TOPEKA ─ Heart of America Minutemen leader Ed Hayes wanted to tell Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church “to leave our military families alone.”

Hayes said “it is absurd to picket the military heroes’ funerals and their families.  It’s deplorable.”

The Phelps family and members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka travel across the country protesting at military funerals and at other events and against groups with whom they disagree.

Meeting at Gage Park

About two weeks ago Hayes started organizing an event for Saturday.  Hayes planned to picket with his group on the sidewalks outside WBC.

Hayes asked everyone to meet at nearby Gage Park to review plans for a peaceful, orderly and legal event.

Hayes first met with Sergeant Jim Trimble to review legal issues discussed previously with Topeka Police.

Trimble told Hayes about a recent newspaper ad that the church was having a “religious event” from 10 AM till 2 PM on Saturday.  No one remembers seeing such Saturday services in the past.

Trimble told Kansas Watchdog that a Topeka City Ordinance prohibited picketing during an announced church service, or within 30 minutes before or after.

Hayes was troubled by this new information since WBC recently posted a new event outside the church when a group arrived to protest.  Hayes was worried that WBC could get rid of protesters at any time by simply posting a new religious event outside the church.

With about 3 hours until any sidewalk protest could occur outside the church on Saturday, Hayes looked for another option.

Hayes’ contacts from Topeka suggested getting permission from the homeowners across from the WBC compound and standing in silence there while holding American flags.

Hayes checked with Sergent Trimble about such a meeting on private property.

Trimble told Kansas Watchdog that a Topeka city ordinance prohibits picketing of a residence but laws did not interfere with rights of citizens to meet on private property.

Flying flags in private yards across from WBC

Hayes and his group received permission from two homeowners across from WBC to fly the flags in their yards.

One homeowner asked not to be identified but confirmed she had given the group permission.

One participant traveled over 300 miles from Oberlin, Kans. to attend the event.  Another traveled about 140 miles from Wichita.  Several from the Kansas City area were there from both sides of the state line.

Most declined to give their names in interviews out of fear of reprisals by WBC.

Since the group knew protests were prohibited by city ordinance at a private residence, participants avoided the word “protest” to describe what they were doing on private property across from WBC.

When asked why he was holding a flag, Mike Egan from Johnson County said “I’m here today because it’s a beautiful day in Shawnee County, Kansas.  It’s Fourth of July week.  It’s a great way to celebrate our heritage by flying the American Flag.”

Conflict between city ordinances, First Amendment

Minutes after the group started flying flags from the private yards, Topeka police officer Steve Roth from the special operations division stopped to discuss Topeka city ordinances about residential and church picketing.  Roth said the WBC compound was more of a residence than a church.

Roth proposed that the group move two blocks west to Gage Avenue to avoid issues with both city ordinances.

Hayes, a retired police captain, claimed he was not in violation of the residential picketing ordinance.  Hayes told Roth “We have a constitutional right to do this, and I don’t see how a city ordinance can surpass that.”

Hayes asked if Sergent Trimble could join the friendly debate and Roth granted that request.

See the discussion about the conflict between city ordinances and the First Amendment in this video:

After discussions and phone calls, Roth said he disagreed with Trimble’s decision but would honor it since Trimble had a higher rank.

The decision was those holding flags with the permission of the property owners could stay if they moved 15 feet back from the curb to private property, outside the public street easement.

Protest on WBC sidewalk

Egan said he did not see anyone leave the WBC compound at any time after noon, and no one left after the announced service ended at 2 PM.

After waiting 30 minutes to comply with the city ordinance about picketing churches a few of the original group held their American flags on the WBC sidewalk.

Egan said a group of six on motorcycles mostly from Leavenworth County briefly joined the protest about an hour later.

Future

How effective will Hayes approach be?  “If we knew the best way to accomplish this we would have done it, ” according to Hayes.  He had hoped for a higher turnout.

Hayes plans future similar events but offered no specifics at this time.

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Related

• Westboro Baptist Church, wiki page.
• Heart of America Minutemen

• Protest at the Westboro Baptist Church, KSNT. July 9, 2011.
• Bikers conduct WBC counter-protest, Topeka Capital-Journal, July 9, 2011.
• K99 DJ turns table on Westboro funeral protesters, Greeley (Colo.) Tribune, June 7, 2011.
  
• U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Westboro Baptist Church protesters, Lawrence Journal-World, March 2, 2011.
• A Peek Inside The Westboro Baptist Church, NPR, March 2, 2011.
• Minuteman Groups Growing In Heartland, KMBC TV, Aug. 16, 2006.

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Contact: Earl F Glynn, earl@kansaswatchdog.org, KansasWatchdog.org

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