[Vision2020] 08-15-05 CNN: Small town may face big bill fromWiccan

[Joan Opyr]

The headline should have been Small Town Shoots Self in Foot or First
Amendment Triumphs in South Carolina (of All Places).  

This lawsuit was only a waste of resources if A) you think prayer is
appropriate and/or necessary before public city council meetings or B)
you're unfamiliar with the First Amendment to the Constitution.  I would
find any public prayer, Christian or otherwise, before Moscow City Council
meetings offensive, and if I had to sue to stop the practice, I would. 
Fortunately, our city council doesn't behave as badly (or as foolishly,
obnoxiously, and in your face) as city councils, judges, legislatures, and
other governmental bodies seem determined to do throughout the South. 
Judge Roy Moore, for example, has cost his home state a small fortune in
lawsuits -- lawsuits he provoked and for which he and he alone ought to be
financially responsible.  When his Ten Commandments monument was removed
from state grounds, it should have been dropped on his flat head.

Taxpayer money was indeed wasted in Great Falls, South Carolina, but it was
wasted by the city council.  How much cheaper just to knock it the hell off?

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com   

> [Original Message]
> From: Pat Kraut <pkraut at moscow.com>
> To: vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Date: 8/16/2005 5:37:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] 08-15-05 CNN: Small town may face big bill
fromWiccan
>
> We need reforms all over...this isn't one of them.
> PK
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Donovan Arnold" <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
> To: "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>; "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 8:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] 08-15-05 CNN: Small town may face big bill
> fromWiccan
>
>
> Of all the wrong things, and all the things we really
> need to sue about, why this? What a waste of human
> resources.
>
> Donovan J Arnold
>
> --- Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >       Small town may face big bill from Wiccan
> >       Woman wins lawsuit over prayers in council
> > meetings; wants fees paid
> >
> >       Monday, August 15, 2005; Posted: 1:33 p.m. EDT
> > (17:33 GMT)
> >
> >
> > GREAT FALLS, South Carolina (AP) -- A small South
> > Carolina town is facing a hefty legal bill after
> > losing a battle over whether it should stop using
> > Jesus Christ's name in prayers before council
> > meetings.
> >
> > The U.S. Supreme Court refused in June to hear the
> > Great Falls' appeal of a lower court ruling over the
> > prayers.
> >
> > Now Darla Wynne wants Great Falls to pay her more
> > than $65,000 to cover legal bills. A judge is
> > expected to rule on the matter within the next two
> > months.
> >
> > Wynne, who describes herself as a Wiccan priestess,
> > sued Great Falls in 2001, saying the town violated
> > the separation between church and state by using the
> > name Jesus Christ in prayers because it promoted one
> > religion, Christianity, over the another.
> >
> > The money is not covered by insurance, and it is
> > unclear where the town of about 2,200 residents
> > would get the cash. The amount is about 7 percent of
> > its annual budget.
> >
> > "It'll be an enormous undertaking for us," town
> > attorney Michael Hemlepp said.
> >
> > Wynne's lawyer said attorneys had incurred only
> > about $18,000 in expenses before the town decided to
> > appeal. "We spent two years in extra litigation
> > while they went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I
> > think the case was clear from the beginning," said
> > attorney Herbert Buhl.
> >
> > The Rev. Michael Sollers, pastor of Evangel Temple
> > Assembly of God, said most of the town supported the
> > council's decision to keep fighting the case and
> > would be willing to help pay the legal fees.
> > >
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