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Today's Phelps-Roper v. Strickland upholds a ban on "'picketing' or 'other protest activities,' within 300 feet of the funeral or burial service, from one hour before until one hour after the funeral or burial service." ("Other protest activities" is defined as "any action that is disruptive or undertaken to disrupt or disturb a funeral or burial service or a funeral procession.") The court concludes that the ban is content-neutral, serves the important government interest in "protect[ing] the citizens of Ohio from disruption during the events associated with a funeral or burial service," including disruption in the sense of "unwanted communication...

It's an AP story but you can go to www.kansascity.com to read article, if interested.

Dear God, please let the Patriot Guard Riders know about this ahead of time. The Phelps gang is ready to strike, and they outline their intent here.

Free Republic Exclusive Fred Phelps, leader of the "God-hates-faXs" movement, is planning on crashing the funeral of one of our War Dead on July 4th. Why? To spread his message of anti-homosexual SPAM in the most inappropriate way imaginable. There's a time and a place for everything. He's a publicity whore, as far as I'm concerned. Here are snips from an earlier FR Report: "A SF SGT E-5, James Stewart, will be buried in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 4, 2005. It's wholly appropriate that he be buried on our nation's birthday, because Sergeant Stewart gave his life for our...

Immediate Alert for Saturday Morning, Waterbury Connecticut, June 7, 2008 IN an e-mail alert from the Patriot Guard, there is supposed to be a presence of antiwar types at the FUNERAL of a fallen Marine from Waterbury TOMORROW morning early! If you can attend, be there before 9 AM maps to the location of the cemetery below, the presence of the antiwar types is supposed to be north of this location http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&dq=Riverside+cemetery+loc:+Waterbury,+CT&daddr=496+Riverside+St,+Waterbury,+CT+06708&geocode=15632629214542374654,41.548818,-73.046660&ll=41.548818,-73.046660&iwstate1=dir:to&iwloc=A&f=d The original Patriot Guard posting is here: http://www.patriotguard.org/Forums/tabid/61/postid/886371/view/topic/Default.aspx The Obituary for this Marine is located here: http://www.rep-am.com/Obituaries/346098.txt If you will not fight for right when you can easily...

A spokesperson for NAS Corpus Christi says yesterday's rally in support of our military men and women was a wonderful show of solidarity. Authorities now say between 3,000 to 5,000 people showed up. The crowd gathered to hold a counter demonstration in reference to the group known as the Westboro Baptist Church. The church had planned to picket outside the base. The group said they wanted to thank God, for the January 16th helicopter crash that took the lives of 3 U.S. sailors based here. The group never showed up.

A federal judge in Baltimore today substantially reduced the amount of damages Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas-based anti-gay group, and three of its members will have to pay for their protest at a Marine's funeral in Westminster. In a 52-page decision, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett upheld a jury's verdict awarding the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder multimillion-dollar damages for enduring emotional distress and having his privacy invaded by Westboro members waving anti-gay signs at the Marine's funeral in March 2006. "There was also more than sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict on defendants' liability," Bennett wrote....

Emotions ran high as members of a small anti-war group were met with opposition, mistaken for the Kansas based radical group known as Westboro Baptist Church. Members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, had planned to picket outside NAS Corpus Christi this morning. The group claims they wanted to thank God, for the January 16th helicopter crash that claimed the lives of 3 US sailors based here. The group never showed up, but hundreds of people anticipating their arrival did. An estimated crowd of more than one thousand people including riders with the Patriot Guard took to the streets with...

Nueces County Republican ClubMessage from the President of the Republican Club Thursday, January 31, 2008 Counterprotest at NAS Corpus Christi If you haven't heard of it, the infamous Westboro Baptist Cult (I refuse to call them a Church!!), famous for protesting American servicemen who are killed in combat is planning to make an appearance in Corpus Christi this Saturday at 10:00AM outside NAS Corpus Christi's main gate. I am as freedom oriented as the next guy, but I've just about had it with these guys. The so-called church is really just a single family of miscreants that think that God...

