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thedrifter
08-25-06, 10:09 AM
Group Will Form a Human Wall Around Westboro Baptist Protestors
Tim King Salem-News.com

Oregonians are being called out to Hood River this weekend to shield the family of a Navy SEAL killed in Iraq from Kansas hate groups during funeral.

(HOOD RIVER) - A counter-protest group says Oregon residents are being called out en masse to drown out hate groups that plan to disrupt the funeral of an Oregon Navy SEAL who was killed recently in Iraq.

The August 2nd 2006 death of 28-year old Marc Lee was the first suffered in Iraq by the Navy’s elite commando force.

But this is not the first time Oregon has been threatened by the Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka, Kansas, in fact they’re getting to be old news.

Fred Phelps is the founderThey had announced plans to attend the recent funeral and memorial service for Private First Class Thomas Tucker of Madras, Oregon, an Army soldier who was captured and then later killed in Iraq, and now the hate group led by the Reverend Fred Phelps and his wife Margie Phelps says they are coming to Hood River this Saturday.

It is reported that there will also be a second, similar group accompanying them, though we could not track down their name.

The Tucker service on July 1st was attended by thousands of Oregonians who among other things, were there to ensure that the protestors did not directly disturb the grieving family.

The antics of the Westboro congregation have led to violent scenes and confrontations at many military funerals already, and death threats keep Fred Phelps out of the public most of the time.

The group contends that soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan because America condones homosexuality.

Letters Margie Phelps sent to Salem-News.com after coverage of the Tucker funeral were just flat out amazing.

Margie Phelps“Your posting of one of the thousands of squally stories about a dead soldier in hell was an exercise in futile worship of the dead and false hope that you can stop the wrath-march of the Lord your God. Of course you know better; that's what you're blabbing so much.”

Something abou this next statement tells me she didn’t like the way I referenced their group when I produced the video report on the Thomas Tucker service.

“Watching you filthy veterans and scooter sissies fill up the airwaves with your maudlin lies is an amazing study in the fact that God picks and sends you your delusions, causing you to believe lies.”

Westboro Baptist Church at workI stated in the report that Oregon was the first state to back them down from attending. The Salem-News.com report of their plan to attend the Tucker memorial service preceded the Deschutes County Commissioners announcement that fences would be arranged in a way that kept the protestors in an assigned area far from the family.

Now an unnamed group of counter-protestors say they have an even better idea; that is to form a human wall with hundreds of people around the hard right wing hate group and drown them out.

They aren't suggesting anything illegal or anything that would impede on the group's rights, they just want to vastly outnumber them they say, and drown out the hate.

American civil rights allow protestors to say what they want, when they want, and these people clearly have a right to travel about and stage demonstrations. But the people planning the counter demonstration say their message will be heard too, and they regret the fact that their attendance this Saturday has to be focused on the hate group from Kansas.

The biggest obstacle the Westboro Baptist Church may face is the fact that Oregon residents by and large, appear to be on the same page when it comes to having a sincere respect for veterans.

They seem to grasp the fact that simple respect and courtesy of another human being, particularly one who has died, is not accepting or rejecting a national policy. Oregon people seem to understand that, and we have as a state already lost more than our share of people in the wars that have erupted under the presidency of George W. Bush.

I admit that I have been looking for an opportunity to publish some of Margie Phelps’ quotes and let people know what is going on in this country. The idea of protesting military funerals sits poorly with every person in Oregon that I have spoken to. I’m sure there are some who support the behavior, but they haven’t crossed my path.

The Patriot Guard will attend this Saturday's funeralOrganizers of the counter protest are circulating an e-mail message that will guide people who plan to make it to Hood River this Saturday.

“Please, we need as many people as possible to dress in the ’ol red, white and blue and bring American flags. We would like to line the 2nd street over pass, the road to the Expo Center and completely surround the protesters who will be confined to Lot 6 at the Port. Lot 6 is directly west of the Luhr Jensen Plant.”

Members of the Oregon Veteran’s Motorcycle Association have been escorting the remains of soldiers in Oregon and Washington consistently since the first Gulf War. They will be on hand along with members of the Patriot Guard, A.B.A.T.E. and several other motorcycle clubs and organizations that will attend the service and pay tribute.

I did have a recent conversation about the Topeka, Kansas group with a neighbor who attends a Baptist Church in Salem with her family. She says the name association with the Westboro Baptist Church and their Websites, godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com, upsets and dismays most if not all Baptists, and they want people to clearly distinguish this group from Baptist congregations across America that have not the slightest connection to any hate groups.

The Vietnam War probably marks the time period where the popularity of being a member of the U.S. military hit an all time low.

Then as the first Gulf War got underway, Americans seemed to band together with a lack of tolerance for the poor treatment of veterans returning from war. That feeling seems to continue and anti-war protestors have solidly kept a "pro-troop" mentality embedded in their message.

So now hard right-wing church going folks are the threat? It is a strange time in our nation and a strange time in history. Equating the death of soldiers in a war to God's lack of tolerance for the American way might be one of the strangest things I have heard yet.

Marc died August 2ndOne of the organizers of the counter-protest says she never saw herself physically protesting again, ”I don’t think it matters whether you are for or against the Iraq War. I am appalled that any group will show such disrespect for a family at a memorial service for their son who has been killed. We need to do what we can to shield the Lee family from these people. You, probably like me, have never met Debbie or her son Marc. But I hope that you will join me in surrounding the protesters on Saturday so that their antics are drowned out.”

The event, named Drown out the Protesters takes place Saturday, August 26th, 2006 at The Hood River Expo Center, 405 Portway Avenue, in Hood River, Oregon. The planned time is 10:00 in the morning, but many will be arriving well before that to prepare the area.

The organizers are asking everyone who sees this story to please pass this message on.

I admit that at Salem-News.com, this thing with the Westboro Baptist Church got a bit personal.

It is hard to draw the line on exactly where the role of a media group is with all of this, but as one, if not the only news organization in the country that is primarily staffed and operated by veterans, we feel it is our duty to sound the alarm, because the Westboro Baptist Church will be considered invaders by most people here, and their unsavory behavior is clearly not in Oregon’s good public interest.

Ellie