paularoid
05-17-2007, 01:33 PM
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/
*NOTE I had to modify the url I had in here because the Journal changed it. The story below -is- as originally posted though. The url above should take you to the main site of the paper where one can fish and dig for it if they wish.
Funeral turns controversial
POCATELLO — A grieving community reacted with alarm Wednesday after members of a controversial Kansas church announced their plans to picket the funeral service of Sgt. Blake Stephens, a native son who was recently killed in Iraq.
While local law enforcement officials will meet this morning to discuss the prickly situation, Stephens’ friends had a more immediate response.
“I think it’s just ridiculous,” said Steve Bullock, who described the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., as more of a cult than a church. “(Stephens) fought for their freedoms, and they disgrace him by doing that.”
Others, such as Keith Roice, who owns the Pocatello tattoo parlor where Stephens worked before going to Iraq, said protesters with offensive signs that attempt to link homosexuality with the deaths of American soldiers should be barred. “Our community has a responsibility to say no,” Roice said.
But Jim Blake, the locally-based director of the POW/MIA Association that will lead an honor guard of 100 to 150 motorcycles to and from the funeral service site on Saturday, said his group will protect the protesters if necessary.
“We may end up having to provide them security,” said Blake, adding group members have a standing order not to engage protesters. “We don’t want this to be something that tarnishes that moment.”
The Westboro Baptist Church, classified by some think tanks as a hate group, is no stranger to controversy.
Though the church numbers only about 100 members, most of them related, they’ve picketed a number of military funerals nationwide in the last five years while brandishing signs that read “God hates fags.”
In Seaford, Del., in May 2006, a mob broke through a police line protecting protesters and then attempted to drag the protesters out of a police van where they’d gone to hide. Five people were later arrested.
Such instances aren’t being taken lightly by local law enforcement officers such as Maj. Mike Stayner of the Pocatello Police Department.
“It just concerns us because when you see something like this it throws up a red flag,” said Stayner, who received a fax from the church Wednesday morning stating its intentions. “People can protest as long as they do it peacefully.”
Stayner said Idaho State University officials were also discussing the situation since the funeral service will take place in a LDS stake center adjacent to university property.
Stephens, 25, a 2000 graduate of Century High School, was killed May 8 when a roadside bomb exploded outside of the vehicle he was riding in. His body was returned to the Gate City on Tuesday, and thousands lined local sidewalks to pay their respects as a procession wound its way from the airport to a local funeral home.
The outpouring of community support showed Jim Blake that anyone who pickets Stephens’ funeral will have few sympathizers.
“It’s not something that’s going to be very well accepted in our community,” he admitted. “If they initiated something, that would not be a good decision.”
And while one of Stephens’ friends said he’ll have to fight back a desire to injure the protesters if they show up, Roice tried to tell anyone who would listen to take the high road.
“From me personally, they’re not going to get a response,” he said. “All of these political things that came about have nothing to do with why Blake was there.”
In anticipation of the unlikely, Idaho legislators passed a law in March that anyone who “maliciously and willfully” disturbs the dignity of a funeral service is guilty of a misdemeanor.
But that law doesn’t go into effect until July 1, a fact the bill’s sponsor wishes he could change.
“Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had (made it go into effect immediately),” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake. “The protesters don’t have the right to do that. The families have the right to mourn their loss.”
Anderson said he’s received calls from the Westboro Baptist Church and the American Civil Liberties Union since the bill passed accusing him of being “about as fascist as they come.”
But 103 of 105 Idaho lawmakers supported the law change. The two who didn’t were absent and excused at the time of the vote.
While some expressed skepticism church members will actually travel to Pocatello — the Journal left an unanswered message on the church’s Web site Wednesday — Blake said he’s committed to protecting people’s “right to be an idiot” if indeed they do make the long trip to Idaho.
“We’re not out to have any physical confrontations, and we don’t want anybody to go after them,” Blake said. “I believe in civil rights.”
