Useless, Idiotic Picketing... For What!?

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Elizabeth Edwards' funeral to take place amid possible protests

Posted: December 11th, 2010 -- 12:43 PM ET

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Anderson Cooper reports


Raleigh, North Carolina (CNN) - As mourners gather to commemorate the life of Elizabeth Edwards on Saturday afternoon, picketers from a Kansas-based church - along with counter-protesters - could change the mood outside the funeral.

Edwards, the estranged wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. She was 61.

Representatives for the Edwards family confirmed that the service will be held at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, where the Edwards family worships. The 1 p.m. funeral, which will be open to the public, will include eulogies from daughter Cate Edwards and longtime friends Hargrave McElroy and Glenn Bergenfield.

Edwards will then be buried at Raleigh's Historic Oakwood Cemetery, according to office manager Sharon Freed. Earlier this week, Freed told CNN about the proximity of the burial to Edwards' son Wade, who was buried at the cemetery after dying in a 1996 car crash.

"He is already interred there in a space. And she will be interred there beside him," Freed said.

Four of Elizabeth Edwards' pallbearers were childhood friends of her son. They include Tyler Highsmith, Michael Lewis, Charles Scarantino and Ellis Roberts, who was an aide to John Edwards when he was in the U.S. Senate.

Other pallbearers include longtime friend Bill Spiegel, B.A. Farrell, an Edwards confidant and adviser, and her hospice doctor, Michael Chernier. Trevor Upham, Cate Edwards' fiance is also a pallbearer.

Those expected to attend the funeral include Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who picked John Edwards as his vice-presidential running mate during his unsuccessful bid for president in 2004; North Carolina Gov. Ben Perdue, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina); Vicki Kennedy, the wife of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy; John Podesta, a former Clinton administration chief of staff and current head of the Center for American Progress; several congressmen; and more than 100 former campaign staffers, according to an Edwards family friend.

The ceremony is open to the public because Edwards was known for insisting, much to the dismay of staffers, that all of her events be open to the public. the friend said. Supporters say that even though a public funeral might usher some chaos to the event, this is what Edwards would have wanted.

But some worry the event, at least outside the church, could get out of hand because of planned demonstrations by picketers from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.

According to a press release from the church, members of the Kansas-based congregation are planning to rally against Edwards for issues relating to her personal life deemed offensive by the church.

The church is known for its extremist opposition against homosexuals, Jews and other groups. Westboro members often hold protests at funerals for fallen U.S. service members, saying the war's dead are God's punishment for the country tolerating gays and lesbians.

The father of a U.S. Marine has sued the church, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. The case, Snyder v. Phelps, has reached the Supreme Court and tests the privacy rights of grieving families with the free speech rights of demonstrators, however disturbing and provocative their message.

But some are organizing a counter-protest to Westboro Baptist's efforts at Edwards' funeral.

Susan Burcham and Ben Requena did not know Edwards, but said they felt compelled to stand up against the church's protest.

"When I heard that these people were coming ... I felt like I needed to say something to the bully in our front yard," Burcham told Anderson Cooper on CNN's "AC360." She said she helped organize the counter-protest on Facebook.

Requena said he would consider his efforts successful if Sunday morning's headlines read, "Elizabeth Edwards quietly laid to rest."

"This isn't about us," Requena said on the program. "It's not about the thousands of people from the local community and abroad that are going to come over and help protest and help spread the love. It's certainly not about the Westboro group. This is about human decency and common courtesy."