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5 states may ban protests at funerals

By wire services
Published January 30, 2006

CHICAGO - At least five Midwestern states are considering legislation to ban protests at funerals in response to demonstrations by the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Topeka, Kan., Westboro Baptist Church, who have been protesting at funerals of Iraq war casualties because they say the deaths are God's punishment for U.S. tolerance toward gay people.

Though the soldiers were not gay, the protesters say the deaths, as well as Hurricane Katrina and recent mining disasters, are God's signs of displeasure. They also protested at the memorial service for the 12 West Virginia miners who died in the Sago Mine.

"The families weren't able to bury their loved ones in peace," said Kansas state Sen. Jean Schodorf, who has proposed legislation.

Legislators in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Oklahoma are looking at similar bills.

Proposed legislation in Indiana would keep protesters 500 feet from funerals, and make a violation a felony punishable by a three-year prison term and a $10,000 fine.

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - A man picking up his young son for a supervised court visit was shot twice at point-blank range by the boy's 81-year-old great-grandmother and died of his injuries, police said.

Alex Reyes, 26, was shot Saturday while picking up his 18-month-old son, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Witnesses reported that Reyes appeared to be having a casual conversation with his ex-wife and her grandmother, Jeane Ellen Allen, on the front porch of their home, when Allen allegedly pulled out a gun and fired, Amormino said.

Allen was arrested for investigation of attempted murder and was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. She likely will be charged with murder, Boyne said.

ELGIN, Ariz. - Federal authorities have killed 200 coyotes in southeast Arizona in the past three weeks after ranchers complained that they were eating calves.

The hunt, which ended Friday, was conducted from aircraft as part of a program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The shootings took place on private and public land used by 10 to 15 ranchers, the Arizona Daily Star reported Sunday.

No documentation was available last week on how many calves had been killed, but the government said it has confirmed losses.

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of federal search-and-rescue workers and large numbers of boats, aircraft and bulldozers were offered to FEMA in the hours immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit, but the aid proposals were either ignored or not effectively used, newly released documents show.

The Interior Department, which made the offers, also proposed dispatching as many as 400 of its law enforcement officers to provide security in Gulf Coast cities ravaged by flooding and looting. But nearly a month would pass before FEMA put the officers to work, according to an Interior Department document obtained by the Washington Post .

"Although we attempted to provide these assets, we were unable to efficiently integrate and deploy these resources," Interior officials said in written response to questions by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

[Last modified January 30, 2006, 00:33:11]