Two missions within my winter range: both visitations Tuesday evening; both funerals Wednesday morning. Both funeral homes across the street from High Schools. Both announced targets of Westboro picketing. I would stand for Jason Lemke on Tuesday and then for Timothy Hanson Wednesday.

There was ice on the roads so I drove the hour to the funeral home located just southwest of Milwaukee. I arrived at 1330, a full hour ahead of the 1430 designated staging time. Mary was already waiting.

She and Larry live nearby so she could have left her home at 1429 and arrived on time, but she was early because she wanted to be available in case she could help. I know the feeing. We all do.

But there was nothing to do. I asked her where I could get coffee. She sent me a half-block north on 60^th to the gas station at Layton.

Starbucks is a nice place to sit, but if I don’t want to sit and I just want coffee, I would not pass a gas station to get to a Starbucks. At least, not this gas station. They had ten (Ten!) pots waiting for me this afternoon. They had an additional six warmers available to help meet the morning demand. It was my kinda place.

60^th intersects with the Interstate a little farther north and is lined with street lights. Layton is a 4-lane boulevard with the gas station and some other retail west of 60^th. Layton east of 60^th is barren. The broad boulevard had no street lights. There is a one-story office building on the north side of the street and an empty field on the south side.

At night one can stand beside Layton in this desolate stretch beyond the reach of the street lights and look across the field to the funeral home up the hill. Indeed, if you are there to protest the funeral, that is as close as the cops will allow you to be. Peering through the darkness, the lights of the funeral home illuminate the many red, white and blue banners held by the Patriot Guard Riders assembled there.

And the corner of the funeral home property nearest to your picketing site is marked by a Patriot Guard Riders flagpole.

At nighttime, looking down from the funeral home, across the field, into the darkness, one sees nothing.

Our fiends from Westboro had planned to arrive well after dark. We had been standing in the flagline facing the high school for hours. There was a marked police car in the high school parking lot directly across from us and another marked car at the south end of the high school, farther up the hill. At the north end of the high school parking lot, at the foot of the hill and nearest to Layton, there was an unmarked car. All three engines were idling and all three drivers had their windows down. Then the unmarked car started moving.

I excused myself from the flagline and followed. I walked downhill on 60^th back toward the gas station. I walked east on Layton into the darkness. Two uniformed LEOs were standing near the sidewalk and could see my silhouette from a long distance. Back-lighted by the street lights of 60^th I knew they could see only that I was a large man with an object in my right hand. I wasn’t sure they would know it was a camera.

They stood in the snow, off the sidewalk. When I was close enough, I said “Just here to take a look.”

They smiled and nodded and said nothing. And then I realized what they already knew – this was absurd.

The cold weather, the darkness, the wind and (most of all) the location had rendered the three women who had traveled from Topeka utterly meaningless. The scant traffic could not read their signs. I was the only “media” present. And no one up at the funeral home could see or hear them.

The third LEO (from the unmarked car) was using a small video recorder to document their behavior. The three Westboro women were singing softly. I was their only audience. So I left.

And right after I left, they left too.

~~~

Jason Lemke enlisted in December of 2004. In December of 2007, his parents had a Christmas without him for the first time of his life. Jason had been trained to speak Arabic and was in Iraq.

On Saturday, January 5^th his parents were told that Jason had died earlier that same day and that his body was in transit.

On Monday, January 7^th the Department of Defense announced Jason’s death. By mid-afternoon, the PGR website provided a forum for Jason as a pending mission. “MikeBro” registered as a new member that morning and made his first post. He had been our fallen hero’s friend for a decade.

According to the newspaper, the Casualty Assistance Officer met with the parents on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, January 9^th the mission status changed from “pending” to “confirmed”. “mmgracing” registered as a new member that morning and made her first post. She wrote, “Jason you will be greatly missed. I know Grandma and Grandpa are happy to have you home. Tell them I miss them too. I promise to teach my boys about the sacrifice you made for them and all of us and someday I will see you again. I love you, your cousin, Melanie”

The very next post was made by member “mattsmom” (Julie Francis) who is the mother of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder. The lawsuit related his funeral resulted in the $11 million damages award against Westboro Baptist Church last October.

On Thursday, January 10^th Kontractor posts 272 words. It was personal message to Jason. He published it to set the tone for the mission. Kontractor would be Ride Captain.

On Sunday, January 13^th very early in the morning, State Captain John Curran received an email from Jason’s father, Greg. John posts Greg’s 242 words to Jason’s forum.

Tuesday, January 15^th 1330 PGR arrives at the funeral home. 1730 WBC arrives. 1740 WBC leaves. 2000 PGR leaves.

Wednesday, January 16^th PGR goes to the cemetery where Jason Lemke joins Evan Bixler and Robert Basham. WBC goes back to Topeka. The three Westboro women apparently had such a disappointment at the Jason Lemke funeral that they decided to skip the Timothy Hanson funeral in Kenosha altogether.

I like Jason’s smile:

Jimmy rode his flag bike Tuesday:

A handshake from Kontractor:

photos