Hate Is Coming To Glen Burnie

| March 8, 2012

UPDATE: Here is a copy of the letter sent home with students this afternoon. The letter reiterates (and we concur) that the majority of protests are handled without incident and very well by the Anne Arundel County Schools and the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

The Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing the Glen Burnie High School next Tuesday, March 13th from 2:00 to 2:30pm.

According to their press release,

We will give your children an opportunity to see what truth looks like, the face of what they were entitled to have from every adult that ever touched their lives! You brutish teachers and hateful parents have broken the moral compass of this generation, teaching rebellion with everything you say and do.

It is expected that this protest will be similar to the one staged last year at Ft. Meade High School, only ths one may be a bit more visible due to the time of day and the location.

To read their full press release, click here, but be prepared, the release is vulgar and hate-filled.

Eye On Annapolis will be at the protest. Please follow us on Twitter for the live updates.

Yo can review our past coverage of the Ft. Meade protests here, here, and here.

Meet John Frenaye

John Frenaye has written 1964 posts in this blog.

John is the publisher and editor of Eye On Annapolis. As a resident and business owner in Anne Arundel County for more than 15 years, he realized that there was something missing in terms of community news--and Eye On Annapolis was born in late spring 2009. John's background is in the travel industry as a business owner, industry speaker, and travel writer. In terms of blogging and social media, he cut his teeth with MSNBC.com.

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Category: Breaking News, Education, NEWS

  • Ginger Allen

    So let’s organize a counter-demonstration. Let’s get so many people there that we block the student’s view of that hate group.

    • Sarah

      I wrote to the school and asked them to organize a water balloon fight after school that day on the football field to keep the kids minds off all the hate and show the meanies that we dont care about them… we’re having too much fun.

    • b.potter

      Im in. If it gets planned I will take the afternoon off and be there to show support.
      Like someone else said, Im not for gay marriage or anything else, but Im also not for treating people like this.
      Westboro needs to meet their match, and we can do it right here in Glen Burnie.
      Maybe someone could bring a generator and an amp and we could also block out their words with some Satanic Music,, or maybe just some Rush. No, AC/DC the name even fits.. start with Thunderstruck.

      • http://www.eyeonannapolis.net John Frenaye

        The last time a motorcycle club continuously circled the site drowning out their chanting.

  • Meade14Parent

    It won’t be too hard to get enough to block them. There were about 5 Hate Group members to 200+ opponents at the FGGM one last year. The bigger sin is how much Maryland residents will fork out in law enforcement and traffic control because of this small show of narrowed minded, hateful people.

  • Nick

    It’s too bad that our “violent, freakish, worthless, brute-beast children” will have to see violent, freakish, worthless, brute-beast “adults” in action.

    Westboro Baptist “Church” needs to be ignored. They are not the true church. Westboro is taking words from the Bible and using them for their own freakish cause. (Putting a Bible verse after what you’re saying doesn’t make you right!)

    Jesus lays out the mission of the church: to reach people with GOOD news of peace with God. That is all.

  • Thomas Brown

    Listen up: This is IMPORTANT:

    Any of you out there who want to counter-protest these deluded hate-filled freaks: DO NOT THROW THINGS or do anything that comes near the legal definition of Assault or Battery. Do not even get near them, except near enough to shout whatever you wish.

    THESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST ALL LAWYERS. They LOVE IT when they can sue people for assault.

    RESTRAINT IS CALLED FOR. Physically, anyway.

    Otherwise, have at it.

  • Angela

    I can tell you I have about 200 people showing up to protest against this group. This is my neighborhood and my town. So leave we don’t want this crap in Glen Burnie, haters…

    • Melanie Tucker

      I live in Arnold and would love to join the counter demonstration. Where are you meeting up?

      Melanie

  • Ken

    Slight edit for a more truth oriented statement:

    “We will give your children an opportunity to see what hate looks like, the face of what they are entitled to have from every adult that ever touched their lives! You teachers and parents that disagree with our pettiness have a different idea of what constitutes a moral compass for this generation, so we seek to teach your children to rebel against everything you say and do.”

