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LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE /

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` ~ , ` ~,, Steve jBIOOn|/[h!e OlyDian I

Tumwater MayorRalphOsgood (right) is joined by council members Pete Kmet(from left), JerryMurphyand ~
Bruce Zeller and staff members for the opening Pledge of Allegiance. Not allmu~nlcipalitiesrecite the pledge `
before meetings. Lacey City Councilwill consider a propose|to begin doing so duringa meeting tonlght. !

If;i , r,.., ,-1r"/;I+", ,, to ,meeting on an unrelated matter in hers recommended that the full conn-
' It" y "'ul 1' 11 Lu "vuL' ,."late Sept ember ,and said she .was CH..startevery regular meeting withe
I 1 1 11 I -1 stunned when the council didn't recite pledge
{OQ3yWnetner tO recite the pledge of Allegiance at the be Regardless of the" world situation,
before its`meetinEs mmsaht tht pahoess rvmmh
council for the omission Clarkson said
.,, BY CHRISTIANHILL We right now are at war. and Iwas "It only takes a minute," he said.
TE OLYMPIAN " .. ` just shocked," she said Wednesday. ".It doesn't add anything to the agen-
" "This is an officialmeeting of a gov da in terms of time."
LACEY - The City Council, re- ernment position, and it should be Reciting the pledge is. a corn,mon
sponding to a citizen complaint, will started with the Pledge of Allegiance. occurrence in school classrooms, but
decide tonight whether to begin its ... That's the way 1 feel about it." not so common among local govern-
meetings with the Pledge of Aile- Deputy Mayor Virgil Clarkson ing bodies. |
glance. agreed and brought the issue to a City --'-_-"
Elaine Hart attended a council Council committee. Committee mem- See PLEDGE,Page AZ

Continued from Page One__
The county commission and
Tumwater council start their
meetings with the pledge; Lacey
and Olympia do not~
At one time, the Lacey council
began its meetings that way, said
City Attorney Ken Ahlf, who has
held the. job since 1970.Ahlf said
he can't recall when or why coun-
cil members dropped the pledge,
but he said its recital likely fell
through the cracks during a
change in council leadership~
Tumwater Mayor Ralph Os-
good said the pledge is an im-
portant part of his City Council's
meeting agenda.
"For me, it sets the stage for a
more formal meeting, an official
meeting," Osgood said. "We're
there to do the people's business,
which is the most important busi-
ness we can do, and it reminds us
that we live in a country where
we can freely express our opin-
ions without fear.
The Olympia City Council be-
gan its meetings with the pledge
until about 10 years ago. The
council agreed during a retreat
to remove it from the agenda, said
Bob Jacobs, who served as may-
or from 1993 to 1999.
"It didn't seem to be serving a
useful purpose," he said. "You just
go through it and it didn't seem
-____,_~~~~
If you go
Lacey City Council will
consider a proposal to begin
meetings with the Pledge of
'Allegiance when thie group
meets at 7 p.m. today in
council chambers at City Hall,
420 College St. S.E.
_________~~___---___--~~.~
to have any impact."
Dropping the pledge drew no
protests, Jacobs said.
Old Glory and the state flag
are- displayed prominently and
with pride in the council cham-
bers, Mayor Mark Foutch said.
"Certainly, we honor those and
theyre there, but nobody has
brought this up," he said of the
pledge.
The Lacey councils pending
decision comes as the U.S.
Supreme Court prepares to hear
oral arguments in March on
whether the Pledge of Allegiance
violates the constitutional sepa-
ration between church and state.
In 2002, a federal appeals court
ruled that the pledge was uncon-
stitutional because it contained
the phrase "under God," which
Congress added in 1954.
Christian Hill covers the city of
Lacey and the military for The
Olympian. He can be reached'at
360~754-5427 or chhill@
olympia~gannett.com.