Funeral Protester Arrested for Allowing Son to Step on Flag

[KansDem]

Source: KCTV5 News

June 6, 2007 11:28 AM CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A member of the Topeka church that protests soldier funerals has been arrested in Nebraska.

Police arrested Shirley Phelps-Roper on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after her ten-year-old son stomped on an American flag during a protest in Bellevue. The 49-year-old Phelps-Roper is a daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps.

Phelps-Roper isn't denying that she allowed the boy to stand on the flag, but she says the -- action is protected by the U-S Constitution.

Bellevue Police said a 1977 Nebraska statute makes it unlawful for a person to trample on a flag. Violating the law is a misdemeanor punishable by three months in jail and a 500-dollar fine.

Phelps-Roper said church members have protested at more than 280 military funerals in 43 states in two years, and that yesterday's arrest is her church's first at a funeral.



Read more: http://www.kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=6620297

---

Makes one wonder how the American flag factors into the "God hates fags" philosophy of the Phelps entourage.

[rinsd]

1. This is one of those poetic justice moments

[Skinner]

2. While I think the westboro baptist people are the absolute lowest of the low...

...she is correct that stepping on a flag is protected speech under the first amendment.

[KansDem]

11. True.

Protesting American policies (ie, Iraq invasion, torture, suspension of habeas corpus, etc.) can be effectively articulated in this manner. But one has to wonder what Phelps and his crew are attempting to articulate with regard to their agenda, considering that, as far as I can ascertain, they are anti-gay/lesbian.

[polmaven]

31. As far as I can tell,

The soldiers died defending a country that tolerates fags, so they are obviously evil......I guess.....:shrug:

Keep in mind that homophobes don't think like normal people.They are so caught up in their hate and loathing they spew their vile slime all over everyone except the true evil. THEMSELVES!

[ksilvas]

22. Agreed.

Their stupidty is endless.
But at the end of the day, this is what freedom is all
about, the ability to be as stupid as one disires without harming
anyone.

[slowry]

24. ty

Some people act as if they're the most evil group of people, the world over. Their message certainly is, but it's not as if they're out chucking bombs or gunning people down. They've crossed the line before imo, in virtually encouraging violence, but other than that they're just bloody kooks.

Teaching their kids to hate is also pretty borderline (I don't know enough about it to comment), but this incident is silly.

[wakeme2008]

29. While I would normally agree with that, I need more facts in this case

did the mother press the boy to do it knowing the police would arrest somebody. :shrug: If she did it, I would agree with you but I am not sure about her having the son do it.

[yardwork]

40. All the Phelps' kids are totally brainwashed

Generations of Phelps' clan children have been indoctrinated from birth to believe that God hates the United States because the country tolerates gay people.

[Maeve]

3. Much as I'd like to see a Phelps jailed...

Not on that sort of law. And where's the picture of Dubya standing on a flag? Or signing one, for that matter?
And the Boss and I post in tandem... :toast:

[LiberalFighter]

14. I bet bushwad did something similar in Kansas

And they let it slide.

[BadgerKid]

30. Bush signing flag

[Maeve]

37. Thanks, Badger! Now we have both the pictures in the thread!

see "Hmmm" by Concerned GA Voter for the other

[Mz Pip]

4. Whatever works

These idiots brainwash their kids and keep them out of school to protest at funerals. It's about time these people got busted.


Mz Pip
:dem:

[Xipe Totec]

5. Maybe God hates flags? nt

[petronius]

13. LOL! Brilliant...

Much as I despise these Phelpsians, this seems to be a very trumped up arrest. It also seems like a precedent that could come back to bite a lot of demonstrators across the political spectrum...

[redwitch]

17. A Duzy of a reply!

But upon reflection, I bet God DOES hate flags. The patriotic shit seems to get in the way of "love thy neighbor", ya know?

[Xipe Totec]

19. Bingo!

God did not create nations...

Don't call me an alien,
see your child and mine
how they run hand in hand
to the end of the road.

Don't call them alien,
they know nothing of languages
or limits or flags,
see them climb to the sky
with a fleeting dove smile
that joins them in flight.

Don't call me an alien,
think of your brother and mine,
bodies riddled with bullets
kissing death on the ground.
They were not aliens,
they knew each other always
through eternal liberty
and died as free men as well.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=379&topic_id=1127&mesg_id=1136

[redwitch]

27. beautiful.

