AUGUST 12, 2008

       The monsters never showed. And it was a good thing for the sake of grieving loved ones at last week’s funeral for Tim McLean.

       The monsters I’m referring to are what some Manitobans called members of Westboro Baptist Church, the American organization viewed as a “hate group” and led by Shirley Phelps-Roper.

       On the eve of her gaggle’s supposed arrival in Winnipeg to protest at the murder victim’s funeral, I interviewed Phelps-Roper for what turned out to be one of the strangest interviews I’ve ever done.

       Phelps-Roper said she was more than happy to chat with me. We were prepared for a 40-minute radio interview… and we were going live, which added to the nerves.

       Once we started I found it funny when we were on the air she had this outrageous personality and would go on rants, but as soon as we broke for commercial she was calm and cool and didn't have all that much hate-filled stuff to say. (Excuse me, she told me she's not the one who hates everything, it's God who does that.)

       She came across as very friendly and easy going but as a reporter it caught my ear how she never answered a personal question with a personal answer, but rather a scripture quote. There were times she'd beat around the bush for a while and then eventually give her opinion. I've never experienced someone who steamrolls the interviewer and answers questions that aren't asked.

       I went into the call with an "educate me" sort of approach. I wanted to hear her out and see if I could have an actual conversation with her. Very quickly I knew it wasn't possible... well, at least until we went to commercial.

       Did I learn anything throughout this? No, not about myself. I got a better understanding of how attached she is to her Bible and believes every word of it, and maybe she reads a little too much into its contents. As for the actual point of the protest at McLean's funeral, I'm sure the message is in the phone call somewhere but I have to decode it to see what she actually means.

CLICK TO HEAR the interview