You may remember Westboro Baptist Church as the people who have been picketing military funerals. Why picket the funerals? Because Fred Phelps and his group dislike our military defending a country that has tolerance for gay people.
They say the deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.link
So what were they recently billed for?
MUNDY TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN (AP) -- An anti-gay Kansas church has been slapped with a $5,000 bill for not showing up for a military funeral in Genesee County.
On July 1st was a funeral for Marine Lance Corporal Brandon Webb. The Westboro group requested in advance special police protection, but they failed to show up the day of the funeral. So they were slapped with a 5,000 dollar bill for not showing up. A member of the church said the bill "was a joke" and they are going to ignore it.
I think they should be billed and they should have to pay it. I'm also happy they didn't show up to make a sad time for the family and friends even worse. At the same time, I have to wonder why they really decided not to show up. According to one of the news reports, a church member said that the Holy Ghost told them at the last minute to stay home. Considering their beliefs, which I saw on their website (no link, sorry), you never know how much they actually believe that to be true.
Many states have put restrictions on protesting funerals and there is already a federal law that makes it illegal to disrupt a funeral (federal law only applies to National Cemeteries). I'm not sure that Michigan has any laws like this yet. I looked, but could not find anything on it. Could these new laws have played a part or were there some other unknown issues? I have no idea, but kudos to the police department and condolences for the family of Brandon.