It is not that Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school athletic director Robert Freeman do not have a prayer, they had too many prayers. The two officials defied a settlement barring prayers on constitutional ground and now face six-month sentences — a matter of widespread protest among parents.
While I often defend free speech and free exercise on these pages, I must confess little sympathy for these officials. While the two officials have been made heroes among local families, they are accused of knowingly violated a settlement agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union and a court order. According to court papers, they defied the clear law barring such prayers in public schools. The Pace High School teachers handbook actually told teachers to “embrace every opportunity to inculcate, by precept and example, the practice of every Christian virtue.”
A federal court order prohibited, among other things, any prayer in schools, “reading from a sacred text”, “calling upon a deity to offer guidance, assistance or a blessing” as well as religious services. The two men are accused of intentionally violating that court order.
The officials not only decided that they were above the Constitution but openly defied their own Santa Rosa County School District, which agreed to comply with federal law. If officials are allowed to claim exemption from federal and constitutional law, they could preserve segregation or advance sectarian faiths as a matter of local values. It is not clear what these officials are teaching their students about citizenship in such actions. No one is preventing private prayer. They are employees of a school district which agreed to comply with constitutional standards that apply to thousands of schools across the country. If they decided that they were above such limits, they were wrong. While I do not see the need for jail, there is a basis for termination based on the alleged violations if proven.
For the full story, click here.
THIS IS ALL SO SAD.
The Great Joe Bob
(A Regional Tragedy)
by Terry Allen
He was a panhandle prince
Schoolboy football king
They told him “Hi” in the halls
‘Cause he could run them balls
But it was rumored down deep he was mean
He dated high-tone girls
With frosty pom-pom curls
But he never gave out his ring
He was the best of the best
He met the grid-iron test
An there ain’t nothin’ as American an’ clean
He was the pride of the backfield
Ahh the hero of his day
Yeah he carried the ball for the red and blue
They won District Triple-A
An his name made all the papers
As the best they’d ever had
Yeah so nobody understood it
When the Great Joe Bob went bad
First he lost his scholarship
To Texas Tech
For drinking during training
An breaking the coach’s neck
Then he got suspended ahhh for acting obscene
Around the Cum-Laudy, Cum-Laudy
Daughter of the Dean
So he took up with a waitress
Named Loose Ruby Cole
While she was a-hoppin’ tables
Down at the Hi-D-Ho
An he met her on the sly
When her daddy weren’t around
Yeah but he stopped making yardage
When he started messin’ ’round
(chorus)
Yeah it spread like a country wildfire
That something big had gone all strange
Joe Bob the Greatest Halfback
Was actin half-deranged
He’d been seen out with this woman
Gettin drunk and havin fun
Yeah he growed his hair, then gived up prayer
An said, “Football days is done”
Then he and old Loose Ruby
Robbed a Pinkie’s Liquor Store
An had a run-in with the law
When they’s runnin’ out the door
An Joe Bob’s fate was sealed
For the next century
Yeah he traded in the pigskin
For the penitentiary
(chorus)
Thats true, as anyone in that area of the state who could run, jump or swim went up North.
AY, I went to school in SW Texas. I think Jesus probably spent more time in your part of the state since we didn’t win that many football games.