The inbreds in the ACLU buddy, hate cult have decided to picket outside Camp LeJeune in order to spread their message of hating homosexuals. Of course this is predictable of them now, yet still no less disgusting. They are protesting at the funeral of the recently murdered Marine. Yes, the pregnant one that the media has been talking about so much. What this murdered Marine's death has to do with gays, nobody knows, but somehow in this cult's attention seeking, twisted minds I'm sure they think it does somehow. What do these freaks think of her death? They think it...

While only a handful of the anticipated Westboro Baptist Church members actually appeared to protest near a local soldier’s funeral Friday, hundreds more showed up to show their support for the man’s family and denounce the protesters. For hours, dozens of people with signs and American flags blanketed all four corners of the Bethel and Lund intersection, while hundreds more drove by honking and displaying flags on their vehicles. In contrast, the members of Westboro were reportedly there less than a half hour. Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said that only a handful of Westboro church members...

Daughter Of Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church Founder, In Court Today by Susan @ 8:04 pm. Filed under ACLU, 1st Amendment, Child Exploitation, News, Fallen Heros Recently we saw Albert Snyder, father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, take the Westboro Baptist Church, which is no more than a cult disguising itself as a church, to court for disrupting the funeral of his hero Marine son with protests. Then we showed you that the father won his lawsuit and was awarded $11 million dollars in damages. You hear Phelps reaction to that news here and you can see all of Stop...

Vandalism at Westboro Baptist Church Friday November 2 2007 9:44 TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Topeka police are investigating vandalism at the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. Police said graffiti spray-painted on the church read, "God hates intolerance'' and "God hates the Phelps,'' an apparent reference to the church's belief that God is punishing the United States for its support of homosexuals. The vandalism was discovered on the day after a Baltimore jury awarded 11 million dollars to the father of a fallen Marine who sued the church over its protest...

...The fiery message of the Westboro Baptist Church has led its followers into a fight for what they say are their First Amendment rights. After what would appear at first glance to be a setback in one court, the group heads to another one on charges that include flag mutilation-and members of the Topeka, Kan.-based church could not be happier. "Our message has exploded all over the world," a delighted Shirley Phelps-Roper said Thursday...... Phelps-Roper,50,is to appear in Sarpy County Court on Monday on charges of flag mutilation, negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and disturbing...

Topeka police removed two suspicious items from the area around 3701 SW 12th Thursday afternoon. The items were found outside the address shortly before 10 a.m. by a police officer who was investigating a report of vandalism. The Topeka Police Bomb Unit was called to the scene and removed the items. They are being examined at this time, but appear to be small, homemade firecrackers......

-- Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a grieving father smiled as they walked out of the courtroom, vowing that the verdict would not deter them from protesting at military funerals. Members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." "Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality....

BALTIMORE — Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church have been ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages for protesting at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq, but they have vowed to continue their protests. Church members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." "Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. They say they...

Albert Snyder is a rich man today, yet he hasn't seen a dime of $10.9 million awarded him Wednesday by a federal jury for widely perceived hateful and homophobic rantings of the Rev. Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church..... The U.S. District Court jury in Baltimore awarded Snyder, the soldier's father and a Spring Garden Township resident, $2.9 million for compensatory damages and $8 million for punitive damages. "He wanted to stop them, that was his goal," said Snyder's attorney, Sean Summers, of the York law firm Barley Snyder. "And that's the goal of the punitive damages-to punish them and...

The father of a young Marine killed in Iraq wept repeatedly in federal court in Baltimore yesterday as a jury watched video images of members of a Kansas church protesting the military's inclusion of homosexuals by picketing his son's Westminster funeral. The videos provided an emotional ending to the evidence portion of the weeklong trial in U.S. District Court. Albert Snyder of York, PA, the Marine's father, is attempting to be the first in the nation to hold members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church legally liable for their shock protests at military funerals... Nine jurors spent about two hours...

Father: Funeral protest made him sick By ALEX DOMINGUEZ Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 10/25/2007 10:24:57 AM EDTBALTIMORE -- The father of a Marine killed in Iraq took the stand in his invasion of privacy suit against a fundamentalist church that pickets soldiers' funerals, saying protesters carrying signs at his son's burial made him sick to his stomach. Albert Snyder said Wednesday he had hoped for a private funeral for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. "They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family," Snyder testified. "They wanted their message heard and they...

