Posted on 10/13/2006 10:44:16 AM PDT by oxcart
Men and women of the Patriot Guard Riders have one main mission: Show respect for soldiers killed in war and shield the mourning families and friends from protesters.
Protests and military funerals
President Bush signed a law on Memorial Day banning protests within 300 feet of national cemeteries. Last month, he said it "ensures that families of fallen service members will not have to endure protests during military funerals."
Florida law also states that anyone who willfully interrupts or disturbs a military funeral honors detail commits a first-degree misdemeanor.
On Saturday, the men and women of this national motorcyclists organization will be in Orange City to serve as a buffer between the family of Spc. Angelo Vaccaro and protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Vaccaro, a 23-year-old Army medic from Deltona was killed Oct. 2 while trying to rescue fellow soldiers wounded in an ambush in Afghanistan. He will be laid to rest at Deltona Memorial Gardens at 1295 Saxon Blvd. in Orange City.
"We honor these fallen heroes by creating a line of our members standing with 3-by-5 (foot) flags and do our best to ensure that the family is not disturbed," said Bobbie Bilotta, the Patriot Guard Riders Florida State Captain. "If possible we do not let the family be seen by the group."
The funeral has attracted the attention of the Topeka church group, which, according to its Web site, "adhere to the teachings of the Bible and preaches against all form of sin (e.g., fornication, adultery, sodomy)."
On Thursday, Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney and member of the church, confirmed that 10 members will come to Orange City to picket Vaccaro's funeral. The church is not protesting the Iraq or Afghanistan war but the nation's disobedience to God, Phelps-Roper said.
"It is a curse when the child comes home dead from battle," Phelps-Roper said. "War is the mechanism God is using to punish and will use to destroy this nation.
"We will be on the public right of way with our signs that say God hates fags, Thank God for dead soldiers and Thank God for IEDs," Phelps-Roper said.
Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten said by telephone that he is familiar with the "profane and abusive" signs the church group uses. He said he sent a letter of apology to Orange City law enforcement after learning of the group's plans.
"To our friends in Orange City, we want them to know that this group of people does not represent our city or the values of our citizens in any way," Bunten said. "They carry lewd signs that are abusive and profane to people who disagree with them. I want the mayor and the police to know that they can take whatever action necessary to protect the peace in their city."
It is not yet clear how Orange City officials will handle the situation, but Florida law states that persons who interrupt or disturb a military funeral commit a first-degree misdemeanor.
Orange City police Sgt. Jason Sampsell said officers who are on vacation have been asked to report for duty in uniform on Saturday. Ten Florida Highway Patrol troopers are expected to help with traffic, Sampsell said, acknowledging his department had heard from Bunten.
The Sheriff's Office will provide deputies to escort the family from their homes to the funeral service, said sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught.
The Patriot Guard Riders started in early August of 2005 with the American Legion Riders chapter 136 from Kansas. They were appalled to hear that a fallen hero's memory was being tarnished by "misguided religious zealots who were protesting at funerals," according to the organization's Web site.
"We are strictly legal and nonviolent, in other words: We ignore them," Bilotta said. "They only see our backs."
I wish something could be done to stop these creeps. I pray for the family who lost their loved one.
What they are doing is expensive...
They have sued and won many times. That is how they are funded. They are mostly lawyers.
I don't buy that their chief goal is to get sued. They are spending money...somebody is financing them.
Leftists are too emotional to be able to do what Phelps does. In addition, it does little to help the left-wing...if at all.
Help the left? Of course he's helping the left! He's feeding the rightwing religious stereotype. As for emotions, they may be genuine enough, which is what whoever is funding this guy is paying for. I looked through the history...still very curious about his finances.
I would think he is helping the right (not on purpose), since he is showing there are wackos that are much further out there.
So I will have to disgree with you - I don't think he is helping the left or the right. Just helping all sane people.
He's a democrat, after all.
If he sues, he'd face a Kansas jury. Like he'd win.
How I'd love to see bank statements and phone records.
Phelps is a Democrat? They have all the crazies - Lyndon LaRouche as well, who is about as liberal as Ted Kennedy is conservative...
I don't think he is a leftist. Just a troublemaker, pure and simple. And a crazy one at that.
Orange City is about halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach.
1. Completely misguided and attempting to do good, in their hearts.
or
2. Not Christian at all but feed on the publicity.
I think #2."
I would add a third reason for the group's behavior:
3. Inbreeding.
I understand that just about all 75 members of the church are from the family of Pastor Fred Phelps. Cults like that tend to discourage marriage with "non-believers," so where are they going to go for mates?
If I still lived in Seminole County, FL, I would go. Unfortunately I moved to Kentucky last May.
I'm hoping for a similar turnout today. Last August my daughter married a fellow from Orange City, so this demonstration is getting too close.
Not too long ago, Clint Eastwood said this when responding to critics of his film "Million Dollar Baby":
"Extremism is so easy. You've got your position, and that's it. It doesn't take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right, you meet the same idiots coming around from the left."
I have noticed the same thing; right-wing and left-wing extremists shake hands more often than one would expect. The Westboro Baptist Church is one example. Others include Lyndon LaRouche, the Rev. Louis Farrakhan, conspiracy theorists in general, and those liberals who think Pat Buchanan isn't so bad since he left the Republican Party. All these folks can be described as being "to the right of Attila the Hun, and to the left of Alpha Centauri."
I will take you off the Florida list. Thanks for letting me know.
I hope others who live there will have the same attitude as you. It would be good to hear that the family wasn't even aware of the Kansas creeps.
No good. Every member of that Godforsaken Phelps family is a lawyer, and they make money for their "church" via lawsuits: to the people who attack them, and then to the municipality for failing to protect them.
I live for my family.
_______
And that was my point. Best not to put yourself in a situation wherein they may have to live without you.
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