God bless the bikers
A graveside service will be held in rural eastern Kansas Friday for Spc. John Edward Wood, a Kansas National Guardsman killed in action in Iraq on Oct. 7.
Dressed appropriately in black, the Patriot Guard Riders will be there to protect the solemn occasion and honor the fallen soldier's sacrifice.
Which is very good news for the Bourbon County Sheriff, who has been working feverishly to protect Wood's mourners from the Rev. Fred Phelps, the deranged leader of the loathsome Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, whose pitiful acolytes show up with taunting signs at military funerals.
Earlier this year, the group sent a message to the family of a fallen Marine: "God Almighty killed Lance Cpl. Monroe. He died in shame, not in honor, for a fag nation cursed by God."
Westboro touts phrases like "They turned America over to fags; they're coming home in body bags" and "Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."
The group is led by Fred Phelps, a lawyer who was disbarred in Kansas courts in 1979 and in federal in 1989, shortly before he began his 15-year demonstrations to gain attention for himself and his family.
He holds himself out as a minister with the shakiest of credentials and a church made up primarily of those related to him by blood and marriage. Some have described it as a cult. The group's Web site is www.godhatesfags.com.
Bourbon County sheriff was wringing his hands worrying about what to do about Phelps and his wackos, when word reached him that the Patriot Guard Riders, a national group of motorcyclists, would ride to the rescue. The bikers do their best to show up to obstruct Phelps and his clones whenever they try to go to demonstrate at the funerals of a fallen service men.
The Patriot Guard Riders formed initially out of Mulvane about 15 months ago to counter a Phelps'-planned protest in Oklahoma. Publicity over the group's purpose gained national attention and spawned chapters across the country. The group has grown to more than 60,000 members since launching last November.
Marion County residents got their first look at the Patriot Guard Riders last month when a group of them rode in to give wounded Army Spc. Molly Holub an escort in her welcome home parade.
Local members of the group were on hand Saturday at the American Legion in Hillsboro when Holub received a quilt from the Quilt of Valor Foundation. Some posed for a photograph (See Pg. 1).
In a world gone wacky with fundamentalist religions, it's ironic that the most Christian acts of charity are being done by a group wearing leathers and chains.
God bless the bikers.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
