Congress Limits Protest At Military Funerals

As part of "The Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012"
which passed Congress and is now headed to President Obama's desk, is a section to limit protests
at Military Funerals.

Demonstrators will now no longer be allowed to picket two hours before or 2 hours following a
military funeral service. The bill also says that protesters must remain at least 300 feet away
from grieving family members.

Thanks to Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe who introduced this part of the legislation
at the urging of a teenage constituent, in response to a Supreme Court case in 2011 that said
the protests were protected by the First Amendment.

This will severely limit actions by the Westboro Baptist Church in their protests at military
funerals. The Church's disruptive and insensitive actions  often suggest that U.S. Armed Forces
have been killed as part of God's vengeance for tolerance of gay and lesbian in our country.

As a response to the court ruling and the continued presence of the protesters many have held
counter-protest demonstrations in an effort to block to protesters, often forming a human
barrier to keep the Westboro Baptist Church members at a distance from the military funeral.

Our Armed Forces have fought long and hard to allow the freedom to protest, the members of
this Church should be thankful and respectful enough to allow the freedom of a peaceful and
dignified final laying to rest of those who have given their all to our country.

Respect for the families grieving the loss of their loved ones should never be allowed to be minimized,
or interfered with in any manner by any person or group.

---- Jerald Terwilliger Former Chairman American Cold War Veterans "We Remember" ---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996

Veterans To Protest At LA VA Medical Center

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-flag27-2009jun27,0,3933157.story

The so-called Veterans Revolution says the action at the VA Medical Center in West L.A. is intended to be a symbol of distress. Federal police may have another interpretation.
By Bob Pool

9:29 PM PDT, June 26, 2009 This is one battle that will probably be decided by whichever side is most "distressed" -- officials of the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles, or a group of protesting veterans.

On Sunday, demonstrators plan to gather by the VA grounds and display an upside-down American flag "as a signal of dire distress." They contend that agency policies have placed the VA property in "extreme danger."

But if that act upsets VA officials, protesters could find themselves facing off with federal police, who view the upended banner as a sign of disrespect to Old Glory.

For 66 consecutive Sundays, a group calling itself the Veterans Revolution has demonstrated outside the Wilshire Boulevard medical facility. The group has, for many years, criticized VA oversight of the 388-acre property.

However, for the first time last Sunday, the protesters flew the Stars and Stripes upside down as part of their campaign. VA police responded with flashing red and blue lights and ordered that the flags be turned right side up or removed.

The faceoff occurred at the end of the planned protest, so veterans "removed them just as we normally do and left peacefully on our own accord," said Robert Rosebrock, one of the organizers.

"The Flag Code allows when property is in danger to display the flag upside down. It states it is a signal of dire distress to 'life or property,' " he said.

The demonstrators were on a city-owned sidewalk near Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards, outside of the VA's jurisdiction, said Rosebrock, a 67-year-old U.S. Army veteran.
But the protesters entered federal property when they attached one upside-down flag to a ceremonial gate, insists Lynn Carrier, the medical center's associate director.

Carrier said she ordered police to the scene when she drove past and noticed another motorist shaking his fist angrily at the flag display. She said VA mental health patients inside the hospital grounds might also have been sensitive to "an inappropriate display on VA property."

The gate on which one of the American flags was attached "is unquestionably federal property," said Ralph Tillman, the VA's director of asset management for Los Angeles-area facilities.

Rosebrock said most passersby honked and waved in support of last weekend's protest.
He said demonstrators may return Sunday with more upside-down flags -- and perhaps an upright lawyer.

bob.pool@latimes.com

Jerald Terwilliger
National Vice Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"