church set to protest funeral for slain New Jersey soldier

A memorial service being held Saturday morning in New Jersey for Bordentown resident and soldier Benjamin Moore who was killed in action last week in Afghanistan. Moore was the first casualty from New Jersey in Afghanistan in 2011. His fueneral will be held Saturday morning at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Bordentown.
The Westboro Baptist Church has issued a bulletin identifying PFC Moore’s funeral to preach their message which is “Thank God For IED’s”. The zealots of the WBC will be met by the Patriot Guard Riders whose purpose is to shield the families of fallen soldiers from the insensitive and provocative protests of the WBC. They will be forming a flag line at the request of Moore’s family at the Friday night service and Saturday morning service.

read more here
Westboro Baptist Church set to protest funeral for slain New Jersey soldier

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Missouri town bans protests during funerals

Does the Westboro group have the right to do what they want, say what they want, attack anyone they want? According to the ACLU, they have every right to stalk and harass families trying to bury their dead. I usually agree with the ACLU but in this case, they picked the wrong side to fight for. The families needed someone fighting for them to do something as simple as be able to have a funeral for someone they loved. That's all they are asking for. No one has said Westboro can't hold up protest signs or scream any kind of rant they want but what they do not deserve and are not entitled to is a right to demand the attention of a captive group of mourners. That is the point in all of this. The ACLU is fighting for the rights of this group to go where they want, do what they want so they can use their rights but in the process, they are preventing the rights of families who have to be there when Westboro does not. The ACLU is defending a group of stalkers wanting attention at any cost.

Keeping them away from the families during the funeral keeps them from getting attention and that is the only thing they want. But that again is the right of the media to cover them or not. Let them protest, hold up as many signs as this tiny group can hold, say anything they want to prove they have no relationship to Christ but not when the families are forced to see them, hear them and be harassed by them.

Missouri town bans protests during funerals
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 19, 2011 8:24:40 EST
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Despite the likelihood that it will be sued, an eastern Missouri city has voted to ban protests at funerals.

The St. Charles City Council voted Tuesday night to allow protests during visitations and street and highway processions. But protests will be banned within 300 feet of funeral and burial sites between an hour before and an hour after an observance.
read more here
Missouri town bans protests during funerals