  • Thomas Brown

    Just heed my warning, guys. They finance operations like this with money they have been awarded when someone loses control of their emotions and attacks them physically. Not that I can blame their attackers; it’s what they deserve.

    They have been known to sue someone for hitting them with a bottle cap.

    I wish I was joking.

    • b.potter

      Angela
      Where and when are people meeting to do this?

    • http://www.eyeonannapolis.net John Frenaye

      I have heard this as well. However, if the Meade protest was any indication, AACoPD does an outstanding job. They were given a small specific spot for their protest. The counter-protesters were given another larger spot at least 50′ away. There was an army of police (thankfully un-needed) to keep people away from them. THe event, while disgusting, was essentially peaceful.

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  • http://www.chesapeakesailor.net Mike Binnix

    Eye ON A – Please do everything you can to avoid giving these cretins a platform and a medium. Focus your coverage on the students. Don’t photograph WBC’s ugly slogans. I’m hopeful the GB students will simply ignore these folks.

    I would love to read a headline “GBHS carries on with normal school day despite vulgar protesters camped on their doorstep.” Don’t mention the protesters by name don’t link to their awful manifesto. Let’s hear from the principal, faculty, and student leaders about how the school simply got on with the day, studying, learning, producing drama programs, music programs and playing sports. And some yahoos yelling mean slogans couldn’t stop them.

    • http://www.eyeonannapolis.net John Frenaye

      That would be nice. The school is pretty restrictive on allowing access to students and faculty by media. Most communication is from the HQ on Riva Road. The timing of this protest will not disrupt the school day (aside from the talk about it) as it is happening right at dismissal.

      • b.potter

        Letting out right at Dismissal could cause a potential for an accident, the buses leaving, kids walking, drivers attention diverted… I wonder if it would be better not to bring a large group to counter them, the less people, the less there will be to take attention from the drivers.

  • Harold Hunt

    Steal there thunder… Close the school for a day.

    Wouldn’t this be easier than trying to protect/insulate
    the students??

  • Harold Hunt

    Steal their thunder… Close the school for a day.

    Wouldn’t this be easier than trying to protect/insulate
    the students??

    • http://www.eyeonannapolis.net John Frenaye

      Perhaps, but looking at it another way…they win. If just the thought of them coming closed the school–they win. Besides, they will still come and spew the hate to passersby. Unfortunately they are a spectacle wherever they go.

      This idea was floated at the protest last year and I do not recall the reasoning that it was not done.

  • Wendy Ingersoll

    Just a few words of warning – I have ridden with the Patriot Guard Riders since Dec 2005 and have seen these “uninvited guests” in action. Their entire entourage is made of a couple women and a handful of children, children who have absolutely NO CLUE as to why they are out there holding the signs while standing on the American Flag. The ball-less male is poised nearby, safely tucked away in a van with the engine running, ready for a quick escape. Believe me, there will be nothing to get up in arms about. Besides, the police department will have it handled with only a couple of squad cars, and if they think about it, a well-placed fire truck between the idiots and the school will do wonders. But please, please, PLEASE stay clear of them. They thrive on attention, and if anyone dares get near enough to touch, they will claim assault – whether or not you even touched them. And you can bet they will have someone standing by with the video camera running, “just in case” someone gets close enough for contact. They are trash, a poor excuse for a church, and not worth the time nor effort…..let the police take care of them.

  • http://www.chesapeakesailor.net Mike Binnix

    I’m with John. Closing the school just gives them another headline. “Controversial Church protest closes school for a day.”

    I also think a big counter-protest is not productive. Let them hear crickets when they pause to take a breath. What if they protested and no one cared. No horns honking in anger or in support as traffic wizzed by. The kids just walked around them on the way in to school. And the press realized it was a non-issue and either didn’t publish it or buried it in the middle of the B section.

    Maybe I’m being polyana here. But the 1st Ammendment means we can’t shut ‘em down by force. So I think simply ignoring them as long as they remain non-violent is the next best thing. Then they’ll either go away or escalate their game until they do something they can prosecuted for.

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