Now This Makes Me Mad

Tonight on our 6:00 newscast on Channel 6, this story was one of the leading stories of the news. Our community has lost a true American hero in US Army Staff Sergeant Edward Reynolds, who was killed Sept. 26 in Iraq. This planned protest really angers me. Who the hell are these people that they think they can waltz into our community and protest at the funeral of one of our heroes for such a convoluted reason. It is eerily reminicent of the KKK from outside the area flooding to Vidor to make their statement.

Read what they said and see if you are as angry as I am...

Members of a church from Kansas say they're planning to picket outside of a soldier's funeral service in Beaumont.

28 year old Edward Reynolds was killed last week in Iraq. His funeral is this Saturday at Borden Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. The funeral begins at 2 p.m.

Reynolds was engaged and has three children.

Ten to twelve members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, plan to protest outside the funeral service, not because of anything Reynolds did, but because the Kansas church believes the soldiers are fighting for a U.S. government that is not tough enough against homosexuals. The church has conducted similar protests at soldiers' funerals across the nation.

During a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon, church spokesman Jonathan Phelps talked about the group's beliefs.

"Our position is, soldiers know this is a country that enables homosexuality, and they fight for the nation anyway," said Phelps. "If families didn't turn funerals into patriotic pep rallies, we wouldn't travel to Beaumont, Texas. But they're saying 'God bless America,' and we feel like we have to make sure our message is heard."

Phelps said the church doesn't believe God has blessed America. Instead, he says members of the church believe God has turned against America because of what he calls our government's support for immoral behavior.

Airon Reynolds is the pastor at Borden Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. He's also the soldier's cousin.

We asked him about the planned protest.

"It's an act of desecration," said Reynolds. "He was only doing his patriotic duty. To have any form of a protest is almost an act of blasphemy, because they say they're doing it in the name of God, and God would have nothing to do with such a thing."

A procession escorting Sergeant Reynolds' body is expected to arrive in Beaumont late Wednesday afternoon.

The public is invited to show its support for the sergeant's family.