Omaha — A 62-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of spraying mace into a crowd gathered outside an Omaha church hosting a funeral for a fallen Marine.
Omaha police say George Vogel sprayed mace from an industrial-size dispenser as he drove past the First United Methodist Church just before 10 a.m. Saturday. More than a dozen people, including a police officer, were exposed to mace.
Police say Vogel faces 16 misdemeanor charges of assault and one count each of felony assault of an officer and child neglect.
Members of Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church were protesting outside the funeral for Staff Sgt. Michael Bock. Police say they weren’t believed to be involved in mace incident.
Vogel’s wife, Marlene, says he doesn’t yet have an attorney. She declined to comment further.
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topeka52 (anonymous) says…
Where in the body of the article does it mention anyone being arrested? More info please.
overthemoon (anonymous) replies…
second to last paragraph.
kusp8 (anonymous) says…
The United Methodist Church, "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, and open your mace up on the phelps!" ;)
psycho_theclown (anonymous) says…
It didn't say anything about them being sprayed by Super-soakers filled with urine did it? Forget I mentioned it; I wouldn't want to put illegal thoughts in anyone's mind. Really, that is such a sick idea, I apologize for bringing it up. I certainly wouldn't buy the person who did that a drink & dinner or enjoy a video of something like that. Nope,
kusp8 (anonymous) replies…
Nor would I suggest that the person be given a ticker-tape parade...but yah know sometimes i can be sarcastic.
geekin_topekan (anonymous) replies…
There is absolutely no way that I wold watch such a video, much less laugh and be the first to email it to everyone I know! The very idea is. . .absurd.
cait48 (anonymous) replies…
I wouldn't be the first to upload it to youtube, either.
Pywacket (anonymous) replies…
I would never watch the video then take psycho out to dinner for initiating such a deranged idea. Never.
Mixolydian (anonymous) replies…
Ha! You're my new hero Pscyh.
bergerfry (anonymous) replies…
I suddenly have to pee really bad.
touringdriver (anonymous) says…
that family, church and everyone involved with it are cancer to our society. and gee i wonder how many of them have gay family members. lol
George_Braziller (anonymous) replies…
One of Fred's sons is gay. He left home as soon as he was 18 and has cut off all contact with the Phelp's.
kernal (anonymous) replies…
He's not the only child who has cut off ties with the family.
George_Braziller (anonymous) replies…
Four of his 13 kids have cut off contact with the family. I was just responding to the "how many of them have gay family members" statement.
SWJayhawk13 (anonymous) replies…
(As has already been stated) Fred's son Nate is gay and left the minute he turned 18. He spoke at last year's Million Fag March in Topeka and is an amazing speaker. He also has a lot of horrendous stories about life inside the Phelps "family". Nate is a very nice, kind-hearted man.
RogueThrill (anonymous) says…
You have to just ignore these people and let them do their thing. There is nothing you can do about it and, if you deprive them of attention, eventually they will grow tired of it.
After all, attention is pretty much what WBC after.
George_Braziller (anonymous) replies…
Ooooohhhh. Just ignore them and they "will grow tired of it" and "let them do their thing"? Hate groups are hate groups. While you're at it, why not just ignore the KKK?
kansasredlegs (anonymous) replies…
KKK doesn't hide behind a church and the constitutional protections it brings. The Phelpses not only want 'your' attention, but they want 'you' to act out so they can sue you. And gues what, they'll win that suit against you all day long. Geo. is right, ignore them and they'll eventually die off and if you don't confront them, you'll cut off much of their earning power.
George_Braziller (anonymous) replies…
The KKK does hide behind constitutional protections. The only difference is that one cites freedom of religion and the other freedom of speech.
GardenMomma (anonymous) says…
The article also doesn't mention who was arrested, the macer or a member of the protesting group. Neither does the article mention who maced them, a mourner, passerby, or police.
Pywacket (anonymous) replies…
That's what I'm wondering, too. If the person maced those depraved Westboro cretins, I would consider him a hero (too bad he hit a cop, though).
