Our military servicemen and women deserve great respect for their numerous sacrifices to protect our freedoms.  Unbelievably there is a right-wing extremist group out of Kansas called the “Westboro Baptist Church” that has been staging outrageous demonstrations at the funerals of U.S. service members, claiming that military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan are “God’s punishment for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.”  The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that these protests were constitutionally protected speech.  Within days of that decision Jim filed a bill to strengthen this state’s anti-protest statute, and recently Ed Covell of the Scituate American Legion testified in support of this legislation.  Marshfield’s Veteran’s Agent, Bill Dodge, also provided excellent testimony in favor of the legislation.  Coincidentally, just days after Covell and Jim offered testimony at the State House, members of the Westboro Baptist Church traveled to Plymouth, where, on Oct. 17, 2011 they protested the funeral of Spc. Steven E. Gutowski, a young man who was tragically killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while protecting the freedoms you and I enjoy every day.  We will continue to work to protect the sanctity of funerals for all our citizens, but especially those who have given their lives to protect our own.