OKLAHOMA: Westboro Church Gets Tires Slashed, Locals Refuse To Perform Repairs

Members of Westboro Baptist Church returned to their minivan to find its tires slashed after their picket of the funeral of a McAlester, Oklahoma soldier. And every shop in town refused to make any repairs.

As their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police. The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs. Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held. Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA." A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.