BALTIMORE, Oct. 25 — Before the March 2006 funeral for Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, a marine who was killed in Iraq, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, picketed the service with signs that read “God Hates You” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”Albert Snyder, Corporal Snyder’s father, sued the church in United States District Court here, claiming invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. - - - Mr. Snyder, who said Westboro members turned his son’s funeral in Westminster, Md., into a “media circus,” is seeking unspecified damages in the jury trial,...

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq took the stand yesterday in his invasion-of-privacy suit against a fundamentalist church that pickets soldiers' funerals, saying that protestors carrying signs at his son's burial made him sick to his stomach. Albert Snyder said he had hoped for a private funeral for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. "They turned this funeral into a media circus, and they wanted to hurt my family," Snyder testified. "They wanted their message heard, and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns...

A member of a Kansas-based anti-gay church told a federal jury yesterday that America's acceptance of homosexuality spurred her and fellow parishoners to picket a Westminster Marine's funeral, one of the demonstrations by the group that have become so frequent that 22 states have enacted or proposed laws limiting the rights of protestors at memorial services. Representing herself in the U.S. District Court, Shirley Phelps-Roper, a nonpracticing attorney, told jurors that she and her fellow protestors remained about 1,000 feet away from the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in March 2006 and never did anything to disrupt the service....

Jury selection begins this morning in Baltimore in a civil suit against a Kansas-based church whose members protest at the funerals of service members killed in Iraq. The panel will decide if Westboro Baptist Church members invaded the privacy of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's family by attending Snyder's funeral and protesting it. The federal suit was filed on behalf of Snyder's father, Albert, who lives in Spring Garden Township, and names Westboro Baptist Church, its leader, Fred Phelps, and other members as defendants. In previous interviews, church members have said they did nothing wrong by going to the funeral. Phelps...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church are urging Fred Thompson to support their stance on homosexuality _ a position on which they say the Republican presidential candidate once "saw eye to eye" with them. Thompson was hired for a mid-1980s legal case in Kansas on the recommendation of Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps. The Topeka, Kan.-based church is now best known for protesting at soldiers' funerals, claiming their deaths are retribution for the nation's acceptance of homosexuality. Thompson campaign spokeswoman Karen Hanretty on Wednesday dismissed the church as "a radical fringe group, looking...

If this is not the place for vanity posts I apologize, but it's quite breaking news either. I heard at my church today that the Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting outside of a Roman Catholic and an Episcopal church next Saturday and a memorial to fallen firefighters and another RC church on Sunday. These aren't to protest funerals, rather to protest against...well...I don't know. Apparently God hates homosexuals, soldiers, firefighters, Catholics, and Episcopalians, though I'm not sure in what order. We've been told that there will be police present and that the best thing to do would be to...

RADCLIFF — Members of gay-bashing Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., plan to picket the funeral Saturday of Pfc. Sammie Phillips. The group will protest before services begin at 2 p.m. at Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, according to a news release that also features biblical quotations and interpretations. The church advised Radcliff police of its plans. Organizers asked the department to designate an area for 10 church members to picket, police spokesman Bryce Shumate said. They will be restricted to an area across Dixie Boulevard and about 300 feet away from the church. The Patriot Guard Riders also will...

<p>The controversial anti-homosexual Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to "preach" at the funeral of Rev. Jerry Falwell, according to its Web site.</p> <p>"WBC will preach at the memorial service of the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell, who spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like 'God loves everyone,'" reads a posting on Godhatesamerica.com.</p>

Once again, we are experiencing the pain and anguish of another mass shooting in America, this time at Virginia Tech. And once more, the Westboro Baptist Church people from Topeka, Kansas are planning to protest outside the funerals of all 32 of the shooting victims. If you've never heard of this angry group of people, they believe that random acts of violence, killings, and even the deaths of American soldiers in the war are a result of God's wrath over homosexuality. They've repeatedly stated that innocent murder victims deserved their fate. They routinely hold picket signs outside the churches of...

The students stood on the stage of York Suburban High School Wednesday night and chatted with each other, giggling and smiling. They were preparing to rehearse "The Laramie Project," the play they will perform tonight and Saturday. The play deals with the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepherd near Laramie, Wyo. The school's drama club picked diversity as a theme this year, and chose three plays that fit the theme. This choice has drawn controversy after Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, announced its plan to picket the play's Saturday performance............ Members of the drama club expressed pride...

......Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest York Suburban Senior High School's production of "The Laramie Project" and six area churches that they allege let the "propaganda play" be put on, the group said in a news release. The high school's drama club is presenting a series of plays focusing on diversity and conflict. "The Laramie Project" deals with the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepherd near Laramie, Wyo. Westboro received a call about the production and decided to protest, said church member Shirley Phelps-Roper. The play promotes homosexuality and an acceptance of the "sinful" lifestyle, she said........... York...

Protestors affiliated with Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., have announced plans to stage a protest at the Ennis funeral services of Navy Hospitalman Kyle A. Nolen. The funeral services are set for Tuesday, Jan. 2, with the church issuing a bulletin that it will begin picketing at 10:15 a.m. at J.E. Keever Mortuary in Ennis, which is handling the arrangements. The funeral is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the funeral home, with burial to follow at Myrtle Cemetery. Nolen, 21, lost his life the morning of Thursday, Dec. 21, after the vehicle he was riding in drove...

West Bend, WI - Police Capt. Toby Netko looks pretty good for a guy who has just been sentenced to the hellfires of eternal damnation. "They already damned me to hell," noted Netko, in what is really just an aside. He is standing in a parking lot just west of Main St. while eight people who normally inhabit what must be a very unique corner of Kansas picket a military funeral taking place at St. Frances Cabrini here. Netko's sin? "I told them not to scream at the cars." Now, for the most part, the itinerant members of Topeka's notorious...

The Westboro Baptist Church has been ordered to pay $3,150 for costs and fees associated with a summons and complaint filed by the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the extremist group. Albert Snyder of York, Pa., is suing the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kan.-based church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder of Westminster, and posted pictures of the protest on their Web site.

Click Here Notice the backs of their t-shirts: God Hates America It's only a matter of time before one of those maggots get seriously hurt or worse.

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC Chronicles - Since 1955) 3701 SW 12" Street Topeka, Ks. 66604 785-273-0325 Religious Opinion and Bible Commentary on Current Events Tuesday, November 21,2006 NEWS RELEASE (Supplemental info: background, photos, audio sermons & hymns, and video footage - available free at: wwn.podhatesamerica.com, hatemongers.com, and www.thesiensofthetimes.net) WBC to picket the funerals of school children killed in Huntsville, Alabama, when their school bus from Lee High School plunged 30 feet off a highway overpass - in religious protest and warning: ccGod is not mocked!" Gal. 6:7. God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates Alabama and America because they...

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...

A radical Kansas church barred by law from disrupting military funerals in Illinois is turning to the American Civil Liberties Union for help. The ACLU has sent Freedom of Information Act requests to a number of Illinois mayors and police chiefs to find out how they are dealing with members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Church members have shown up at military funerals in Illinois and other states carrying signs that say "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags," the newspaper said. An Illinois law passed this year stipulates that protesters...

SPRINGFIELD -- It's not a threat to sue. Yet. The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a broad inquiry into how Illinois is enforcing a new state law designed to keep picketers affiliated with a radical Kansas church from disrupting military funerals. The ACLU has sent Freedom of Information Act requests to the offices of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and several suburban and Downstate mayors and police chiefs to see how members of Westboro Baptist Church were dealt with and whether their free-speech rights were infringed upon. In Illinois in the last five months, church members have shown up at...

A Kansas church group that planned to demonstrate at the funerals of five Amish girls killed in an attack on their one-room schoolhouse has dropped the picket plans, a reversal that came hours after Pennsylvania's governor offered the Amish police protection. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church issued a statement today saying a representative will appear on a nationally syndicated radio talk show hosted by Mike Gallagher instead of picketing the funerals. Gallagher's website indicated the group was offered an hour of airtime tomorrow in exchange for dropping the planned demonstration. In preparation for the demonstration, Governor Ed Rendell said...

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church found themselves outnumbered Sunday when they arrived to protest the funeral of U.S. Army Spc. Chris Sitton. A phalanx of flags held by more than 100 Patriot Guard Riders and volunteers stood between them and the grounds of Montrose High School, as people chanted the Pledge of Allegiance and more than 20 police officers monitored the scene. But Sara Phelps said she didn't care what others thought. "These people hold patriotic pep rallies for these dead soldiers and this is the time to tell them, 1. Don't worship the dead. And, 2., Don't worship...

