A church group that protests at military funerals around the country will be barred from services for an American Indian soldier on a reservation, tribal officials say.Phelps and his followers can personally bite me, but that's just me. ¶ 12/02/2006 12:55:00 PMMembers of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., planned to demonstrate at National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron's funeral on Saturday at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
Church members say the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the country's tolerance of homosexuals.
Tribal leaders passed a resolution Friday that prohibits the group from protesting on the reservation, said Marcus Wells Jr., chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
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``We recognize and respect the right to free speech and the public's right to assemble, but we want everyone to know that the Three Affiliated Tribes, as a sovereign tribal government, has the right to regulate any person or persons who harass and show disrespectful conduct towards our members, within our boundaries,'' Wells said in a statement.
Wells said tribal police would prevent the protesters from coming on the reservation.
