Patriot Guard Riders

Don't forget that many bikers are veterans and love their country!! I'd hug and kiss each and everyone of the Patriot Guard Riders! WTG guys.




By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer
Published: 6/29/2010 2:28 AM

OWASSO — A group from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was outnumbered Monday evening during a memorial service for Army Sgt. Andrew Looney.


Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group that travels to soldiers' funerals to honor their families and shield them from the signs of hate held by Westboro members, were on hand along with hundreds of people from the community to counterprotest the controversial group.

Westboro members picket soldiers' funerals across the country, spreading their message that "God hates America" because it "condones homosexuality" and that it is wrong to idolize dead soldiers. They claim that the soldiers' deaths are God's vengeance on the United States.

Police were also there to maintain distance between the two groups. They escorted the Westboro members away from the area just before 7 p.m.

Rebekah Phelps-Davis, a daughter of Westboro's pastor, Fred Phelps, was one of six Westboro members who stood near the site of the service.

Her daughter, Deborah Phelps-Davis, 15, and son, Barak Phelps-Davis, 11, were also among the six.

During the counterprotest, many from the Owasso community chanted "U.S.A." and sang "God Bless America" between
jeers at the Westboro members.

"This is a typical response," Phelps-Davis said. "When we put the word of God in the air, there is a wholesale rejection."

Dave Borg, one of the many counterprotesters, said he felt sorry for the Westboro members and the children they brought.

"They (the children) don't even know. They have no idea," he said about the children's participation in the demonstration. "I feel sorry for them."

Borg, who noted that his brother is disabled from severe wounds he suffered in the Vietnam war, said soldiers fight and die for the right to free speech, but he considered the Westboro members' protests during memorial services to be unforgiveable.

"It's sad. They are just sorry people," he said.

"It's about a dead soldier — people's son — that died in the war giving them the right to do what they do."

Original Print Headline: Westboro group outnumbered
jarrel.wade@tulsaworld.com
By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer