Upset because he feels there was not enough protection

Upset because he feels there was not enough protection at one of his protests, Phelps wants to make damn sure this does not happen again. "These 16- or 17-
year-old types were swirlin' in a sea around us and there weren't no police there," Phelps says into the phone, pacing around, his little jogging shorts
flapping. "That puts hairs up on the back of my neck, because they'll hit a sign or trip somebody, and then, a conflagration! Now, please don't think I'm
fussin' at you, chief."
He then scolds Beavers because he's heard that the chief told someone that Phelps's theology is perverted. "That's a goddamn lie, chief! It's the doctrine of
John Calvin and every other church leader and I can prove it to you. Even if it was perverted, that's not for you to say, chief. That's none of your
business, my friend."
Having said his piece, Phelps hangs up.
"You have to educate these people," he mutters.
Fighting Fire With Ire
Many of the ministers whose churches have been targeted by Phelps believe that he and his family have intimidated some local officials into docility. Because
Phelps is such an ugly enemy, because of his propensity to sue, and because there is no significant political mileage in being perceived as pro-gay, the
churchmen say officials have sometimes been guilty of looking the other way in all but the most egregious cases of harassment.
"That's ridiculous," responds Beavers. "Fred is always mad at me, so I figure I must be doing something right."
(It is true that Fred is angry with nearly everyone. He calls Mayor Felker "the Antichrist.")
Beavers says his officers struggle to maintain the delicate line between Phelps's right to free speech and Topekans' right to worship and carry on their
lives without harassment. But ministers like Bob Layne, the rector at St. David's Episcopal Church, say their congregations have been repeatedly harassed and
that the Topeka police, acting on orders of the conservative mayor, have done nothing.
At first, Layne says, "we tried to win them over with some degree of Christian love, ask them in for coffee, and they would swear we had AIDS." So the church
decided to fight fire with their own brimstone. For 18 months -- until last August, when the church obtained a temporary restraining order limiting the
Phelpses' picketing activities on its property -- members of the congregation would stand outside, holding their own signs advocating love and tolerance,
next to the Phelpses' each day before services.
"I would come in shaking sometimes," says Layne. "To be told you drink anal blood at the altar of the sphincter'? They had little kids shouting outside in
the rain and the cold, Rectum Bob, smells like his name.' "