If, however, he WAS one of those cretins, macing funeral goers, he should rot somewhere--as they all should.
I hope this is clarified soon.
GardenMomma (anonymous) replies…
I see that this article was updated about 45 minutes after my above post. Thanks for the clarification.
newmedia (anonymous) says…
Anybody smell a pending lawsuit?
TopJayhawk (anonymous) says…
Just another lawsuit they will probably win.
It's the money AND the attention.
Mostly the money.
YOUNGCSI (anonymous) says…
My concern is that it does not say that it was a protestor that was arrested....I guess where my mind went was that it was probably the person that sprayed the mace trying to keep these sick people away from their lost loved one's funeral, that got arrested....Any more info on this to clarify??
tange (anonymous) says…
If one is able to divorce oneself, personally,
from the personalities and events involved,
then this becomes but a symptom
of the adversarial divisiveness
now pervasive in our culture.
These sorts of things happen in tiny,
little, circumscribed worlds,
where all the actors fully deserve one another...
and to which the above commentary attests.
Too little gravity; too much gravity.
doc1 (anonymous) says…
They should have shot at them.
Liberty275 (anonymous) replies…
Yeah, we should shoot at everyone we disagree with.
catfishturkeyhunter (anonymous) replies…
No, just members of the westboro babtists church
Liberty275 (anonymous) replies…
Fair enough. Under your grand law of not-so-much-free-speech you can take potshots at the phelpses for saying goofy words and holding up dumb signs. Of course, the various members of the KKK and anti-gay groups get to choose the targets they can shoot at for speaking their minds and the pro-war gun nuts will get to choose their own taegets too. I wonder who the pro-war nuts will shoot at now that we have the same old wars and gitmos, but not the same old protests? But I digress.
I don't really care. There are too many humans on earth anyway. 99.99% of you aren't worth the paper they wasted on your birth certificates.
mom_of_three (anonymous) replies…
who peed on your cheerios?
davidssfs19 (anonymous) replies…
Fred? Is that you?
Yeoman2 (anonymous) says…
Someone above said it, we should ignore them. Or better yet, something a friend of mine told me many years ago, "Heap coals of fire upon their heads with kindness" Wonder how that might work??
tange (anonymous) replies…
It works just like spitting into the wind.
RogueThrill (anonymous) replies…
What else should we do? Crazy people might go all Charles Bronson on them, but short of killing them all vigilante style there isn't a solution. At least, there isn't a solution provided by the constitution.
You suck it up and realize that the disgusting crap they say is on the same level of anything else you might say. Then you hope that the marketplace of ideas decides that what you say is more valuable than theirs.
Or, if you want more immediate action, you could move to some place that is not the United States where freedom of speech is regulated more stringently.
none2 (anonymous) says…
I guess Phred Phelps will picket anybody. Tomorrow evening (Sunday evening, 29-August) he is going to picket in Great Bend, Kansas at a prayer vigil for the murdered 14 year old girl whose charred remains were identified on Thursday.
RogueThrill (anonymous) replies…
He just wants to rub in our faces that we won't be in the same heaven as him. That's OK in my book. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him.
none2 (anonymous) replies…
If there is an afterlife for him, I can imagine him destined to stand and hold a sign all by himself for eternity. Let him do what he loved to do in life -- but with no audience to bother him.
kernal (anonymous) replies…
Why on Earth would the Phelps gang of thugs picket a murdered 14 year old child's prayer vigil. That is beyond sick - it's depraved.
I don't think Phred attends the protests anymore due to his age. He can't run fast.
deec (anonymous) replies…
There may be a counter protest. Some folks in Hays are thinking about going there, but nothing definite yet.
deec (anonymous) replies…
Counter protest is at 8 pm
deec (anonymous) replies…
a prayer vigil and prayer chain is still planned for 8 p.m. Sunday at Jack Kilby Square in downtown Great Bend in DeBolt’s honor. Participants are encouraged to bring a candle.
Liberty275 (anonymous) replies…
Guaranteed audience. I seriously doubt the phelpses harbur any hatred towards any 14 year old, but they arent above using the occasion to get out their message. You may not agree with their message, but here it is on your ming.
