On Friday, November 11, 2005, a hate group that calls itself the "Westboro Baptist Church" decided to protest the funeral of fallen soldier PFC Tyler Mackenzie, who was killed in Iraq from an IED. The funeral was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints in Greeley.

If you are not familiar with this group, you can see their website to get all the gory details. Here is their schedule for future "protests". Even though PFC Mackenzie was not gay, this group randomly protests soldier's funerals, holding up signs that say things such as "Thank God for IED's", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", and so on. Showing up to taunt a family and celebrate their child's death makes them the lowest form of scum I've yet seen.

Fortunately, these pieces of trash were completely drowned out and blocked from view by police, firemen, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Veterans, motorcyclists, 4x4 club members, and lots of other people who just couldn't let this disgrace go unanswered.


I got there about 11:15. The dirtbags were there, but most of the bikers and a big RV were there by then, along with a ton of cops and maybe 100 people.

I would love to know who brought all those big flags, I think it was some mothers of soldiers group. I was immediately impressed by how many flags there were, and I was handed a big one to wave. People were also passing out many different sizes of flags to anyone who needed one. There were news crews wandering around taking video. People kept rolling in, one after another. A car load of people, some Jeeps from a 4x4 club, more and more bikers, firetrucks, police cars, motorcycle police...on and on.

Between the RV, the flags, and the police, there is no way the family had to see the trash that was protesting - thank God for that.

The dirtbags left at 11:40 or so. To illustrate how truly demented and evil these people are, one of things they were happily chanting was "Private Mackenzie got in a car - private Mackenzie didn't get far, ha, ha". There were only six of them though, and most of what they tried to shout was drowned out. Everytime they started to speak, people on our side would say "rev 'em up!" and the bikers would have a field day. Some people in cars were parked next to the dirtbags, and would rev their engines too. They had been soundly defeated. Good riddance to the trash!

The Boy Scouts arrived at about 12:00, and started handing out flags for people to keep. More firetrucks rolled in, and lots of police gathered as well. The crowd started to move to the other side of the street (where the dirtbags had been) and move down 4th street toward the intersection with 47th Ave. As more people arrived, the crowd with flags was able to cover the entire street the church was on, and incredibly about 1/4 mile down to the intersection on both sides of the street. I've seen parades with smaller crowds.

The procession left the church at about 1:00, greeted by a HUGE, grateful crowd waving flags.

Compared to Phelps' six people, we had at least five hundred.

What these scumbags DID succeed in doing was to elicit a turnout of the likes I've NEVER before seen. I have never seen so much solidarity and support for our armed forces, nor have I seen as many flags being waved in one spot or event in my entire life. It was bigger than many parades I've seen. It was truly an awesome sight to behold. I am thankful that the soldier's family never had to see or hear the parasites, but instead saw an appreciative community.