Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church, protest foiled in Mississippi
Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers
The Westboro Baptist Church once again makes the headlines. This time however, the good news is that they were foiled in their attempts to disrupt another serviceman’s funeral. Mississippi gives the Westboro the kind of welcome that we would all like to give.
Since we have reported on the Westboro Baptist Church a few times here, it is fitting that we update you on the latest.
Last Saturday, USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers was laid to rest in Brandon, Mississippi He was killed in action in Afghanistan on April 7th. Many of the town’s residents paid homage along the route of the fallen hero as his body was transported home.
Most notably absent were the Westboro protestors who planned a large demonstration at Sgt. Rogers’ funeral. According to an Ole Miss message board, a tidbit of info………..
“A couple of days before, one of them (Westboro protestors) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.
Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county.
Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out.
A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business.”
It might be legal for the protestors to be there, but it isn’t right. Thankfully, the citizens of Brandon agreed and arranged for these slight incidents to keep the unwanted pests away. The Westboro mob never made it to the funeral and Sgt. Rogers was laid to rest without incident.
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You’re talking about Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps, aren’t you?
They’re not protesters, they’re agitators. Picketing funerals and saying the dead deserved it, or that they died because there are gays in the US not being stoned and killed.
They don’t deserve the freedom they have.
This is a touchy matter. These WBBC people are protesting the very people who died to protect their right to protest. We should never deny anyone their rights, because those rights are paid for with so many lives. The WBBC people should be ashamed of their actions though. As much as i would like to put a bullet in the head of their leader, it just would not be right.
>A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. <
The Soviets would have been proud of that move.
Outstanding. I’m so sick of a bunch of hand wringing, bed wetting liberals moaning about their right to free speech being suppressed. This was the perfect response to the WBC idiots. That’s not free speech. That’s abuse that they do. When are the libtards going to learn that forcing people to endure their stupidity is a violation of rights. There is no right to protest at a funeral. There is no suppression of free speech to prevent such protest. The protest in this case is an assault on the family of the deceased. It’s a great day when the community comes together to protect one of their own from libtards who don’t belong. WBC needs to get the hell back home and leave others alone.
WBC generally protests the funerals from quite far away, I remember they were sued by the family members of a dead soldier once because they were offended, but WBC was actually too far away to be seen by them during the funeral – the family only heard of the protests much later. Vile and insensitive? Yes. But beating them up, blocking their cars and acting in any other way in an illegal or violent way is still never the answer.
Resorting to this kind of thing makes us worse than WBC – or have you ever heard of them beating people they disagree with up?
Dembones, what do you think about Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, etc ? They weren’t exactly pro-1st amendment but they got the job done now didn’t they? And now they’re viewed as heroes of the American Western frontier. The Phelps and their incestuous church is nothing more than a cult and should be treated as such. All of the people of Brandon, MS that participated in this event and allowed Staff Sgt Jason Rogers to be buried and mourned in peace should be give a frickin’ medal, not condemned. They did a great job and should be recognize for it.
the funny part about this is, the people saying that its abusing freedom of speech are the same people who would be crying if something like this happened to a family member of theirs and wbc showed up. ignorance must be bliss for those people
That is still vile. Private stifling of free speech is just as bad as the gov’t doing it. What if the Koch’s paid to prevent some environmentalists from publishing a newspaper article or a billboard company refused to display a board because the disagreed with its content. Sure, that may be legal but it is still wrong.
Plus, blocking them from leaving or denying them services is illegal. What is more, if the people were conspiring to do this, that is another illegal action. Why anyone cares what the crazies are doing is beyond me. Let them protest. They aren’t harming anyone. And they certainly are not getting their message across effectively.
The government didn’t suppress the Phelpian’s freedom of speech.
What the Phelpians experienced was the good ‘ol boy system at work. Bobby Sue working the front desk alerted everyone when they checked in. Billy Bob blocked the cars and wandered off, Bubba at the tow company stalled (or was paying his respects at the funeral), Law Enforcement did what they were supposed to and probably weren’t even in on it. The Phelpians could have easily walked to the funeral.
Nope no suppression of free speech on the governments part.
Looks like a bunch of lawyers got out smarted at their own game.
Suppressing freedom of speech is more vile than using it to spread your hate. I hope the WBC sues and wins something here.
Hell yeah, that’s the way to do it.
This is what I like to see. I’ll defend to the death those assholes’ rights to be assholes, but a couple of citizens inconveniently parking there cars is just brilliant. And while I love hearing about one of them getting their ass kicked, officially I’m against that.
I don’t think they should resort to violence but it was good to hear the family didn’t have to endure this horrible group.