CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A new documentary about the Patriot Guard Riders shows there's more to the motorcycle group than just their opposition to a group that mounts protests at military funerals.
The motorcyclists started out as an informal group who sought to disrupt the protests from Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, who claim soldier deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. The group uses their roaring engines and waving flags to prevent grieving family members from seeing the protests, which have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
During a screening of the documentary, "Patriot Guard Riders," by filmmaker Ellen Frick on Monday in Clarksville, local members of the motorcycle group told The Leaf-Chronicle their mission has expanded beyond Westboro.
The riders now provide honors to any family of a deceased veteran that asks for their presence. Local member Mark Waltrous says they are also aid in the burial of homeless veterans and those without family to pay for a funeral.
Another rider, Mario Chavez, said they are also welcoming members to their group who don't ride motorcycles.
The wife of a Fort Campbell soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2006 was also at the screening and said the Patriot Guard Riders shielded her family from the protesters. The funeral for Spc. Clinton Robert Upchurch, a 101st Airborne Division soldier, was held in Garden City, Kan., and was targeted by the Westboro Baptist Church for a protest.
"I felt the ground shake, I heard the roar (of the Patriot guard motorcycles), I saw the flags," she said.
Some of the riders said they supported the filmmaker's decision to include interviews with church members in her film. The consensus, Frick said, was that "by their own words, they hang themselves."
Aldo Calabrese, one of the riders, said that while he felt the church members' actions were morally wrong, he believed in respecting free speech rights. "But I am going to stand in their way," he said. "That's my right."
Calabrese said that a greater mission has emerged over the years and the members of the motorcycle group have grown into an extended family.
David Westhorp said the reasons that prompted him to participate in the Patriot Guard Riders are not the reason he keeps doing it.
"Like many ministries — and that's what this feels like to me — it blesses the servant," he said.
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Information from: The Leaf-Chronicle, http://www.theleafchronicle.com
