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October 22, 2010 in City, Idaho
N. Idaho residents stand against hate message
Counter-protesters shout their position to members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketers on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at the corner of 37th and Regal near Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
Large crowds of counter-demonstrators turned out in the early morning darkness in Coeur d’Alene today to answer the small group of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church that plans a second day of denouncing gays, soldiers, Jews, the United States, and private and public colleges and schools.
The seven members of the extremist group from Topeka, Kan., were out holding signs at the corner of Fourth and Dalton streets, next to Coeur d’Alene High School, by 6 a.m., while at least 50 counter-demonstrators met them with messages of their own.
“I don’t like the way they treat veterans at the funerals,” said Greg Prado of Hayden, a Marine who served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Prado attended with his son Cade, 6, and wife Amy.
“We can’t let people come into our town and bully us without saying that’s not right,” Prado said. “They’re hiding behind the First Amendment.”
Darby Lopp, 12, a Woodland Middle School seventh grader, displayed a rainbow-colored sign she had made to show support for gay people. The sign stated “This is our community,” and also included the Star of David.
“I don’t think this is right. I think we need to stand up for what we believe in,” Lopp said.
The Westboro group moved on to Lake City High School, where school administrators held an indoor assembly for students to keep them inside. About 100 people demonstrated against Westboro outside. The counter-demostrators took up three of the four corners of the intersection of Ramsey and Hanley avenues and numerous cars and trucks honked while passing, drawing huge cheers from the group.
The next stop was North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, whose presentation of the play “The Laramie Project,” sparked Westboro’s appearance in the region. At NIC, there were an estimated 200 counter-demonstrators and a significant police presence surrounding the Westboro demonstrators, who set up in the middle of campus, across from the student union building.
The counter-demonstrators included carloads of students who drove north this morning from the University of Idaho in Moscow.
At NIC, one counter-demonstrator whose boyfriend is in the military and who wore a T-shirt that said “I love my soldier,” ran up to the police fencing surrounding the Westboro group waving her sign and yelling her message of love.
Shaun Winkler, of Spirit Lake, a former member of the Aryan Nations under the late Richard Butler, appeared with a sign saying, “May there be plenty more Matt Shepards,” a reference to the young gay man murdered in Wyoming.
Winkler’s sister, Christine Newman, carried another sign that said, “Keep fags from our schools.”
Shepard was found alone and cold and tied to a split-rail fence in a remote area east of Laramie 12 years ago this month. He died a few days later from a severe beating by two men from the region.
One UI student, Caitlin Boland, 22, said, “It’s inspiring knowing there are that many out there who believe that love is the most important thing. By their protesting,” she said of the Westboro group, “they are bringing us all together.”
On Thursday, the Westboro group demonstrated at Gonzaga University, Moody Bible Institute, Whitworth University, Ferris High School and Eastern Washington University. Hundreds of local residents turned out to counter the group.
Westboro picketers have gained national attention by shouting anti-Semitic and anti-homosexual remarks and for carrying insulting signs at funerals for victims of violent homophobia and U.S. military casualties of war.
Two Fernwood residents dead after Monday accident 
fishinjay on October 22 at 7:36 a.m.
Driving by Lake City High School this morning I saw the Westboro crazies out there, and the counter protesters across the street.
Then right next to the Westboro crowd was a man with the “Support Obama, Vote Minnick” sign.
If the point of the Obama/Minnick sign is guilt by association, perhaps he should have taken a hard look at who he was standing next to first!
TSR_Matt on October 22 at 9:21 a.m.
It always amazes me how people react to protesters. They are there to do one thing - get an emotional response out of you. It is irrelevant what they are protesting. If they are have gone through the proper channels and are not infringing on *your* constitutional rights, then what they are doing is legal. I applaud the people who choose to show up and “defend” their point of view as long as everyone keeps it civil. I like seeing things like this every once in a while. It means our Constitution’s core intent is working perfectly.
Earlier this summer there was an individual in front of the Medical Lake Post Office protesting President Obama. You would not believe how many people could not just walk by this guy and ignore him. People were yelling back at him and telling him that it was illegal for him to protest on Federal property. They were asking the postal workers if they could do something to make the protester leave (I was glad to see the postal workers tell them to call the Sheriff’s department if they wanted to pursue it - I doubt any did). Even though I personally disagreed with this protester’s methods (Obama/Nazi references), I was more offended by the general public’s comments that this protester was doing something illegal. They were coming closer to violating his right of free speech than the protester was of violating any of their rights. I was embarrassed at their lack of understanding of what free speech really means and how quickly they turned on someone just because they were offended by his views.
mikemcdonnell on October 22 at 11:05 a.m.
Conservatives would have stopped the Internet from happening. It’s common knowledge that the conservative Republican party hates the National Science Foundation. It was the NSF that made the Internet happen, they had the vision to open the door to the world. http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_nsfnet.htm
July 1, 1956. The Steve Allen Show, New York City. “As Elvis rehearsed for an appearance on The Steve Allen Show, national media buzzed with backlash against Elvis’s hip-swinging performance on Milton Berle’s show just a few weeks earlier. Conservative critics called Elvis a “disciple of the devil.”
Conservatives fear a free society, trying to control what people do… whether it’s in Iran or the USA! Conservatives are bad for America.
oneanddone on October 22 at 11:39 a.m.
Mikey, Mikey - you ignorant dipwad. EVERYONE knows that Al Gore invented the internet. Just kidding. Really it was the military, not NSF. And in 1956, just about EVERYONE thought there was something wrong with Elvis. It had nothing to do with being conservative, it was the social values of the day. And, who knows, maybe we’d be better off with fewer expletives over the airwaves. The only people who fear a free society Mikey is the Idaho legislature and they’re not conservatives. They’re just your average run of the mill everyday greedy SOBs. What’s really bad for this country are narrow minded self-righteous ideologues like yourself. Move back to the liberal NE where you belong.
spokanada on October 22 at 1:01 p.m.
Mikey, nevermind oneanddone. I know he called you a “narrow minded self-righteous ideologue” but take that as a compliment. He called the president a N@@@@@ in one of his previous posts. Somehow he thinks someone gives a crap about what he has to say.
force_vector on October 22 at 5:51 p.m.
Some of the posts regarding this article are absolutely as ignorant as what the Westboro idiots spew. Have some of you ever considered that you are in fact equal, yet opposites of them? Ignorance and intolerance cuts both ways.
Hcklbery on October 31 at 10:54 p.m.
In other news a Ferndale man pleads guilty of sex with his goat but the local chapter of students for restoring sanity are protesting what they claim to be a cruel denial of the man’s and goat’s basic civil rights to marry as an effort to promote tolerance, peace and love. They now are lobbying Congress to pass anti hate legislation targeting those who advocate what they term as intolerance and bigotry towards what they referred to as “alternative lifestyles”.
Barney Frank the Bills sponsor is touring local stockyards in a bid to bring awareness to the goats plight in seeking love and acceptance amongst their fellow mammals. While President Obomb called for repealing the don’t ask don’t tell policies declaring such intolerance un-American and basic humankind’s injustices.
Community colleges using government funds are holding production skits of the goat’s and the man’s story with a candlelight vigil to follow.