Agreed the tire slashing was wrong. Agreed if caught those who did it should be punished according to our laws. You cannot pick and choose who the laws apply to and you cannot pick and choose who is protected by the constitution. However, those merchants who refused service were well within their rights. Even McDonalds reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. Am I smirking a little that this happened to these jerks? Damn right. But then I disagree with what the cxhurch is doing so I cant help but feel this way. On the other hand, I think Bush's war was a mistake. And I will tell that to anyone who well listen. I am NOT unAmerican, I DO support are armed forces and their families, but if I decided to peacefully hold a demonstration to protest the war, no one has a right to cut my tires. What needs to be done is some kind of law passed to protect private and personal gatherings such as funerals. There are all kinds of laws about how far a bar or liquor store has to be from a church, they should make a law that protesting churches cannot come within 2 miles of a funeral.The Church members should not be found guilty of practicing their freedom of speech, but should be found guilty of infringing on the rights of others, creating a disturbance, and possibly gathering for the purpose of inciting a riot. If there is such a funeral in my hometown and I find out these morons are going to be there, I will start a counter campaign and try to gather enough supporters to surround the funeral area with a wide enough girth that the church cannot get close enough to bother the family.

i think itd be great if someone followed them everywhere they protested and slashed their tires everytime, but make sure that the closest tire repair shop cost them an assload of money and send it to the family that they protested against…

i everywhere they protest and slashed their tires everytime :)think itd be awsome if someone just followed them around

I see them STANDING on the American flag in Topeka frequently and want to have them arrested on the spot.

The slashers did not keep them from their free speech. They still said what they went to say. They merely kept them from their PRIVELEDGE to drive and nothing more. Last I checked, driving is NOT protected under the constitution. Wrong or not, I agree with the slashers.

I would've replaced those tires for those church folks. But at a 500% markup. Would take out my costs and forward the rest of the money to the Sgt's family with a TY from the Westboro heathen church

Don't tell me it is unAmerican to hate these rat bastards. They're morons who have the “audacity of hope” to claim they're Christians. There is no constitutional right that states we have to like them or help them. God helps those who help themselves, so they ought to start carrying spare tires and a jack. (Next time, take the distributor cap folks).

these church members are, in my opinion, guilty of hate crimes….but slashing the tires is also a crime, though not even close to the same magnitude…what's the answer? fight hate with hate?
i never liked that solution…i guess if there was simply a larger group of supporters for the dead military and his/her family there, that might help, but people should be able to grieve in their private space….Oi! i don't know the answer! But i'll keep trying to find it!!

isnt it cool that a few ol boys at the tire shop had the guts to do something “within their rights” that the govt hasnt the balls to accomplish. im sorry, constitution or not, these kind of vile humans have no place invoking the same rights as someone protesting the killing of baby seals. what they do i consider an inhumane practice.

We reserve the right to refuse service to “The Westboro Baptist Church” - that should be the sign in ALL businesses…and THAT is FREE SPEECH…

Karma. It's a bitch.

1. McAlester, OK is home to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
2. Most of the people in the town of 17,000 work in the penitentiary, were once in the penitentiary, have a family member in the penitentiary, or make their living off of the penitentiary. Probably not the place to be an asshole, Freddie.

Kinda confused by some of the reactions:
#1- Can anyone name a church that isn't a cult?
#2- Does anyone think that slashing tires because of the drivers' religion is not a Hate Crime (as defined by US Federal Law)? Westboro Baptist is disgusting, but so are many past and present practices of other “religious groups”.  Come to think of it, I am really pissed at the Spanish Inquisition. Now where is that fricken' Popemobile …

I hate to ruin the fun here, but assuming the slash was in the sidewall of the tire and not the tread most shops aren't allowed to even try to fix it (Even if it's just to humor the customer) you'll need all new tires. So there might have been a safety reason for not fixing those slashed tires…

I couldn't care a bit if someone nuked the church with all 70+ or so of those twats were being sodomized inside.  That's karma for you Westboro Baptist Church ;) it is wrong to do something like that, I agree, but they deserve it for what they've done.

Only slashing their tires? That's just lazy.

gee i wonder who could have done that lol hahahaha dont come back to mcalester oklahoma and what they didnt tell u was that there men tried to goto our casino and protest there and ended up getting beat up and put in jail ahh hahaha fuck wbc karma is a BITCH aint it

The people who slashed the tires are opponents of free speech, and should be charged with wilful destruction of property. The First Amendment provides the douchebags the right to spew their vile words. The First Amendment is meant to protect exactly such speech, so if you slashed their tires, you are unAmerican. Simple as that. Same with the refusal of service. But maybe this is what they want in OK. Next you can refuse service to blacks. As ecstatic a part of me was to see this befall the Phelps contingent, it was WRONG. You cannot take matters into your own hands because you have a disagreement with their constitutionally protected speech

Turnabout is fair play.