brokeninoz
07-29-2005, 08:06 AM
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http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Fri, Jul. 29, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Free speech comes with a price tag
Margie Phelps pickets soldiers' funerals in her spare time, claiming God kills American soldiers in retaliation for the nation's acceptance of homosexuality.
"Thank God for the mortar," she was quoted in a recent Boston Herald article. "Thank God for the shell that came from the gun. Thank God for the fact that it killed the fruit of America to punish it for its sins."
Despite what she admits is harsh language, Phelps says she's within her rights to demonstrate at these funerals without losing her job as director of release planning for the Kansas Department of Corrections.
A host of lawyers and public officials -- including Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius -- agrees that Phelps has brilliantly positioned herself within the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Only if her activities intruded on her work could she be subject to any sort of censure.
One public official thinks Phelps' almost ghoulish after-hours activities finally may have crossed the line.
Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan says Phelps' protests aren't helping in the implementation of a prisoner re-entry partnership between the Corrections Department, the county and the city of Wichita.
"The problem is now, the story is distracting from that partnership," Buchanan said. "I'm spending five minutes talking about it, instead of talking about how to get prisoners reintegrated and productive members of society. That's the sad part."
Buchanan didn't provide details of how Phelps' work has hindered the program.
Back in March, the city, county and state formed an offender re-entry task force, a pilot project that matches newly released inmates with a network of services, including drug counseling and help finding housing and employment.
If it is successful, it could become a prototype for similar programs nationwide.
But Wednesday, Buchanan said Phelps' "behavior is making us lose focus and is harmful to this partnership. It's just distracting. A state employee is making it difficult to get a program done."
Phelps strongly disagreed.
"It never has," she said when asked if her ministry interferes with her state job. "I conduct myself in a way that prevents that. I've been engaged in this activity for 15 years."
She sat down with me Thursday to explain her inflammatory language and extreme tactics.
She pickets funerals only where she says the military is using a soldier's death to "spin these deaths that they cannot stop." The protesters stay outside and leave within 30 minutes.
Phelps said she and the other protesters use the public funerals for the public platforms they've already become.
"It's a Barnum and Bailey's three-ring circus, and we want our ring," she said.
"This isn't about human hate. It's about God's hate," she said. "The most loving thing you can do is warn someone away from danger. It would be selfish hate to sit back with my mouth shut."
"The thing about us that people miss is the compassion that drives us," she said.
I sat next to Phelps during a March meeting she and her supervisor had with The Eagle editorial board. We discussed the task force initiative.
I'd be less than honest if I didn't admit that her grasp of the issues, her presentation and her professionalism impressed me. And not only that. She made herself available by cell phone in case I had any other questions about the program. I recognized her last name at the time but never would have guessed that in her spare time she marched under banners like, "They turned America over to fags, they're coming home in body bags" at soldiers' funerals.
Thursday, I told her that I found what she did on the side abhorrent. She said she didn't expect that I'd understand and she was certain that I wouldn't agree.
But, she added, no one should be able to take her job because of her religious beliefs.
Her activities reflect the occasional yet steep cost of living in a society founded on the protection of unpopular speech.
Unless Buchanan can come up with more details about how her activities hinder the work of the re-entry task force, we can only stand staring as Phelps taunts us from behind a window of individual freedom.
Reach Mark McCormick at 268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com (mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Fri, Jul. 29, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Free speech comes with a price tag
Margie Phelps pickets soldiers' funerals in her spare time, claiming God kills American soldiers in retaliation for the nation's acceptance of homosexuality.
"Thank God for the mortar," she was quoted in a recent Boston Herald article. "Thank God for the shell that came from the gun. Thank God for the fact that it killed the fruit of America to punish it for its sins."
Despite what she admits is harsh language, Phelps says she's within her rights to demonstrate at these funerals without losing her job as director of release planning for the Kansas Department of Corrections.
A host of lawyers and public officials -- including Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius -- agrees that Phelps has brilliantly positioned herself within the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Only if her activities intruded on her work could she be subject to any sort of censure.
One public official thinks Phelps' almost ghoulish after-hours activities finally may have crossed the line.
Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan says Phelps' protests aren't helping in the implementation of a prisoner re-entry partnership between the Corrections Department, the county and the city of Wichita.
"The problem is now, the story is distracting from that partnership," Buchanan said. "I'm spending five minutes talking about it, instead of talking about how to get prisoners reintegrated and productive members of society. That's the sad part."
Buchanan didn't provide details of how Phelps' work has hindered the program.
Back in March, the city, county and state formed an offender re-entry task force, a pilot project that matches newly released inmates with a network of services, including drug counseling and help finding housing and employment.
If it is successful, it could become a prototype for similar programs nationwide.
But Wednesday, Buchanan said Phelps' "behavior is making us lose focus and is harmful to this partnership. It's just distracting. A state employee is making it difficult to get a program done."
Phelps strongly disagreed.
"It never has," she said when asked if her ministry interferes with her state job. "I conduct myself in a way that prevents that. I've been engaged in this activity for 15 years."
She sat down with me Thursday to explain her inflammatory language and extreme tactics.
She pickets funerals only where she says the military is using a soldier's death to "spin these deaths that they cannot stop." The protesters stay outside and leave within 30 minutes.
Phelps said she and the other protesters use the public funerals for the public platforms they've already become.
"It's a Barnum and Bailey's three-ring circus, and we want our ring," she said.
"This isn't about human hate. It's about God's hate," she said. "The most loving thing you can do is warn someone away from danger. It would be selfish hate to sit back with my mouth shut."
"The thing about us that people miss is the compassion that drives us," she said.
I sat next to Phelps during a March meeting she and her supervisor had with The Eagle editorial board. We discussed the task force initiative.
I'd be less than honest if I didn't admit that her grasp of the issues, her presentation and her professionalism impressed me. And not only that. She made herself available by cell phone in case I had any other questions about the program. I recognized her last name at the time but never would have guessed that in her spare time she marched under banners like, "They turned America over to fags, they're coming home in body bags" at soldiers' funerals.
Thursday, I told her that I found what she did on the side abhorrent. She said she didn't expect that I'd understand and she was certain that I wouldn't agree.
But, she added, no one should be able to take her job because of her religious beliefs.
Her activities reflect the occasional yet steep cost of living in a society founded on the protection of unpopular speech.
Unless Buchanan can come up with more details about how her activities hinder the work of the re-entry task force, we can only stand staring as Phelps taunts us from behind a window of individual freedom.
Reach Mark McCormick at 268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com (mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com