by KYW's Tony Romeo
Even though a Kansas church group has canceled its plan to demonstrate at the funerals of Monday’s schoolhouse shooting victims in Lancaster County, Governor Rendell says state police will be on hand - ready to enforce the new Pennsylvania law making such demonstrations illegal.
The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, says it blames Rendell for the deaths of the Amish children.
Even before the group announced cancellation of its planned protest, Rendell called the church members "insane" and appealed to them and the general public to allow the Amish to conduct their funerals in privacy. At a Wednesday morning news conference, Governor Rendell issued this plea:
“I am asking everyone -– media, the people from the church in Kansas –- I’m asking everyone to please observe the Amish religious tradition and the Amish desire to carry out their funerals in utmost privacy.”
The governor's appeal came after initial indications by the group of their intent to protest. It's the same group that has been demonstrating at military funerals, saying that the Iraq war is God’s punishment for America’s lax attitudes toward homosexuals. The group's demonstrations were the catalyst for a new Pennsylvania state law that requires demonstrators to remain at least 500 feet from a funeral.
The group said it canceled the protest plans after getting word that a representative was being invited to appear on a nationally syndicated radio talk show.
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