Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Lawmakers Look To Curb Funeral Protests

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Lawmakers Look To Curb Funeral Protests

Written by DeadGirl
Sunday, 09 October 2005
October 5, 2005 OKLAHOMA CITY -- A protest by a Kansas hate group before a funeral for an Oklahoma soldier killed in Iraq has prompted a Moore lawmaker to propose "The Oklahoma Funeral Protection Act." "For any group, church or organization to picket or protest at anyone's funeral -- and especially the funerals of United States service members who give their blood and lives for their country in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is unacceptable," said Rep. Paul Wesselhoft. Ten members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., staged a protest in Newkirk on July 23 as members of the town of 2,300 gathered to mourn the death of Army Spc. Jared D. Hartley, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The group is headed by the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., a disbarred attorney. It has staged anti-gay protests across the nation, carrying signs with racial and anti-Semitic overtones and often condemning other Christian denominations who do not share their views. It contends the death of American soldiers in Iraq is part of God's wrath against a country where homosexuality is flourishing. Newkirk Police Chief John Hobbs said after consultation with the city attorney, the group was allowed to protest prior to the funeral in Newkirk, but had to leave 30 minutes before the service begin, or risk running afoul of existing state law. Hobbs said it is a misdemeanor in Oklahoma to cause a disturbance at a funeral or to interfere with a funeral procession. The antics of the protesters were "pretty hard to take," said Hobbs, a Vietnam War veteran. He said a U.S. flag dangled upside down from the pocket of one female protester. "She dragged it on the ground and kept stepping on it." He said he had to get between an irate local firefighter and the demonstrators at one point, telling the firefighter the protesters were baiting him to start a fight so they could file a lawsuit. "I told him we have to put our personal feelings aside and enforce the law for everyone," Hobbs said. He said he believes the soldier's family members arrived for the service after the protesters had left. Wesselhofft, R-Moore, is proposing to make it a misdemeanor offense to picket or otherwise demonstrate within 500 feet of where a funeral is being held and within two hours of the time a funeral is to begin or to end. "I am not regulating content of speech," he said, adding that protesters can still exercise their First Amendment Rights, just not at a funeral. "Grieving families have rights, too," he said. SOURCE: ChannelOklahoma.com

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.”

Ernest Becker