I disagree with their message from word number one. It is irrelevant what "god" hates because "god" is a lie. You have to be delusional to believe in omnipotent fairy tales. OTOH, in the America where I grew up, even delusional people are free to express their ideas and I wholeheartedly support them each and every time they do.
As for you counter protesters, have yourselves a ball. You will be guaranteeing more exposure for phelps and his dumb beliefs. There is a phrase for people duped into inadvertently helping their adversaries - "useful idiots".
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
Fred Waldron Phelps , son of a railroad detective , mother dies when is 5 and an aunt raises him and dies when he is 21. His father's dream was to have Fred at West Point, still unknown, the real truth, why Fred dropped out. He claims to have gotten a "call from the Lord" at a religious rally. Methodist and Baptist play into his religious beliefs , but who knows what kind of church or denomination Westboro Baptist really is.
How does a Methodist become a Baptist? How can a grandfather spend more time protesting and not taking his grandkids to the zoo for enjoyment instead of a protest? Did Fred ever take those kids fishing, go on a picnic.
Fred and Shirley Roper have much in common with a woman who would lock a child in the attic.
And America wonders why foreign countries snub their noses at us, Americans believe we are the greatest place on the earth. Are we?
kernal (anonymous) replies…
No, Finland now has that distinction. We're not even in the top ten.
kansasredlegs (anonymous) replies…
When the other countries want to pick up the ball and run with it for awhile, then they can snub their collective noses at us. Until then they can shut up.
Despite our flaws, the United States is the greatest place on this planet. Try living abroad and you'll see that despite the bad things we sometimes do to one another, we still are the most compassionate, caring, humanitarian country on this planet, bar none. Other countries will point out our flaws, but from my vantage point, don't see 'em lining up to get in all those other 10 places.
You can emigrate to France, live there 30 years but you'll just be an expatriate never be viewed as a Frenchman. Same for Germany, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc. But you come here, do you part, you can become an American plain and simple. That's one of our greatest strengths and no other country has that.
When you doubt which country is the greatest country on this planet, just watch "Band of Brothers", "Pacific" or simply go to "Freddy's" at 23rd and Iowa and read the captions of the brothers which started the restaurant and you'll know why WE are the greatest country.
Liberty275 (anonymous) replies…
Very nicely written. I've been to several countries including 5 in Europe and wouldn't trade a day in America for a year anywhere else.
jackbinkelman (anonymous) says…
phred and shirl wrote the book on locking ones kid in the attic.
Huskergram (anonymous) says…
This article is really misleading. I was in the Flag Line at Ssgt. Bock's funeral. WBC protesters were about a block from the church. (Omaha has to give them a permit but it specifies where they can protest ... always about a block away.) Mr. Vogel drove by the protesters, reached out the window of his car & sprayed mace towards them. He apparently didn't take into account the wind direction as it carried the mace to people in the Flag Line, including a child. A few minutes later, the WBC van pulled up, the protesters quickly entered the van and left. Even though I don't condone what Mr. Vogel did, I'd like to donate to his defense fund.
WBC has 10/05/10 plans to protest in Washington at the Supreme Court, the White House and Arlington Cemetery. I wonder what kind of reception they'll get there!
Pywacket (anonymous) replies…
Thank you for the clarification! Too bad his plans went awry. Even so, it sounds like maybe he was instrumental in causing the jerks to leave early--and for that, I salute him.
scott3460 (anonymous) says…
Those of you speaking in support of this criminal act really ought to check your values and patriotism. I've seen nothing to indicate the WBC protesters were doing anything other than offering speech that the majority of the country disagrees with. That so many of you are so happy to support criminal efforts to suppress unpopular speech is truly frightening. How many of you are actual or purported Tea Party supporters and strict constructionists who are constantly spouting off about adhering to our founding father's constitutional intent? What hypocrites you are.