:hug:

[anotherdrew]

6. where do these "people" get the money for this? n/t

[Captain Angry]

12. My question as well.

For the amount of travel and noise these guys must generate, somebody with deep pockets is funding them.

But then again, Blackwater only exists because the family fortune was created when they developed the light-up vanity mirror on the passenger side sun visor. Maybe one of Phelps' flock came up with some invention that has made them independently wealthy.

[pipoman]

16. They live in commune like conditions,

there really are no (or damned few) members who are not Fred's family or extended family. Everyone is employed, most are college grads, several are lawyers. They home school (brain wash) their vile offspring. Their homes surround the latrine they 'worship' in, they are all smallish homes just adequate to house the family who resides there. They pool their money. IIRC Fred has like 15 children and they are all (or mostly) middle aged by now and have raised theirs. Most of the little kids at the protests are Freds grandchildren and great gc.

[anotherdrew]

32. it would be legal then to stage a protest 24x7x365 outside their property right?

why not organize it nationally? get some big contributors to pay volunteers travel expenses, specifically target their children with the signs, with such slogans as "your mommy and daddy are Lying to you"

[Xithras]

28. Lawsuits

It's part of their scam. The video cameras are running whenever they're protesting. If the police let counterprotesters get too close, they'll sue. If the police touch them, they'll sue. If someone hits them or throws something at them, they'll sue the attacker AND the police. They generate confrontations hoping that something will happen, and then when something DOES, they file lawsuit after lawsuit. The police invariably settle, they tend to win suits for assaults, and the money they get from those suits helps to fund their activities.

[Ben Masel]

34. By winning free speech lawsuits

against cops and prosecutors like these mental midgets in Nebraska.

[TroglodyteScholar]

7. Hmm....

[Maeve]

18. That's it! Thanks, GA Voter! eom

[superconnected]

23. excellent! Arrest that woman for what she letting the boy king do!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. double hmm

[Vidar]

8. Good use of a stupid law.

[Gregorian]

9. Is it fascism yet? Should there be a law requiring we all fly flags?

I continue to be amazed at the infantile mentality that is displayed in flag desecration laws. As if a rag had any relationship to the principals this country stands for. Why not force us all to wear flag lapel pins?

I wonder if these same lawmakers are the ones who don't seem to care that our present president has shredded the Bill of Rights AND the Constitution.

Anyways. Carry on. Never mind me. I'm just ranting.

[SayWhatYo]

10. This seems to have less to do with the flag and more to do with getting these jackasses...

Wrong? Yeah, but some times the wrong thing feels so right.

[pipoman]

15. I have seen these freaks

protesting several times in Topeka and around the State of Kansas. They always have grade school and younger children with the most vile, disgusting placards imaginable. Every time I have seen them my stomach has turned with disgust that they are associated with a state I love.

As I understand it they claim the U.S. acceptance of homosexuality has so angered God that our country is under siege. Our soldiers are dying because of the anger of God. Every bad thing which happens is because of God's anger over homosexuals. They have protested the funerals of the victims of every school shooting recently including VT, the Amish, etc. They are sick, twisted slime.

As for where they get their money, all of Fred's Children are well educated. Several are lawyers. They live in the block surrounding the building they defile for worship owning numerous homes in the area. It is a family commune of sorts.

I long for the day Fred begins his eternity in Hell.

I am not gay and am not involved in gay rights issues for or against, but these puke bags make me physically ill.

Good on ya' Huskers!


**There is not another living person who I would wish a long painful death upon followed by eternity of torment besides Fred Phelps. May his soul rest in eternal agony.

[Critters2]

20. I've been screamed at by these people,

but I still think they should have 1st Amendment protections. The Phelps are a bunch of lawyers. No way they're not going to challenge this arrest on Constitutional grounds. And when they do, they'll win.

[depakid]

21. Yet I doubt a jury will ever give them damages

Which basically means the police are free to arrest them again.

[saigon68]

25. They will win a lawsuit

And under the civil rights laws they will collect attys fees if they prevail.

The damages might be $0.00

But the attys fees could be very healthy and they are set by the Judge that hears the case. In several school desegregation cases they amounted to millions.

