[From an online newpaper article]

The family and friends of two teenagers who died in a car accident over the weekend are puzzled as to why a fundamentalist church group plans to demonstrate at the teens' funerals.

Tracey Burke, whose daughter Emily died in the crash near Finksburg late Saturday night, said she doesn't understand the logic of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church unless its members, "are just people of hate."

"It makes no sense," Burke said. "I can't believe they'd choose to [demonstrate at] the funeral of a child."

Julio Calderon, whose brother Rodolfo Calderon also died in the crash, said he was stunned to find out about the picketing.

"I don't know why people want to interfere with our moment of privacy and grief," he said.

According to a release from the Westboro Baptist Church, tragedies are happening in Maryland because the state is persecuting the organization, and their demonstration is based on their belief that "God hates Maryland."

Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church leader the Rev. Fred W. Phelps Sr., said the teens died because God put a curse on Maryland.

"Maryland is a state of rebels with no cause," Shirley Phelps-Roper said Monday.

Maryland State Police said they are looking into Westboro Baptist's decision to attend the funeral and deciding what, if anything, they can do.