*NOTE I had to modify the url I had in here because the Journal changed it. The story below -is- as originally posted though. The url above should take you to the main site of the paper where one can fish and dig for it if they wish.
Funeral turns controversial
POCATELLO — A grieving community reacted with alarm Wednesday after members of a controversial Kansas church announced their plans to picket the funeral service of Sgt. Blake Stephens, a native son who was recently killed in Iraq.
While local law enforcement officials will meet this morning to discuss the prickly situation, Stephens’ friends had a more immediate response.
“I think it’s just ridiculous,” said Steve Bullock, who described the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., as more of a cult than a church. “(Stephens) fought for their freedoms, and they disgrace him by doing that.”
Others, such as Keith Roice, who owns the Pocatello tattoo parlor where Stephens worked before going to Iraq, said protesters with offensive signs that attempt to link homosexuality with the deaths of American soldiers should be barred. “Our community has a responsibility to say no,” Roice said.
But Jim Blake, the locally-based director of the POW/MIA Association that will lead an honor guard of 100 to 150 motorcycles to and from the funeral service site on Saturday, said his group will protect the protesters if necessary.
“We may end up having to provide them security,” said Blake, adding group members have a standing order not to engage protesters. “We don’t want this to be something that tarnishes that moment.”
The Westboro Baptist Church, classified by some think tanks as a hate group, is no stranger to controversy.
Though the church numbers only about 100 members, most of them related, they’ve picketed a number of military funerals nationwide in the last five years while brandishing signs that read “God hates fags.”
In Seaford, Del., in May 2006, a mob broke through a police line protecting protesters and then attempted to drag the protesters out of a police van where they’d gone to hide. Five people were later arrested.
Such instances aren’t being taken lightly by local law enforcement officers such as Maj. Mike Stayner of the Pocatello Police Department.
“It just concerns us because when you see something like this it throws up a red flag,” said Stayner, who received a fax from the church Wednesday morning stating its intentions. “People can protest as long as they do it peacefully.”
Stayner said Idaho State University officials were also discussing the situation since the funeral service will take place in a LDS stake center adjacent to university property.
Stephens, 25, a 2000 graduate of Century High School, was killed May 8 when a roadside bomb exploded outside of the vehicle he was riding in. His body was returned to the Gate City on Tuesday, and thousands lined local sidewalks to pay their respects as a procession wound its way from the airport to a local funeral home.
The outpouring of community support showed Jim Blake that anyone who pickets Stephens’ funeral will have few sympathizers.
“It’s not something that’s going to be very well accepted in our community,” he admitted. “If they initiated something, that would not be a good decision.”
And while one of Stephens’ friends said he’ll have to fight back a desire to injure the protesters if they show up, Roice tried to tell anyone who would listen to take the high road.
“From me personally, they’re not going to get a response,” he said. “All of these political things that came about have nothing to do with why Blake was there.”
In anticipation of the unlikely, Idaho legislators passed a law in March that anyone who “maliciously and willfully” disturbs the dignity of a funeral service is guilty of a misdemeanor.
But that law doesn’t go into effect until July 1, a fact the bill’s sponsor wishes he could change.
“Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had (made it go into effect immediately),” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake. “The protesters don’t have the right to do that. The families have the right to mourn their loss.”
Anderson said he’s received calls from the Westboro Baptist Church and the American Civil Liberties Union since the bill passed accusing him of being “about as fascist as they come.”
But 103 of 105 Idaho lawmakers supported the law change. The two who didn’t were absent and excused at the time of the vote.
While some expressed skepticism church members will actually travel to Pocatello — the Journal left an unanswered message on the church’s Web site Wednesday — Blake said he’s committed to protecting people’s “right to be an idiot” if indeed they do make the long trip to Idaho.
“We’re not out to have any physical confrontations, and we don’t want anybody to go after them,” Blake said. “I believe in civil rights.”