Last nite, Nov. 12, 2010 I got a phone call that citizens were needed to show up to show support for family of local Army hero (Sgt. Jason McCluskey) who was killed in the war in Afghanistan; and that the urgency was due to Westboro Baptist Church announcing that they would be invading the town to disrupt this soldiers funeral. The funeral was held today, Nov. 13, 2010 at 9:15am at the 1st Baptist Church on 1st & Washington. There were thousands of folks for 3 blocks, most of whom were carrying American Flags.
While the family were in the church for funeral service, the Westboro Baptist Church thugs showed up today on 3rd & Washington St. holding hateful signs. It appeared that there were no more than 6 of them. Most of whom were children. A portion of the citizens hurried for 2 blocks to see what was going on. The Patriot Guard & other riders surrounded the Westboro
group, as the cops & McAlester Mayor shielded them from thousands of very unset citizens. One sign in particular that upset the crowd was the sign saying: “Thank God For Dead Soldiers”. The Westboro woman removed American flag from her waist, and then stepped on it. I guess she was trying to provoke the people. Many in the crowd, including myself wanted to rescue Old Glory from the abuse of these hateful Westboro thugs. But the cops & McAlester Mayor Kevin Priddle kept telling crowd to move back. And several times, we were asked to ignore Westboro folks & turn our backs to them. I detected that the Westboro children appeared as though they were scared or rather timid.
Things got pretty heated when the crowd moved in closer, as some folks were planning to break thru to grab Old Glory from under the Westboro woman’s feet. But cops again made us all move back.
Where the Westboro thugs were situated was on side of the St. Johns Catholic Church. Someone in the crowd said that the catholic priest came out and that it appeared as though he was sprinkling holy water on the Westboro folks. Though, I did not witness this, but I will see if I can find video evidence.
As the crowd got anxious, the Westboro folks starting leaving. The crowd then proceeded after them to make sure they were leaving town. Westboro members dashed to their vehicle, but both tires were flat. The cops did not give them a ride, so they fled on 2 flat tires.
ArleneArmy 