http://www.thedailyreview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17573355&BRD=2276&PAG=461&dept_id=465049&rfi=6
[excerpt]
Federal lawsuit against county is in discovery phase
BY ERIC HRIN
STAFF WRITER
12/10/2006
A lawsuit contending a vocational training program that had been in place
for Bradford County Correctional Facility inmates was an “evangelical
ministry” that shouldn’t have been supported by public money is now in the
discovery phase of fact finding.
Clark and Jane Moeller are two of the six plaintiffs in Moeller v. Bradford
County, which was filed in federal district court Feb. 17, 2005. The other
plaintiffs are Laura Blain, Kris Schwenke, Jeffrey Gonzalez and Tim
Thurston.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Arnold & Porter
law firm and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania are
representing the plaintiffs.
According to a press release from Americans United for Separation of Church
and State that was issued in August, a federal judge in Pennsylvania
allowed the lawsuit to proceed. The release noted that U.S. District Judge
James M. Munley made his ruling Aug. 10, dismissing the county’s attempt to
stop the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are challenging local, state and federal funding of the
program, which they call an “evangelical prison ministry program,” reads
the release.
The program was operated by The Firm Foundation, it notes. According to the
release, the foundation has received “hundreds of thousands of dollars in
public funds” to run the vocational training program for the Bradford
County Correctional Facility inmates.
The release states the program was started in 2003, and was the only
vocational training available to the inmates.
“In Moeller v. Bradford County, the plaintiffs argue that The Firm
Foundation’s vocational program is largely an evangelical ministry that
should not be supported by public funds,” the release notes. “The
plaintiffs’ suit argues that large amounts of the program include religious
discussion, lectures and prayers and that its staff is made up entirely of
persons adhering to the Foundation’s religious beliefs.”
The release noted that Bradford County officials had “urged the federal
court to dismiss the lawsuit for technical and substantive reasons.”
“They need to be held accountable and when tax money is used to force
religion on people, it’s not a fair use of tax money,” Blain said. “It’s
not even a constitutional use of tax money and that’s why it’s become a
case.”
She confirmed the that the case is now in the discovery phase.
[end excerpt]
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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