Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 14, 1995 TAG: 9506140067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
As passed unanimously by the Wythe County Board of Supervisors, the resolution adds the word "voluntary" before each reference to prayer.
"Lord knows I wouldn't want to have to pray somebody else's prayer," Supervisor Jack Crosswell said later. "It could start out with 'To Whom It May Concern.'''
In accepting the Republican candidacy Monday night to seek re-election as the Speedwell District supervisor, Crosswell told the county GOP convention that he planned to ask the board Tuesday to adopt the resolution. "With so much violence around us, we need all the help we can get to keep ourselves morally correct," he said.
Supervisor John Davis, a George Wythe High School teacher, objected at first that the proposed amendment is not needed.
"We have in schools now voluntary prayer," Davis said. "And I assure you that, when I give tests, there's an enormous amount of prayer."
He said the school has a Bible study group, and that some of its students bow their heads and say grace before eating lunch. "I have never once seen anyone interfere with them. No other youngster makes fun of them," he said.
"What's happening around the country, maybe not here but other places, voluntary prayer is being forced out of the schools," Crosswell said. He insisted on the addition of the word "voluntary" to the resolution because, he said, "I don't think anyone should be forced to pray."
Chairman Mark Munsey recalled that, when he was in school, morning devotions were piped through a public address system each day, and athletic events always began with a prayer. "I see nothing wrong with prayer," he said.
Davis said the group behind the resolution really wants to expose students to its own religious views.
"That group doesn't want voluntary prayer. It wants mandatory prayer, and who's going to write that prayer?'' he said. "If we support those people, we will be added to the bottom of the list, and nobody will notice that we said 'voluntary.'''
Supervisor Olin Armentrout suggested adding a letter to the resolution noting the changes. He said voting it down would lead to headlines that the board opposes school prayer, and he did not want to risk that misunderstanding - even if the resolution as rewritten simply states the existing school prayer situation.
"It may be redundant to say it again, but what's the matter with saying it again?'' Armentrout said.
Even Davis ended up voting for the resolution, as long as the letter made it clear that this was Wythe County's version.
by CNB