Fort Mill, USA - Members of a controversial church known for mounting anti-gay protests outside military funerals plan to picket in Fort Mill today during the memorial for 29-year-old Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas Joseph Dudley, who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.
Whether the group will actually show up is still in question.
Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan., issued a flier on Wednesday announcing plans to protest during the memorial at Fort Mill High School.
Later that morning, Fred Phelps Jr., one of the church founder's sons, told the Herald that a trip to Fort Mill had yet to be finalized as members work out logistics of travel schedules.
The group already plans to picket funeral services for former first lady Betty Ford in East Grand Rapids, Mich., today.
"We have to make these decisions practically," Phelps said. "You can't get to all of these, especially when there are so many."
Veterans ready to counter
If the Westboro group arrives, local veterans and volunteers say they're ready.
"We'll protect the family from any harassment," said Don Vinsack, commander of Rock Hill's Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter.
"It's really hard to verbalize what the reaction's going to be if we encounter those folks," said Don Hicks, a member of the Olde English Leathernecks, the area Marine Corps League detachment. "I hope we can do something to keep the family from encountering that."
Fort Mill Police will direct traffic and provide security during the procession and service.
"We'll have officers in place at various locations," Capt. Bryan Zachary said. "If they do arrive, there will be a designated area where they can assemble."
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists who have traveled to military funerals and parked side by side to wall off Westboro protests, will also be on hand.
"We ignore them and shield the family from them," Patriot Guard Ride Captain Chris Harrington said.
If Westboro is a no-show, it wouldn't be the first time.
The group skipped at least two military funerals this year after announcing plans to picket them.
"My guess would be that they don't show," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy organization that lists Westboro Baptist as a hate group.
It's common for the church to announce plans to protest outside a funeral but not show up, Potok said. It's a tactic to draw media attention to their message.
"They absolutely use the media," Potok said. "Essentially, the Betty Ford picketing is more press than they could get anywhere else this week."
Church's message
The church of some 70 members protests outside public funerals and uses the Internet to spread this message: God is exacting vengeance on America for its toleration of sin, in particular, its "promotion" of gay rights.
"God hates America and is killing our troops in his wrath," the Westboro flier reads. "Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy, where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool.
"This message is to be preached in respectful, lawful proximity to the memorial of Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Dodds Dudley."
The Westboro Baptist Church, founded by Fred Phelps Sr., has existed since 1955, but it first gained widespread national attention in 1998. Church members carried anti-gay signs at a funeral for a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who had been pistol-whipped, robbed and left in near-freezing temperatures, apparently because he was gay.
The group has since traveled the country to picket at funerals.
SPLC: It's a hate group
Westboro has been on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups for more than a decade.
"It's one of the easiest listings we've ever done," Potok said. "This is one of the most obnoxious hate groups in America. These people practically define the word 'hate.'"
Members march at protests carrying signs saying "God hates fags," "Thank God for 9/11" and "Pray for more dead soldiers."
Phelps Jr. says the group is just preaching a Biblical message.
"We didn't put this (gay rights) issue on the front page," he said. "We're merely reacting to it. What we are is a group of dedicated, well educated, sincere folks that are trying to get the attention of this nation, just like the prophets of the Old Testament.
"The effort to portray us as hysterical, screaming maniacs is not accurate."
Potok disagrees.
"They come into town and say the most vile things to anybody who will listen, including small children," he said. "They have virtually no friends. From the extreme right to the extreme left, virtually everyone hates Westboro Baptist Church."
They're "extreme fringe," Potok said.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment gives members of such groups the right to protest outside military funerals - despite the pain they cause grieving families.