Protestors from a Kansas church known for picketing soldiers' funerals failed to show Monday afternoon at rites in Cleveland for Sgt. David Weir, who was killed in Iraq. But about 70 members of the Patriot Guard motorcycle corps did - along with many other local flagwavers. Bradley County authorities had a spot marked off for the protestors. It was in a field across from Fike Funeral Home - 300 feet away. The field stayed empty as the private funeral services went on inside the funeral home. The body was taken afterwards to the National Cemetery in Chattanooga for burial. There...

A Topeka, Kansas group plans to picket at the funeral of Sgt. David Weir on Monday. Sgt. Weir, of Bradley County, died this month during combat in Iraq. About 10 Westboro Baptist Church will protest outside the funeral home, church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper said. Family members learned today about the planned protest and would not comment, said Rich Dinsmore, a spokesman for the family.

A federal judge granted a motion that allows attorneys for a Spring Garden Township man to post a civil complaint against Fred W. Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church at the church and to mail it. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett gave attorneys representing Albert Snyder permission to notify Phelps and his Kansas based church in an alternate way. The attorneys filed the motion after attempting to serve Phelps and his church with the civil suit more than 20 times. The defamation suit against Phelps and the church was filed June 5 in U.S. District Court in Maryland...

Less than a day after the Baucus family announced its funeral plans for Cpl. Phillip Baucus, who was killed in Iraq this week, the Westboro Baptist Church announced its own plans to picket Sunday's service. The group listed the Sieben Ranch near Wolf Creek on its Web site Thursday, including the ranch's address and the time of 1:15 to 2 p.m. The church, based in Topeka, Kan., has gained headlines for its religious-based rhetoric bashing gays and, more recently, fallen U.S. servicemen who the church believes are fighting on behalf of a "sinful nation." While the comments posted on the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas church group that protests at military funerals nationwide filed suit in federal court, saying a Missouri law banning such picketing infringes on religious freedom and free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., on behalf of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, which has outraged mourning communities by picketing service members' funerals with signs condemning homosexuality. The church and the Rev. Fred Phelps say God is allowing troops, coal miners and others to be killed because the United States tolerates gay men and...

Henry “Thumper” Yandle is helping organize a convoy scheduled to leave Meehan Junction Saturday morning to attend a memorial service in Laurel for Sgt. 1st Class Clarence McSwain. Yandle, and those traveling with him, will not only be going to pay their respects to McSwain’s family, they will try to shield the family from protesters who are also planning to arrive. “We basically stand between them and the family,” Yandle said. “We don’t want anybody coming who wants to cause trouble. We don’t confront these people. We let the authorities deal with that.” The fringe group planning to “picket” McSwain’s...

A protest concert next door to the Westboro Baptist Church ended with no arrests, no injuries and practically no music on Sunday. Biteboy, a Florida band that traveled to Topeka to stage the protest, was in the middle of its second song when Topeka police halted the concert shortly after 10 a.m. The band later played for about an hour in the parking lot of the Seabrook Tavern near S.W. 21st and Gage as protesters waved American flags and signs critical of Fred Phelps, the church's pastor. Before relocating to the tavern, the band provided the centerpiece for a protest...

Dad sues Kansas church York County's Albert Snyder said Westboro Baptist defamed him and his deceased son. By MICHELE CANTY Daily Record/Sunday News At bottom: · MOTHER OPPOSES SUIT · TO DONATE Jun 6, 2006 — The father of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq is suing the Kansas group that protested his son's funeral carrying signs that read "Semper Fi, Semper Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." A defamation suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Maryland on behalf of Albert Snyder, father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died March 3. The suit names Fred...

The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters from a fundamentalist Kansas church filed an invasion-of-privacy suit against the demonstrators Monday. It is believed to be the first lawsuit brought by a soldier's family against Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., whose members routinely demonstrate at military funerals around the country. Members' demonstrations in Colorado prompted lawmakers to approve -- and the governor to sign -- a bill banning protests within certain distances of funerals. Snyder, 20, died March 3 after an accident in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. The church has inspired dozens of...