Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday is not the official holy day of the State of NY. Andrew Cuomo, Cheerleader in Chief.
Bible Verses on Banners Kick Off Texas Conflict
Cheerleaders' Scripture-Quoting Football Signs Face Constitutional Challenge
more in US
»
By ANN ZIMMERMAN
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-BS769_CHEER_G_20121001161448.jpg)
Associated Press
A faith-based message hangs at
Kountze High in Texas. An atheist group has challenged cheerleaders' use
of Bible verses in their banners.
The Kountze, Texas, schools superintendent banned the signs two weeks ago after he was contacted by the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., which said it had received a citizen complaint.
A state district court judge in Hardin County issued a temporary restraining order lifting the ban after the Liberty Institute, a Plano, Texas, group promoting religious freedom, offered to represent the cheerleaders and asked the court to issue a permanent injunction. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Kountze, a town of 2,100 about 85 miles northeast of Houston.
The 18 varsity cheerleaders at Kountze High School displayed the paper banners at three games before Kevin Weldon, superintendent of the Kountze Independent School District, stopped the practice.
One banner read: "But thanks be to God, which gives us Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:57." Another, from the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians in the New Testament, read, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me."
The Kountze Lions football team, which is undefeated through four games this season, would crash through the banners as it took the field.
Beth Richardson, the cheerleading coach, who works as a counselor at Kountze Middle School, said the girls got the idea for the banners from the social media site Pinterest, where they saw similar signs created by students at Georgia's Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in 2009. The Georgia school's district banned the banners following complaints.
In Kountze, a local branch of Citizens Bank recently put up a banner that says: "Citizens Bank Supports Our Kids." The mother of a football player started a Facebook page called "Support Kountze Kids Faith." It has 44,800 members. Another Web site is selling T-shirts to help defray court costs.
The legal issue is expected to revolve on whether the banners are seen as endorsed by the school or representing only the cheerleaders' personal beliefs.
"I do not think there is much doubt that it is unconstitutional," said Douglas Laycock, professor of constitutional law at the University of Virginia School of Law. "This was very specifically Christian and clearly sponsored by the school. Cheerleaders are a school activity and the game is a school activity. This is not a random group acting on their own."
The Freedom from Religion Foundation said the citizen who complained wanted to remain anonymous. The 35-year-old group, which says its members are mostly atheists and agnostics, has a history of intervening nationally in issues about the separation of church and state. Most complaints the group receives each year concern prayer in public schools during the school day, graduation ceremonies or at school sports events, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group's co-presidentSo far this year, it has sent out 47 letters of complaint to public officials in Texas, mostly in schools. It is also fighting the town of Athens, Texas, over a nativity scene in front of the town's courthouse.
Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott weighed in on the banner dispute last week and vowed to file a legal brief in support of the cheerleaders' religious liberties.
In a letter to the Kountze superintendent, Mr. Abbott characterized the move from the Freedom from Religion Foundation as "menacing and misleading" and said the "organization has a long history of attempting to bully school districts into adopting restrictive religious speech policies that go well beyond what is required by the United States Constitution."
The foundation called Mr. Abbott's letter premature and misinformed in a statement on its Web site. "Once again, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has inappropriately weighed in on the wrong side of a Texas state/church controversy involving the Freedom From Religion Foundation," wrote Dan Barker, a former evangelical minister and the group's other co-president.
Until this year, the banners typically boasted rabble-rousing slogans urging the Kountze Lions to defeat its opponents. This year, the cheerleaders wanted to do something different, said Kim Haynes, whose daughter, Adrianna, is a freshman cheerleader on the squad. They came up with the Bible verses during cheerleading camp and thought they were more sportsmanlike.
Stephanie Schmitt, an attorney with the Freedom from Religion Foundation, contacted the Kountze superintendent alleging the banners were unconstitutional. She cited a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision, involving another Texas case, which prohibited formal student-initiated school prayers conducted over the public-address system at the beginning of sports events.
A Kountze High official announced over the school's public-address system that students could no longer make public displays of religion during football games. "I was mad, because the boys liked it and it didn't hurt anyone in Kountze," said cheerleader Adrianna Haynes.
Mike Johnson, a lawyer representing the Liberty Institute, said the school board and the Freedom from Religion Foundation have both Texas and U.S. laws wrong. He said the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed student-led student speech cannot be censored in a limited public forum such as a school event. He also cited a recent federal-court decision that allowed a Texas high school valedictorian to begin her speech with a prayer.
"No school officials were involved at all with the cheerleaders' decision to make the banners," Mr. Johnson said. "The girls buy their own uniforms, for heaven's sake."
Write to Ann Zimmerman at ann.zimmerman@wsj.com
HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s
below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing
address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long Island Business
News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma,
NY 11779-7348
Home >
LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
No comments:
Post a Comment