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will always be an Alyson Hanniganite
Location: In the dust of the archives
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Fred Phelps may be dealt a blow?
Link
Quote:
Bob Batt calls them terrorists - protesters who picket funerals and disrupt mourners with cruel words and signs.
"That's one of the great obscenities of the world," said Batt, who encountered anti-abortion protesters at a ritual after the funeral of his brother, attorney Larry Batt. "They have no right to protest at a funeral. Some things are sacrosanct. Some things have to be sacred."
Nebraska and Iowa lawmakers - along with lawmakers in at least 12 other states - are being asked to protect the rights of mourning families. A bill is pending before the Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee that would keep picketers back 100 feet from funeral ceremonies, processions and memorial services.
Picketers who break the law would face a misdemeanor charge.
Across the nation, legislative bodies are taking up the issue. Driving lawmaker interest is a small fundamentalist Kansas church whose members show up at soldiers' funerals, saying that the deaths are God's vengeance on America.
The church, Westboro Baptist of Topeka, Kan., and its leader, Fred Phelps, have picketed at least two military services in Nebraska. Church members are expected to protest the funeral of 1st Lt. Garrison Avery, a Lincoln native killed last week in Iraq.
The church, an independent congregation, has about 75 members, most of them belonging to Phelps' extended family.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps' daughter and an attorney for the church, said states cannot interfere with their message that the soldiers were struck down by God because they were fighting for a country that harbors homosexuals and adulterers.
Lawmakers are "trying to introduce something that will make them feel better about the holes we're punching in the facade they live under," Phelps-Roper said. "If they pass a law that gets in our way, they will be violating the Constitution, and we will sue them for that."
Other states considering measures to stop the picketers are Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Although the Nebraska proposal creates a 100-foot buffer zone, State Sen. Mike Friend of Omaha, who introduced the bill, expects it will change to make the buffer zone one of time, not distance. The final version probably would ban protesters for an hour before and after the ceremony, he said.
"You can't trample on other people's constitutional rights just because you're waving the First Amendment flag," he said.
The Iowa proposal prohibits disorderly conduct near a military funeral. It would keep protesters back 300 feet and would punish violators with a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
In some states, bills specify noisy, disruptive behavior or signs with "fighting words," as in Wisconsin. Some bills bar protests within one or two hours before or after a funeral starts; others specify distances ranging from 10 car lengths to five blocks away; some include both.
Nationwide, violations can bring fines of a few hundred dollars, up to 30 days in jail, or more. Wisconsin is calling for fines of up to $10,000; one of five Oklahoma bills would set a one-year jail sentence. If passed, Nebraska violators could face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine
Missouri's bill was named for Army Spc. Edward Lee Myers, 21, whose wife went to his funeral an hour early to try to avoid protesters. They were already across the road, holding anti-homosexual signs. Her 5-year-old son kept asking why "mean people" were outside.
Tim Butz, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Nebraska, said in the case of funerals, the right to privacy must be balanced with First Amendment rights, and he's not sure the Nebraska bill does that.
Butz said he would support a bill that would bar protests 30 minutes before and after funeral services. A law like that, he said, might have a better chance at withstanding court scrutiny.
"Rights are often in conflict," he said. "The job of legislators in crafting laws is to find the proper balance between those rights. That's not an easy task."
Batt, executive vice president of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, said that when it comes to funerals, the right to privacy should trump First Amendment considerations every time.
Protesters disrupted the "sitting shiva" (a Jewish ritual of prayer and mourning) after his brother's funeral in 2002. Larry Batt had represented Planned Parenthood and physicians who, as he put it, sought to protect women's reproductive rights.
"There is no justification for protesting any funeral," Batt said.
Larry Cahill, a Gretna dad who buried his son at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia last November, faced Westboro members outside a memorial service in Papillion. He didn't let the protesters disrupt his mourning, but he feels for the families of other soldiers.
"I could not imagine standing around a gravesite in a cemetery and being surrounded by protesters," he said. "That thought is just beyond the pale."
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About damned time! Constitutional Rights were not put into place just to give the likes of Freddie boy free reign to be an ass. Now, maybe he won't see any need to leave Topeka. Poor Topekans...
Well...I guess that we can see that I am in full support of the pending bill. What about you? Are you in favor of a law that would, in effect, feed Fred Phelps his ass? Or, would such a law set the stage to ultimately squash the Bill Of Rights, because "someone is offended"? There are, after all, two sides to every coin.
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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony
"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus
It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.
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