McAlester, Ok objects to Westboro protest

[tulsakatz]

Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires

By MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer
Published: 11/14/2010 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/14/2010 2:30 AM

McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.

Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.

To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.

The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs.

Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held.

Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA."

A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.

More than two dozen law-enforcement officers - state troopers, sheriff's deputies and city police - formed a security cordon around the Westboro protesters.

"We're here to protect everyone," Miller said.

Westboro members picket military funerals across the country, spreading their message that "God hates America" because it tolerates homosexuality.


Manny Gamallo 581-8386
[e-mail]
By MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101114_11_A12_CUTLIN105145&archive=yes

[HillbillyBob]

1. The need to have their stuff handed back

In the 90s I attended many funerals of gay friends who had died of HIV related stuff.. It just killed me that we were dying of AIDs and subject to enough spite to have have these assholes protesting.
If you stir enough crap its gonna splash...

[Kolesar]

3. Phelps looks like the banjo player from Deliverance

I don't think we could make his face much uglier. I am sure some people would like to try, though.

[tulsakatz]

6. I can't even imagine how hard that must be.......

..but to have assholes like these show up, must've made it much worse!

[Le Taz Hot]

2. K & R

Good, positive story.

[tulsakatz]

8. I was surprised to see it too......

...especially in Oklahoma! Recently it seems like if you see a story from Oklahoma, it's usually about some right wing lunatic......

[old mark]

4. Maybe there is some hope left yet - it is a great thing to have those slime treated as

they treat others, and I hope this continues and increases to counter MANY of the right wing activities that have become so common now.


mark

[tulsakatz]

5. if more people treated them like that........

...they might not be quite so eager to protest. Actually, on second thought, they probably would continue to do it but it might slow them down a little.

I had to laugh when I read that no one was willing to help them fix the flat tires! That was funny!

[old mark]

11. ...should have sliced the other 2, made them all match....nt

[SidDithers]

7. K&R...nt

Sid

[madokie]

9. I was reading it in the paper this morning

good for them. One of my late good friends brother was probably one of the motorcyclist drowning the bastids out with their loud pipes. He and a group go to all the military funerals around the 5 state area when the pukes from kansas is showing up to protest and ground them out. they're all Iraq and or Afghanistan Veterans themselves.

[Uben]

10. I had the occasion to work in McAlester, Ok.....

I was sent there to train some workers in the fine art of gear cutting for a few months. The people there are about as down to earth as you can get. I loved my stay there, but it's kinda far from any big cities. They say it's not the end of the earth but you can see it from a hill on the outskirts of town! Great people and there was a barbecue joint there called Ball's that has the best barbecue I have ever eaten! When the plant where I worked closed, the McAlester plant offered me a permanent job, but I have always lived in the same little Texas town I was born in, and I didn't want to move.

[tulsakatz]

14. Oklahomans are good people......

I hear that often from people who come here to visit or whatever. People usually say we are friendly and that's true. Unfortunately, many times we are also defined by the lunatics on the right and I definitely don't like that.

McAlester, not near any large towns? Well, I live in Tulsa which has a population of about 600,000 It's about 100 hundred miles from McAlester. And for myself, I don't think I'd want to live in a city larger than Tulsa. I've lived in Dallas before and it has too much traffic for me.

[VermeerLives]

12. You don't mess with an Okie

To paraphrase Lynard Skynerd, "There's good people in Oklahoma".

The Westboro Baptist Church is a sham. They are lucky they got away with just a couple of flat tires. Ordinary people are getting tired of having every kook group around running their lives and spitting in their face. I am sure the next time this group shows up to pull something like this it will get much more lively....to say the least.

[apocalypsehow]

13. Good - best story I've read all week. Rec.

:thumbsup: