Conn. fast-tracking law for funeral of soldier

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Conn. fast-tracking law for funeral of soldier




By Susan Haigh - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 5, 2007 17:15:42 EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. — State legislators and Gov. M. Jodi Rell were trying Tuesday to fast-track legislation that limits protests at funerals before members of a Kansas church appear at a Norwich soldier’s funeral Friday.
The legislature already passed such a bill, but the law doesn’t take effect until Oct. 1.
The Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas has announced plans to picket Friday’s funeral of Army 1st Lt. Keith Heidtman, 24. Heidtman was aboard a military helicopter that was shot down last month in Iraq.
The same group staged a protest at an East Lyme military funeral last December. The group held signs that read “Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices), and “God is America’s Terror.” They claim that the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the country’s tolerance of homosexuals.
“We take this immediate action so that no more families of our fallen heroes suffer the additional trauma of a protest at the funeral of their loved one,” Rell said in a written statement.
Lawmakers previously passed legislation that prohibits someone from willfully making or assisting in making a noise or diversion that’s not part of any funeral, or intending to disturb the peace at any funeral, within the property line of a cemetery or house of worship, or within 150 feet of the intersection of the boundary and a roadway.
The bill, which was waiting to be signed by Rell, would also punish someone who intentionally or willfully blocks the entrance or exit of the cemetery or house of worship.
Now lawmakers are considering amending another bill with the same legislation and then immediately referring it to the House of Representatives for action Tuesday. Rell would then sign it as soon as possible and it would take effect immediately, said Rep. Ted Graziani, D-Ellington, co-chairman of the legislature’s veterans committee.
“We learned a very valuable lesson from this whole situation. We have to be more cognizant and sensitive of the implementation of bills,” Graziani said.
In an earlier interview, a spokeswoman for the church group said such laws are unconstitutional because they restrict free speech rights.



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