Press photo illustration
In the latest twist in a fight over the separation of church and state in Tracy, a Christian public interest law firm has offered to defend Tracy against a lawsuit should one be filed over the city’s policy of praying before City Council meetings.
The Virginia Beach-based National Legal Foundation sent the city a letter July 7 offering its lawyers to defend Tracy should the city be sued, a possibility in the wake of a letter by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
That Wisconsin-based foundation sent the City Council a letter June 30 that urged the council to end the practice of kicking off council meetings with “prayers that unconstitutionally reference Christianity and invoke Jesus Christ.”
It’s hardly the first time the council has dealt with the issue.
Tracy resident Stephen Wampler recalls the mid-1990s, when a group tried to get the City Council to ditch the practice of praying at council meetings. Back then, Wampler tried to recruit the Rutherford Institute to help defend the city. Not much came of the challenge to prayer then, Wampler remembers, and the practice of praying before council meetings continued.
In 2007, Tracy City Attorney Deborah Corbett suggested the council bar the invocation of sectarian figures such as Jesus Christ during prayers at council meetings in light of a court decision that ruled those utterances illegal at government meetings.
Wampler alerted the National Legal Foundation in 2007, but the council decided against following Corbett’s advice, saying they might change their minds if the city was sued over the issue.
That day seems closer now.
At the moment, though, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is “going to wait and see what action” Tracy takes, said foundation attorney Rebecca Kratz.
She said the group wants to work “to get this matter resolved short of going to court.”
Kratz said the foundation has a member in Tracy who alerted the national organization to what was happening in the Tracy council chambers. The Wisconsin foundation keeps its membership roster confidential, and through the foundation the person declined to be interviewed for this story for fear of ridicule from people in Tracy who believe in praying before council meetings.
Wampler is one resident who wants the council to continue its practice of prayer.
He was one of several people at Tuesday’s council meeting to argue many of the Founding Fathers were devout Christians, noting they prayed for three hours at the first Constitutional Convention, and pointed out that pilgrims in the Mayflower Compact of 1620 wrote that the first colony was created “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith.”
When Wampler heard about the Freedom From Religion Foundation, he once again got ahold of the National Legal Foundation.
“I thought, here we go again,” he said. “I think there’s been a rewriting of the Constitution in the last 33 years or so. It’s reached the point where the founders wouldn’t even recognize what they wrote.”
But to the anti-prayer group, the law is clear. It also wrote a letter to Lodi urging that city enforce its policy of barring sectarian references during invocations at Lodi council meetings.
Praying in the name of Jesus or Muhammad is “a no-no,” said Lodi spokesman Jeff Hood.
The council there has had two meetings in June at which those delivering the invocation were reminded of the city’s policy.
“We haven’t had any problem,” Hood said.
Tracy has no written policy on what can be said during council prayers, and it allows anyone to sign up to deliver an invocation. If there is a council meeting where no one has signed up to say the prayer, the city gets help from Mark Humphreys of the Tracy Ministerial Association to fill the hole.
But because anyone from any religion can sign up for the invocation, officials believe it does not run afoul of the law that bars cities from choosing one religion or religious group over another, City Manager Leon Churchill has said.
Interim City Attorney Dan Sodergren is scheduled to talk to the council about the issue in closed session at the council’s next meeting in August. The law allows for the council to privately discuss potential lawsuits.
Councilman Steve Abercrombie sees nothing wrong with how the council handles the invocation.
“We’ve all agreed that we have an open policy of whoever wants to come,” he said. “We’re not establishing a religion. We’re just allowing people to come and express their feelings.”
"As consumers cut back, businesses are scrambling. 14 brands you know -- from an NHL hockey team to Obama's suit maker -- that are hitting the skids.
The president's suit maker needs a bailout
Not even having ultra-dapper President Obama as a customer could help Hartmarx. The Chicago-based clothing maker declared bankruptcy in January, just after the president wore its suits for his inauguration and election night attire.
The company listed between $100 million and $500 million in assets and liabilities, and noted in its filing a "substantial decline in discretionary apparel purchases by consumers and by the company's retail customers."
Established in 1872, Hartmarx makes business, casual and golf clothes for its own brands -- including Hart Schaffner Marx, Palm Beach and Racquet Club -- and has exclusive rights to market under other luxury brands -- including Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry men's tailored clothing, Ted Baker, Pierre Cardin and Perry Ellis.
Currently, the brands look to survive under the guidance of British equity firm Emerisque, which bid $128.4 million for Hartmarx"
There were a few established cities in and around Tracy, way back when. Ellis for one. I think San Joaquin County is one of the oldest counties in California.
I think the TP used another of their phrases that have earned them a spot on newspapers hall of shame; another typical use-phrase that will never get them a journalistic integrity award:
'someone said that someone said that someone said that someone said that someone said little, if any'.
I've exaggerated a little, but still it was vauge and seems typical of today's tabloid that we've come to expect.
California government is a "beast"?
Are you anti-government too?
Just askin.
I wonder if the last two commenter's have never read the Constitution of the United States of America?
No believers and non believers has the right to "intimitate" other religion, each should be respected.
"Do not take the name of the Lord in Vain..."
Could be two ways of looking at it, in anger or self vanity to justify actions? Do not use God as an excuse.
You're absolutely right and it's not like they can't go down there to volunteer if they wanted. Only a few people volunteered to sign up and I don't see a reason for the Tracy Press to punish them for that.
Yes, I also noticed that picture on the front page of the Tracy Press attacking those who volunteered and trying to turn this around as something negative? Hmmmm.
But I am not going ban hammers because they can kill people when used in the wrong way.