[Ben Masel]

35. Atty's fees in civil Rights Actions

The Judge's discretion in setting fees is also narrowly constrained. Here's a Wisconsin Appelate decision reversing trial judge's refusal to pay my Atty his customary hourly rate...

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wi&vol=wisctapp2%5C3q00%5C99-1055&invol=1
No. 99-1055
STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS, DISTRICT IV
In the Matter of the Attorney Fees re:
Crawford County,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
Ben Masel,
Defendant-Appellant.

[Raine]

33. Those disgusting assholes

they were here in the 'burbs of Los Angeles county just a week ago protesting on the corner of my block because they were having a service for a local high school boy killed in Iraq. I had heard of them but was actually shocked they had the gall to come here, one of the women was standing on the flag here.

[wtmusic]

36. Somehow, it seems

our time and energies are better spent than worrying about whether someone has the right to stand on a piece of cloth.

How many people have died in Iraq since this arrest happened?

[Orsino]

38. So the mother's arrested for "letting" her son do it...

...but the son isn't arrested for actually committing the misdemeanor?

Even mail-order lawyers like the Phelps culties ought to be able to dispose of this case. Look for the charge to be dropped quickly, if only so that Nebraska can pretend to hold onto this jingoistic statute.

[Javaman]

39. Why does our flag hate the bottom of this kids shoes? nt

[dkofos]

41. I wish the FBI would set these idiots up in a terrorist plot!!

Oh sorry, wrong religion.

[ohioINC]

42. Protester arrested at funeral of soldier

Source: AP, Military Times

OMAHA, Neb. — A member of the Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers’ funerals has been arrested for letting her 10-year-old son stomp on a U.S. flag during a demonstration. She promised Wednesday to challenge the state’s flag desecration law in court.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, will be charged with flag mutilation, disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said Wednesday.

Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, acknowledged that she allowed her son Jonah to stand on the flag Tuesday — something she says is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

“It’s utter nonsense,” said Phelps-Roper, a lawyer. “I don’t know what else to tell you other than that we’ll see them in federal court.”

Read more: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_funeralarrest_070606/

---

Didn't see it anywhere yet, forgive me if it's a dupe. Not sure what to think about the flag burning, but go child endangerment!

[meegbear]

43. GRRRRRR!

:grr:

----------------------------------------------

:party: WELCOME TO DU!! :party:

[Donnachaidh]

44. Child Services -- kick in and take this kid away

If EVER there was a need for state intervention for a child -- this SCREAMS it.

[alkaline9]

45. not to play devil's advocate, but why does this "SCREAM" for...

...state intervention? I may or may not agree with what this woman and her child are protesting, but I will back their right to protest. Stepping on the flag? Its not like she gave the kid matches and said go off and play with these. In my opinion, teaching your children about their Constitutional rights (no matter how disturbing) is within reason for a parent.

In my opinion flag desecration laws ARE in violation of the 1st amendment.

[FlaGranny]

46. Sometimes it's a shame

you just can't arrest people for being assholes, but I agree, no one should be arrested for stomping on a flag. Sadly, laws against assholes are also probably unconstitutional.

But, I really think Donna is talking about how unparentlike it is to teach your kid to protest against a person who has met a violent death. That does scream for something, if you are a normal person.

[alkaline9]

48. I tend to agree with your characterization of the family as assholes...

...but I still don't think we have gotten to the point in our dictatorship where we can justify taking away the kids from said assholes. I suppose I'm also on the side of free speech, so I may be letting that particular emotional issue drive my reasoning behind questioning this.

[Donnachaidh]

51. that's what I was saying -- thanks for acknowledging that

Parenting requires much more than squeezing out a kid. And when you teach your child to hate, especially at a funeral like this, the only thing you are producing is another generation of hate.

[joanmj]

47. Was the soldier....

GAY??? The Phelps have been known for prtesting at gay soldier funerals. The post/link is now AWOL!:pals:

[Canuckistanian]

49. They protest ALL military funerals

Their point is that the US allows so much homosexuality, the troops dying are just God's punishment.

:crazy:

[uppityperson]

50. Dupe, link to article (not LBN) and LBN DU link

I disagree with what she/kid is saying, but they have the right to say it.
http://www.kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=6620297
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2871700