(A picture of the crowd)
(Some members of the NEPA Freethought Society pose for a picture)
(Me being interviewed by WILK Newsradio)Above photo credits to NEPA Freethought Society board member Mark R.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Westboro Baptist Church members said they'd be protesting the funeral of a local soldier...but they failed to appear. I brought some members from the NEPA Freethought Society and urged people to attend to counter-protest the Westboro Baptist Church members on Facebook and in-person. A very large crowd of people who would come to the funeral regardless of the anticipated protest and a very large crowd of people who probably wouldn't have showed attended. Despite Shirley Phelps saying that church members would be in attendance on a local radio station, WBC never showed.
The biggest calamity during the procession was a woman with a very noisy shopping cart. Someone called her out and said, "Are you kidding me?" and the lady responded in a very loud voice something to the accord of "I'm just turning left here!" I'm curious as to why she would noisily disrupt the procession...but I assure you that this lady wasn't Shirley Phelps.
The Citizens Voice also, for some reason, published a picture of a sign with a tremendous grammatical error. Shame on them...and where were the parents of this child who is holding this sign? Why didn't they notice this error and fix it? I jest...somewhat.
(Photo Credit: Citizens Voice article linked below)
Hilarity also ensued when a woman released balloons and they were caught in a tree.
Several members of the local media recognized me and asked me why I attended the funeral including people from WILK Newsradio, WYLN, and The Citizens Voice. As far as I know, none of the interviews are online at the moment, but I'll post them as soon as I get them if they go online.
It was excellent to see people of our community standing in unity to honor the fallen soldier and be ready to deal with the Westboro Baptist Church. "The third most hated person in Luzerne County" was happy to stand with religious and non-religious in a common cause.
Update: Here is an article from the Citizens Voice about the event.