Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170500
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PURDY, MO. LENGTH: Medium
The best they can hope for is to elect school board members who are pro-dancing, said Howard Fox, one of 21 parents and students who had sued four years ago in an attempt to overturn the rule.
The current board members "are not going to be there forever," Fox said. "Ultimately we will dance on their graves, figuratively."
Most residents of the village of 900 were reluctant to discuss the ruling. Many, including students at Purdy High School, just shook their heads and walked away. Others, like Lois Dawn and Fox's wife, Joan, had plenty to say.
"It's these new people who have moved in," Dawn said of several families who sued to overturn the ban. "This is a Baptist town. . . . Who are these people to come in and inflict their views on everyone else?"
Joan Fox shook her head and sighed.
"We've lived in this town for 12 years and we're still considered outsiders, mostly because we're Catholic," she said. "It's an extreme victory for liars, cheats and hypocrites. I think the judicial system in this country has gone to pot."
Dawn graduated from 100-year-old Purdy High in 1957, when the only kind of dancing allowed was in gym class.
In 1986, the students and parents sued. A federal judge agreed with them that the ban was motivated by fundamentalist ministers fervently opposed to dancing and was thus a violation of separation of church and state.
The school board appealed, saying the ban had nothing to do with religion. Meanwhile, students kicked up their heels at the first dance at Purdy High School in 1988.
Two more dances followed at the 230-student school, but the future of school dances remains in question.
Without comment, the Supreme Court let stand the federal appeals court ruling last fall that upheld the board's right to ban dances.
The board met in regular session Monday night, but Superintendent Sheldon Buxton said a decision on whether to modify or abandon the rule won't come until next month's meeting. He would not speculate on what the board would do.
Fox said pro-dancers triumphed whether the ban remains.
"There have been dances attended by orderly, well-behaved students who had a wonderful time. No sex, drugs and alcohol like some of the ministers preached. Taverns did not sprout on every street corner," he said. "Our point has been proven."
by CNB