Great Falls to fight prayer ban

Town Council seeks to reverse court order against using Jesus' name

By Denyse Clark The Herald

GREAT FALLS -- The Great Falls Town Council voted unanimously this week to appeal the recent federal appeals court decision that upheld a ban barring any mention of Jesus Christ in council prayers. The council will seek a hearing before a full bench of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., Great Fall Mayor H.C. "Speedy" Starnes said. That court's decision reached on July 22 was made by a panel of four judges.

"We have a good case and need to continue to go forward," Starnes said. "The majority of people in town expect this from us."

The council will receive legal assistance from the Atlanta law firm, Troutman and Sanders. A former Virginia solicitor, William Hurd, has agreed to work on the case for free.

Darla Wynne, 40, the Wiccan high priestess who sued the town in 2001 over its prayer policy, now says it's ridiculous this case has received so much attention. The real issue is not as much about prayer as it is the behavior of the council toward her and her religious practices, she said. Wynne said she had expected the council to appeal the recent ruling.

"They vowed to take it all the way to the Supreme Court," she said.

The dispute between Wynne and the council began in 1999 over an issue of "crack and bumper stickers," she said.

Wynne attended a council meeting to complain about a drug dealer after a street confrontation, she said. She arrived early at the meeting and some townspeople noticed her truck with numerous Wicca-related bumper stickers, including a pentagram and a sticker that read: "Freedom of Religion Means All Religions."

Wynne was asked about her religion and explained she was a Wiccan high priestess.

For the next six months, the council's prayers were specifically directed at her, she said. Council members' prayers included phrases such as, "... pray in the name of Jesus Christ that all the citizens of Great Falls find God."

"The original message has been lost. I wanted to stop the bad behavior of the council toward me," Wynne said. "It wasn't about prayer but everything that went along with it."

Wynne's attorney, Herbert Buhl of Columbia, said Great Falls officials have the right to petition for an appeal.

"I believe the district court and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals were correct on the facts and the law," Buhl said. "When the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals turns them down, they'll file with the Supreme Court."

2001 lawsuit

In August 2001, Wynne filed a federal lawsuit to stop the use of prayers to a specific deity, namely, Jesus Christ. Wynne claimed the prayers violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie agreed. In an order issued in August 2003, she prohibited the council from using "the name of a specific deity associated with any one specific faith or belief in prayers given at Town Council meetings."

In December, S.C. Attorney General Henry McMasters filed a brief in the federal appeals court stating that he did not believe the Great Falls Town Council's practice of reciting Christian-specific prayers before meetings was in violation of the constitution.

Wynne said numerous threats have been made to her life and her property has been vandalized, forcing her to install surveillance cameras around her home. Personal expenses from vandalism to Wynne's property has cost her more than $30,000, she said.

Since 2001, Wynne's lawsuit has cost the town of Great Falls about $25,000 in legal expenses.

"The council was using their Christian faith to promote their bad behavior," Wynne said. "An issue over crack and bumper stickers shouldn't be a Supreme Court matter. It shouldn't have been in appellate court."

Denyse Clark • 329-4069

dclark@heraldonline.com