President wants funerals 'protest-free'

President wants funerals 'protest-free'
Spokeswoman says memorials are 'private family affairs'

A Kansas-based group that periodically launches virulent anti-homosexual attacks on just about anyone handy was persuaded not to protest at the funerals this week for the five Amish children killed by a gunman, and President Bush believes that was an appropriate result.

In response to a WND question at a press briefing yesterday, Bush's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said she was not sure Bush knew of that particular protest plan.

"I'm not sure that the president is aware of that particular incident, but certainly he believes that no funeral should be protested. Those are private family affairs," she told WND.

The group, Westboro Baptist Church, uses as its theme, "God Hates Fags" and has protested at a wide range of events, including the funerals of lost servicemen whose bodies are returned from the Middle East.

Group members had promised to protest at the funerals for the young girls killed when gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV attacked an Amish school, ejected the boys and teacher and tied up nearly a dozen young female students.

His gunshots a short time later killed five and left others hospitalized.

Probably because of the high level of attention the funerals would attract, the Westboro clan said it would stage a protest there. However, it failed to materialize after the Massachusetts governor promised police security and a radio talk show host negotiated with a group spokeswoman for time on the air in exchange for not protesting.

Talk show host Mike Gallegher worked with Shirley Phelps-Roper to obtain the promise that there would be no Westboro protest at the funerals.

And Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell also said he appealed to the Topeka, Kansas-based group to allow the funerals to be held in private. Rendell in June had signed legislation to restrict the group's picketing by making it a crime to demonstrate within 150 meters of a funeral or memorial service.

He promised state police would be on hand to provide security if it was needed.

Westboro says American military members are dying overseas because God is displeased that the United States tolerates homosexuals.

In a report in the online Examiner, church spokeswoman Rebecca Phelps-David said the "fruits" of this nation are being killed "because God is cursing this nation."

Members have held up "Thank God For Dead Soldiers" signs at more than 220 military funerals already, according to a Scripps-Howard News Service report.

As WND reported earlier, Bush believes military and other funerals should be exempted from such protests, but he won't get into "jostling" over that issue.

The group also had targeted the recent funeral in Harford County, Md., for Petty Officer David Roddy, but at that time a combination of encouragement from a congressman and talk radio hosts rallied members of an organization called "The Patriot Guard Riders."

They are made up of network of motorbikers and veterans to prevent disruption of funerals by "misguided religious zealots." An estimated 500 showed for the military funeral to make sure no protesters approached the funeral procession.

A second question of Perino sought information about whether any recordings of Bush's press secretary, Tony Snow, "as a radio talk show host having difficulty getting non-evasive answers to his questions of White House Press Secretary?" had been located.

"I don't even know if I understand the question, but I don't – I think the answer is no," she said.

Snow was a radio talk show host before accepting the position in Bush's administration.

There also has erupted a dispute over radio commercials he apparently did some years ago promoting a siding product being rerun at this time by the company.