Area police agencies are gearing up to help Bradford Township
Police keep the peace at a picket scheduled for Master Sgt. Thomas
Maholic’s funeral service at 3 p.m. today.

Bradford Township Chief Dave Doyle said Thursday afternoon, “We
hope there’s no incidents on behalf of the Maholic family.”

West Washington Street will be closed from 2 to 5 p.m. between
Nelson Avenue and Dorothy Lane for everyone’s safety, Doyle said.
The service is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the St. Bernard Elementary
and Middle School.

“Parking is going to be somewhat limited,” the chief said. “If
they are attending the funeral, it’s my understanding they are
going to park at the (University of Pittsburgh at Bradford) gym and
bus them to the school.”

People who live in the area and need access during that time
will have to tell the officers to be granted access.

Doyle said he had talked to law enforcement agencies from around
the county and has put out a request for assistance.

“Basically we’re just asking for assistance from area law
enforcement not knowing what we’re going to run into,” he said.

Maholic, a Bradford native, was killed June 24 while on duty in
Afghanistan.

Prior to the services today, John Kytic will play the keyboard
at the school. During the service, state Rep. Martin Causer,
R-Turtlepoint, will make a presentation to the family.

U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., is expected to attend as
well.

Presiding at the services will be Chaplain Jones of the U.S.
Army, from Fort Bragg, N.C., where Maholic had been stationed;
along with Rev. Jim Gutting, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Erie
and formerly of St. Bernard Church in Bradford.

Following the service, the presentation of the American Flag
will be made to Maholic’s family outside of the school. There will
be a military fly-over by helicopters in the Missing Man
Formation.

Residents in the area are asked to fly their flags in
support.

Meanwhile, police will be working to keep the area under
control, making arrests if necessary, Doyle said.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., have
announced their intentions to picket the funeral. The 70-plus
members of the church travel across the nation picketing military
funerals, saying that God kills American troops because the nation
tolerates homosexuals.

The Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group organized by
veterans in response to the pickets by the Westboro church, will
also attend. They plan to peacefully block the protesters from
having any contact with the Maholic family by using their bodies
and American flags.

Riders from several states are planning on meeting in Bradford
today, staging at 2:15 p.m. at the Bradford Area High School
parking lot, where a briefing will be held before the group will
head out West Washington Street to the school.

Meanwhile, some local churches and ministers have spoken up,
offering support for the Maholic family. Rev. Mike McAvoy, pastor
of Open Arms Community Church, went so far as to apologize for the
Westboro church’s “misrepresentation of biblical Christianity.”

Rev. Brad Preston, president of the local ministerium – a group
of local pastors, called The Era Thursday to explain that the
ministerium is standing behind the Maholic family.

Preston explained he contacted Rev. Leo Gallina, pastor of St.
Bernard Church, who will be out of the area today, to ask what help
the ministers could be. Gallina told him the ministers would all be
welcome to attend the funeral service in support of the family.

“We sent out e-mails to local pastors,” Preston said. “We
suggested if they wanted to come, they are welcome. At least they
know they have, in a sense, permission.”

Preston did not comment specifically about the Westboro Baptist
Church, but spoke against extremism in any direction.

“It’s always easier to be extreme in one direction or the
other,” Preston said. “The hardest position in the world is to be
balanced. To be balanced, you have to think, you have to exercise
grace. Love exists in balance.

“Jesus always maintained a position of balance,” he added. “You
can take a stand for righteousness and morality and not do it in a
way that disintegrates people, that demoralizes people.

“That’s a position of balance. That’s the hardest position to
take. There are times when all of us have taken extreme positions
when we’re afraid we’d be judged in favor of something we’re not in
favor of, and that usually ends up wounding the very people we were
trying to bring the gospel to.”