Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church have planned to picket former congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones memorial service this Saturday. Local police are preparing for their arrival and the potential conflicts which may arise.

The WBC is perhaps best known for picketing gay pride events and funerals, and were put in the national spotlight for picketing funeral processions for soldiers killed in the Iraq War. Although the WBC claims to be a Baptist church, they are officially an independent church with no affiliations to any known Baptist associations or conventions.

So why are they targeting Stephanie Tubbs Jones? One of the reasons is who her husband was, Mervyn L. Jones Sr. Less than a year before he and Stephanie married, he was convicted of manslaughter. Of this the WBC said: “(L)ike her forefathers who slayed Jesus Christ, she would rather company with murderers (birds of a feather, and all that) that the servants of God.”

Another reason the WBC says they are picketing her memorial service is her service to this country and her voting record:

"Rep. Jones was a major player on the scene of American politics and government for many years. On her watch, fags took over the country, and America began a crusade to persecute WBC members for preaching God's truth about the sodomitical dangers America faces. She cast her Satanic vote against WBC to take away WBC's Constitutional rights of freedom of relgion and speech." - WBC Press Release

WBC and its protesters will be unable to come within 300 feet of the service, thanks to a ruling by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati just days ago that upheld an Ohio law barring pickets and protest activities within 300 feet of a funeral or burial service.

Tubbs Jones, Ohio's first black congresswoman, died on August 20 following an aneurysm. Her memorial servie is scheduled from 11am to 1pm at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in the Cleveland Convention Center.