Both of St. Lawrence County’s state senators are lauding passage by the Assembly of legislation restricting protests or demonstrations at military funerals, burials or memorial services.

The bills had been passed by the Senate on March 14 and will now be sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his consideration.

Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, said he co-sponsored the measures to balance the constitutional right of free speech with the ability of families to respectfully mourn the individuals who gave their lives in service to our country.

“Exercising free speech is an American right, but it is a tremendous misuse of that freedom to use the funerals of our veterans as a vehicle for protests that do nothing but add to the grief and sorrow of military families,” said Griffo. “Grieving military families shouldn’t be the target of a political demonstration.”

Said Sen. Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, “By using the same kind of regulations that currently allow us to protect parades and demonstrations, we can insure that constitutional free speech rights are protected while grieving families are allowed to pay their final goodbyes to loved ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision recognized that persons who protest at funerals of military personnel have constitutional rights, but also that states have a compelling interest in protecting the family and friends of deceased military personnel while they are mourning at such events.

This prompted state Sen. Lee Zeldin to propose the Specialist Thomas J. Wilwerth Military Dignity Act this past March. Specialist Wilwerth was an Iraq War Veteran who lost his life in combat in 2006.

The bill will provide for a permit process regulating demonstrations at veteran and veteran family member funerals, and authorizes the imposition of fines for failure to comply with the permit provisions.

Sen. Griffo introduced a companion bill designed to ensure that military families already reeling from grief are not faced with insults and protests. The bill triples the buffer zone distance for protests from 100 to 300 feet.