"Thank you, for inviting me into your home."
Posted on 08/02/2005 11:49:31 AM PDT by THE person involved
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
School says bench stays where it is By Candice Cunningham
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - Despite one parent's questions about its "overtly religious" content and a possible constitutional violation, Marietta City Schools officials say they have no plans to remove a bench from the Marietta High School campus inscribed with the words "Jesus Loves You!"
Marietta Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said in a response letter to parent David Bernknopf on Friday that the bench would stay.
"On the advice of legal counsel, there are no plans to do anything regarding the bench," Dr. Lembeck stated.
Dr. Lembeck and the school system's attorney, Clem Doyle, were unavailable for further comment Monday.
Bernknopf, a former CNN producer and media consultant whose son and daughter attend nearby A.L. Burruss Elementary, sent a letter to school system officials last month questioning whether the bench's message was "overtly religious." He sent a letter to school officials asking them to investigate whether it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which calls for separation of church and state.
On Monday, however, Bernknopf said he never intended to take the matter to court and plans to take no further action.
"I certainly never had any interest in filing a complaint or filing a lawsuit," he said. "Obviously, I thought it was questionable."
After receiving Dr. Lembeck's response, he said he is not interested in pursuing the issue. Any future challenge to the bench, he said, could be left to constitutional experts.
Smyrna resident Ed Buckner, secretary of the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the bench message clearly violates state and federal Supreme Court law, which regulates religious content on public property.
"It implies to anyone who sees it that the government is endorsing that particular point of view," he said.
He said the school should remove the bench or face the potential of a costly lawsuit.
"I think they'll move it," he said. "I think it may require court action to do it, but I think they'll move it."
Buckner said his group was not planning to file a suit but said the school system is leaving itself open for other groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, to do so.
"It's a bad idea to get into the business of which religion is right and which is wrong," he said. "In that lies madness."
"What if the Atlanta Freethought Society wanted to put up a bench that said, 'There is no God?'" Buckner added. "Do you think they'd say 'Yes?' I don't."
Marietta school board Chairwoman Irene Berens said the law governing such issues is vague.
"The Supreme Court didn't give us much guidance," she said. "They seem willing to look at it on a case-by-case basis, which puts us in a difficult situation as far as interpretation."
Just last month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two divergent rulings relating to displays of the Ten Commandments at courthouses in Kentucky and Texas.
Berens said she was satisfied with the legal advice provided by Doyle.
He researched legal opinions and consulted with state school board attorneys, the Gainesville-based Harbin and Hartley firm, before returning his decision, she said.
Bernknopf said that Dr. Lembeck's three-paragraph letter was brief and did not clarify whether the bench is currently violating the law.
"It would've been nice to have more detail," he said.
For now, district spokesman Bill Doughty said the bench would stay where it is because no one has specifically asked the school to remove it.
If a formal request were made, he said, school officials would need to reconsider the issue.
The bench, located outside the high school's cafeteria and near the school bus drop off area, was installed in 2001, Doughty said. Private donations from the school's PTA paid for it as part of a large fund-raising campaign conducted before the new Whitlock Avenue school was built.
Other benches are placed on local school campuses bearing messages that include the names of local businesses and the names of deceased loved ones.
The school system does not have a policy regulating the content inscribed on school structures and school officials do not have plans to consider such a policy, Doughty said.
Berens said the school system tries to keep its policies to a minimum.
"You cannot have a policy to address every contingency that might happen," she said.
School board member Annette Lewis said Bernknopf raised a legitimate question that was aimed at protecting the school from fighting a costly legal battle.
"If I had seen the bench there, I would have asked the question," she said. "It was a legitimate question and one the school system wanted to wait and get a legal opinion on."
Although Bernknopf might not have gotten the response he wanted, he indicated that his efforts were not for naught.
"An informal debate on a topic of this nature is always beneficial," he said.
Copyright © 2005 Marietta Daily Journal. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and Registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Who brought the issue to the press, Mr Media Consultant?
I can't think of any worse public description than being called a former CNN producer. Poor judgment seems to be your way of life.
Would they object if the inscription said "David Bernknopf can go to Hell."?
Well, I gotta give you credit for one thing. Finally someone who knows the proper use of loose v. lose!
again...its amazing how quick you are to judge without ANY real knowledge. how angry and wrong so many of you are.
you should have come on the playground cleanup at my kids school with me ..or to reading day or to the school trip which i helped chaparone.
what on earth would provoke you to assume I don't do those things?
life is more than this one little bit of questioning.
sad sad sad
LOL! That is too funny! Someone needs to activate the mega ping list and note that there's a special on catnip for the kitties.
God Bless
mmmmkay....
Who's David Bernknopf?............
All while finding time to be a "media consultant"?
What is a "media consultant" anyway?
this will be my last contribution....you are right...it did stir the pot, although it wasn't my intention.
my intention was to clarify what people on this board were saying about me.
and ....if you care to know the truth about how this got to the press, you can doublecheck with the superintendent's office.
sorry to correct another misconception, but the superintendent wrote a note to her staff and the school board members.
one of those people leaked it to the marietta paper.
that's when the paper called me.
i have turned down multiple interview requests because I did want this to be dealt with quietly.
i got the answers to my questions. I am done with this issue.
sorry if it disappoints so many of you who are so wrong.
but i'm now done with defending myself.
but I will continue to read the very nasty, awful personal, anti-Christian things you write.
WWJD
This was the first statement on the thread. It seems the first person making ASSumptions about people being wrong in their assumptions was you. What wrong assumptions have all of us around here made about the case? I think from reading the article I learned that the bench was privately funded and the message chosen by someone other than school or district personnel. Based on my reading of the article, I posted 4 questions that should have been adequate to satisfy you that there is no problem with the bench.
Nevermind I figgered it out. The son of "THE person invloved"......
WWJD?
Well, he wouldn't have complained to the school board that someone wanted to let everyone know that they were loved...
I can see it now... "Hey!! Who put that message out there that I love everyone?????"
Be honest. Are you hoping someone else picks up the ball and runs with it?
You need to realize that everyday folks are getting real, real tired of being made to feel like they have to walk on eggshells due to their faith. The backlash has already started.
I've cleaned up playgrounds for years to get rid of exposed pipes, distressed ground. I've worked long hours to raise money to aircondition our schools. I've done the dirty work as grounds chairman for 4 years. I know what I'm talking about.
My assumptions: You enjoy being an antagonist and you are a troll.
I doubt very seriously you voted for President Bush. My assumption, again.
Media consultant - un-employed actor trying to impress someone.....
Most likely, he's probably just trying to get back on the good side of the CNN boys... This would be the perfect way to do it...
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