"You always had to be ready for him," a veteran lawyer in Topeka said.

Phelps was considered a gifted and skilled trial lawyer, one of the best in eastern Kansas.

His prominent cases:

 One of Phelps' most notable cases was won on behalf of Evelyn Rene Johnson, a black school girl who sued Topeka Unified School District 501, alleging she received an inferior education in Topeka schools.

In an out-of-court settlement, Johnson received $19,500 from the school board in U.S. District Court late in 1978. Johnson received $8,907 in a trust, and Phelps received the rest as fees. The case, which had been sealed by a federal judge at the request of the school board's insurance company, became public in April 1979. Filed in 1973, the suit alleged the school hadn't fully implemented mandates by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of the Education of Topeka. Johnson, 10 when the case was filed, had been a student at Parkdale Elementary School.

 In August 1979, Phelps filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Carla Michelle Miller, then 11 and a student at Lafayette Elementary School, charging that USD 501 discriminated against blacks and other minorities. Phelps filed the class-action suit in U.S. District Court.

Phelps contended economically disadvantaged black students were being forced to remain in predominantly black schools in an environment generating a feeling of "inferiority as to their status in the community, thus affecting their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."

The case was dismissed in U.S. District Court, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the dismissal.

 After police and sheriff's deputies raided the Jordan-Patterson American Legion Post, 811 S.E. 15th, on June 28, 1979, Phelps filed suit, representing several clients.

Shawnee County sheriff's deputies, aided by Topeka police officers, were seeking drug dealers when they raided the predominantly black club. About 20 people were arrested, including five for concealed weapons and two for marijuana possession. No felony convictions resulted from the raid.

During the raid, 50 to 60 female patrons were strip-searched. Customers in the club filed 20 lawsuits in state and federal courts alleging bar patrons were illegally strip-searched, detained, and treated in a threatening and abusive manner because they were black. At least two clients represented by Phelps' family law firm received settlements of $8,000 from the city and county commissions before the suits were to go to trial.

Civil rights awards

Phelps won several honors for his work on civil rights cases.

In 1986, Phelps received two civil rights awards, the Omaha Mayor's Special Recognition Award and an award by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Blacks in Government.

In 1987, Phelps received an award from the Bonner Springs branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for his "undauntedness" and his "steely determination for justice during his tenure as a civil rights attorney."

But, in Phelps' campaign against homosexuals and others in Topeka, he seems to contradict himself again.

Consider some faxes he transmitted in the past four years. A fax issued by Westboro Baptist Church with Phelps' name on the heading, reads: "... BLACK BULLIES BEAT WHITE KIDS AND WOMEN."

And on Jan. 11, 1993, a fax, sent out under the Westboro Baptist Church heading labels a local black lawyer as an "INCOMPETENT BLACK WHORE" and "BLACK TRASH."

A fax dated May 22, 1992, called a black politician a "BLACK THUG," a "CRIMINAL" and a "HOLLIGAN".

The television lawsuit

Phelps has filed other less sterling court cases.

In September 1973, Mark Phelps, 19, and Fred Phelps Jr., 20, bought a 12-inch color television from the Sears store in Topeka and put the set on layaway. The TV cost $184.59.

They made a $20 payment to hold the TV in layaway, made a second payment the next month and paid the balance in November 1973. After the final payment, Sears store employees told them the television set wasn't available.

According to court documents filed for the Phelps sons, the TV had been sold to someone else, but Sears employees said they would order another one that would be available by Christmas 1973. Three days later, the Phelpses filed a $50 million class-action lawsuit against Sears on behalf of 1 million people who had ever used Sears' layaway plan.

The two sons were named as plaintiffs in the case and were represented by their father, Fred W. Phelps Sr. Court documents show Sears called the Phelpses and told them the TV was available later in November 1973. The Phelpses chose not to accept the TV in November, but instead pursued the lawsuit.

Nearly six years of litigation followed.

Motions and counter-motions were filed. Lawyers argued aspects of the case in front of judges. A judge threw out the class-action section of the suit. Finally everyone involved reached a settlement.

After nearly six years, countless hours of legal work and an original request of $50 million, the case was settled in favor of the Phelpses for $126.34, an amount lower than the original cost of the television set.

Suing the president

In 1984, Phelps sued the president of the United States.

The reason? Phelps opposed then-President Ronald Reagan's appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Topeka, asked a judge to prohibit the president from opening diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Phelps argued that sending an ambassador to the Vatican violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In the suit, Phelps described himself as a Primitive or Old School Baptist, "who, with other patriots, has a vested religious interest in the separation of church and state since the days of this republic when the first amendment was drafted by John Leland, another Primitive Baptist preacher."

The suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Rogers because Phelps "lacked standing." Rogers also ruled the president's action didn't violate the First Amendment.

A different voice

Joanna Billingsley worked in the Phelps law firm while attending law school at Washburn University and worked as an associate in the Phelps law firm until she returned to her native southern Missouri to live and practice law.

She said Phelps family members were good to her and treated her well.

"I had a lot of fun working for them," she said. "They were very kind to me."

She said the lawyers in the Phelps firm often took civil rights and employment discrimination cases when other lawyers wouldn't. For many people with legitimate claims, the Phelps firm was their last resort, she said.

The firm often represented people who couldn't afford a lawyer.

Filing so many civil rights and employment discrimination cases made members of the firm somewhat unpopular, especially among big businesses the Phelps sued on behalf of clients. The criticism heaped on the Phelpses for filing so many civil rights cases tended to bring the Phelpses closer together as a family, Billingsley said.

There was a lot of pressure in the work the Phelpses did, Billingsley said. She sounded surprised at Fred Phelps' militant anti-homosexual stance and said she has no idea why he has taken to the streets with his message. But, she said, "I'm not surprised he's the center of controversy."

She remembers Phelps as always being unshakable in his beliefs. Billingsley said Phelps would never change his personality or beliefs to suit public opinion.

"He will do what he believes," she said. "He doesn't care what anybody else thinks."