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Bikers come, protesters go
Sitting astride a chromed-out Honda Valkyrie on Wednesday, Steve Morgan said the way to silence a small Kansas-based church that protests military funerals was in the palm of his gripped right hand: a throttle that roars a 1520cc liquid cooled engine.Morgan is a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have begun appearing wherever those demonstrators do. The riders shield mourning military families and drown out the Kansas clan that protests the funerals nationwide and contends that America and its military are morally corrupt and "pro-gay." To say that this is one fringe group attacking another would not be accurate. The protesters, members of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, are known to hop from funeral to funeral, but they never number more than a handful. The Guard Riders movement, however, is one of the more successful grass-roots groups to emerge during the Iraq war. Organized on the Internet last November, the Patriot Guard Riders initially had about 175 members who pledged to support or attend events, said Kurt Mayer, their national spokesman. By Wednesday afternoon, Mayer said, 25,653 had joined the cause. Go Riders! Read more at link Posted by: Spot 2006-04-20 |
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