PAOLA — The Patriot Guard, American Legion Riders and other volunteers showed up in Paola at the recent funeral of Kansas chief justice Robert Miller. The groups showed in response to a demonstration by members of Fred Pphelps’ Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, at Miller’s funeral. The motorcyclists and volunteers set up a wall of American flags between mourners and Phelps’ group during the funeral in Paola. Phelps and his family frequently picket the funerals of Kansas soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Phelps groups say that natural disasters, terrorist attacks and war deaths are God’s punishment for Americans’ tolerance for gays. Miller’s funeral was targeted because he sat on the Kansas Supreme Court that disbarred Fred Phelps from the Kansas Bar.
