Mourning, interrupted... thank god for dead soldiers.

Oficials Hope to Block Protests

By PATRICK MARLEY
[email protected]

Posted: Jan. 6, 2006

Madison - Not everyone who came to Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace's visitation in Ripon was welcome.

Among those who stopped by were four adults and three children from the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church who hailed the soldier's death, saying it was God's revenge on a country that accepts homosexuality.

They dragged a U.S. flag on the ground while carrying signs that said "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Thank God for IEDs," a reference to the improvised explosive device that killed Wallace.

"My son died for their right to protest, I guess," said Pete Wallace of Fox Lake. "(But) I can't emphasize enough that it's the wrong forum for them to be in."

Westboro church members have protested at ceremonies for two other Wisconsin National Guard soldiers who died in Iraq, according to the group.

The 75-member church, made up primarily of members of Rev. Fred Phelps' extended family, believes God is punishing America for its sinful ways. This week, the group celebrated the deaths of 12 West Virginia miners.

On Thursday, the Wisconsin National Guard's top lawyer, Staff Judge Advocate Julio Barron, alerted Gov. Jim Doyle's office to the issue, saying the National Guard wanted to "maintain dignity at funerals of fallen service members."

The letter notes that there is little that police, legislators and local officials can do because of free speech rights.

Sen. Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire), the chairman of the Senate's veterans committee, said he planned to meet with the National Guard to discuss the matter. He said lawmakers might be able to draft a bill that would require protesters to be a set distance from funerals or find ways to otherwise protect families, but he stressed that it would be difficult.

"There's a time and a place for this stuff, and a funeral is not the time or place," Brown said. "I don't want to step on anybody's constitutional rights here. . . . It would be hard to stop them."

A Doyle spokesman said the governor would support legislative action.

"The Legislature will have to figure out what they can do constitutionally, but anything that can ease the family's suffering and get these kooks out of the way of these intimate family moments, he's in support of," aide Dan Leistikow said.

The letter to Doyle said the National Guard and Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager are monitoring the church's activities at funerals.

It says other states are contemplating making disorderly conduct at soldiers' funerals a felony, but Lt. Col. Tim Donovan said the National Guard was not advocating passing such a law here.

Lautenschlager sent a letter to Monroe County officials in November warning them that the church planned to protest at the funeral of Pfc. Alex Gaunky of Sparta. The group never showed up, however.

Lautenschlager said in her letter that protesters could be arrested for disorderly conduct in certain situations, and she encouraged law enforcement officers to videotape any protests.

Governor troubled by protests

Doyle saw the protesters when he attended the Oct. 5 funeral of Spc. Michael Wendling in Theresa, near his hometown of Mayville.

Doyle "finds it totally abhorrent they would try to disrupt and cause pain to these tremendous families," Leistikow said.

The same day, the group protested at Wallace's visitation in Ripon. On Nov. 10, they demonstrated in Hudson at Spc. Benjamin A. Smith's funeral.

Video taken by the group outside Wendling's funeral shows Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls telling them not to carry signs that said "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Your pastor is a whore" and ordering them not to desecrate a flag. Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper said that Nehls hit her sister-in law, Paulette Phelps, during the altercation; what transpired is not clear from the video footage posted on the church's Web site, www.godhatesfags.com.

Nehls tells them on the tape they must hide two of their signs for their protection.

"I think some people may read some of your signs and be so offended that they may storm from across the street and cause you harm," he says on the tape. No one is visible on the other side of the road in the video.

Nehls could not be reached for comment.

"He was violating the Constitution with every breath he took and every word he spoke," said Phelps-Roper.

Her group will not take legal action against the county. "There's nothing we could do to Nehls that the Lord couldn't do better than us," she said.

The group has protested outside about 80 funerals and visitations nationwide, said Phelps-Roper, a lawyer and daughter of Fred Phelps, who over the years has protested around the country bearing a "God hates fags" sign.

Phelps-Roper said her group chose to protest at soldiers' funerals because God was sending a message to Americans by killing troops with the improvised explosive devices.

"His weapon of choice is the IED, so our forum of choice must be these soldiers' funerals," she said.

She said all troops were complicit in America's sinfulness because they had agreed to serve their country's government.