George_Braziller (anonymous) replies…
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
Would Fred protest at West Point? Just wondering. Why not go to the place he couldn't hack.
kansasmutt (anonymous) says…
The way i read it is A passerby tried to spray the protesters and the mace went the wrong way. Thats what i get from reading it.
The_Big_B (anonymous) says…
I remember watching an old cowboy movie years ago, where the moral of the story was something like this: If the Law denies people justice long enough, they will make their own justice.
I have predicted this outcome: If the courts will not uphold reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of these protests, the protests will continue to trample the rights of people to have a respectful memorial service, free of Phelpsian intrusion, and there will be a backlash. Perhaps that is what started in Omaha, and I would fear for worse breaches of peace if the law does not intervene to provide justice in the form of freedom FROM the speech of the protesters during private funeral services.
The Constitution permits the people to require protesters to step back and shut up during the brief time of a private funeral service, in the immediate area of that service. Families can only have a funeral at one particular time, at one particular place. The protesters have their whole lives to protest and the whole world to protest on. During the funeral they need to step back and shut up. If the Courts continue not to allow that to be the law, then look for more people to take it upon themselves to try to move the protesters back and/or shut them up.
jj14 (anonymous) says…
I'm hoping the missing piece to this story is that he sprayed the mace at the Phelps crowd?
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
tange (anonymous) replies…
... stinks, not unlike the inside of the monster suit.
Sure you want to don it?
zstoltenberg (anonymous) replies…
sometimes you have to fight fire with fire...
Maracas (anonymous) says…
The gentleman who sprayed the mace toward the Westboro Baptist goofs deserves a medal. I hope this is the dawn of a new campaign of Whack-A-Mole with the Westboro folks. It's best to come up with more anonymous ways to gank them. Keeps them on their hateful toes.
booyalab (anonymous) says…
I can't believe some of the comments in this thread. It's ok to mace people if you disagree with what they say? It's ok to miss them and hit other people as long as who you were aiming for is a jerk?
meggers (anonymous) says…
The irony is that there was a deafening silence about the actions of the Phelps clan when they were picketing the funerals of Americans who happened to be gay. There weren't laws about proximity, so the families and friends of the deceased had to tolerate their hatred up close, just to put their loved one to rest.
I agree that the Phelps' have a right to free speech, however when it extends to hate speech and violates public decency laws, they should be subject to the same sanctions, restrictions, and legal consequences as everyone else.
If I held a sign that blatantly depicted a sexual act, in plain view of children, I would expect to be approached by law enforcement. Despite public indecency laws, the Phelps seen to be immune to such intervention.
I wish someone, anyone, would look at the signs they hold and pursue legal action from a public indecency angle. It's not who they're picketing, its what they are saying.
booyalab (anonymous) replies…
If you think the first amendment shouldn't apply to "hate speech" then you don't believe in free speech.
Armored_One (anonymous) says…
There are all sorts of legal ways to truly make their lives completely miserable. You just have to be intelligent about it.
There are no laws, for example, pertaining to the useage of salt in water being sprayed onto a private residence. Doesn't take a grand deal of salt int he water to destroy a yard.
Stink bombs are perfectly legal to possess and use in public, especially those places that are not enclosed, and these fools definately enjoy the audience. Just need a strong stomach and you can chase them off fairly easily.
I'm personally waiting for them to come back to Lawrence again so I can Rick'Roll them with as many of the truly flaming gay guys that I know. Who knows, maybe one of the hotter heads will make my life easier and swing their sign at me, since I will have one of my friends recording it for posterity, and my own good laugh later that day, of course.
There are all sorts of ways to deal with these fools. Granted, intimidating them is always fun and entertaining, but truly making them miserable every time they make an appearance will eventually dissuade them from their activities.
dms36 (anonymous) says…
This man's actions clearly illustrate that the Phelpses are using "fighting words" in their funeral protests. Fighting words, as defined by the First Amendment, are
words that "by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" or have a "direct tendency to cause acts of violence by the person to whom, individually, the remark is addressed." Fighting words are not protected by the First Amendment! This incident should be considered by the US Supreme Court when making their decision on the case of Snyder v. Phelps.