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Show Council prayer to continue in Ft. Hts. By MARK EDD1NGTON Staff Writer FRUIT HEIGHTS Add Fruit Heights to the list of cities in south Davis County that have decided to defy the American Civil Liberties Union's warning against prayer in city council meetings. After 3rd District Court Judge J. Dennis Frederick's March 4 ruling prohibiting the Salt Lake City Council from opening their meeting with prayer, ACLU Executive Director Di-rector Michele Parish issued a written warning urging councils throughout Utah to comply with the ruling. Fruit Heights council members met last week and discussed council prayer. No formal vote was taken, but Mayor Blaine Nelson said the five-member council, which includes in-cludes one non-Mormon, were united in favoring to continue council coun-cil prayer until the Utah Supreme Court rules on council prayer. The Salt Lake City Council has appealed 3rd District Court Judge Dennis Frederick's decision to the state's highest court. Nelson said council prayers would continue unless the Supreme Court rules in favor of the 3rd District Court. "Obviously, if we became embroiled em-broiled in a lawsuit, we wouldn't spend taxpayer money arguing it. But for time being we will continue to conduct business as usual," Nelson said. "We will be a little more sensitive to people who pray in a different fashion. There will be invitations extended to people of diverse religions and backgrounds to come and offer a prayer or thought." Support for council prayer was not split along religious lines. Nelson said there were several non-Mormons non-Mormons in attendance who felt as strongly on the issue as the council did. "For the court to tell us we can't pray is almost an infringement of our freedoms and rights because, in addition to being elected officials, we are also obviously citizens. And all we're doing is to approach our role at the beginning of council meetings with prayer," Nelson added. Fruit Heights' position was bolstered by the opinion of city attorney, at-torney, Gary Sargent. Nelson said Sargent took the opinion the district court ruling had limited applicability applicabili-ty until the Supreme Court ruled otherwise. Most other city councils in central cen-tral and south Davis County have also elected to continue prayer until all appeals are exhausted. The lone exception is Woods Cross, where the practice has been discontinued while its legality is still under question. ques-tion. Woods Cross Mayor David Wright, Jr. had instructed city staff to remove prayer from the agenda until the Court resolves the issue. Wright told the Clipper last week he didn't want the city to be targeted in a lawsuit and have to spend taxpayer money defending what "at this point looks indefensible." indefensi-ble." Parish had applauded Wright's decision and reiterated the ACLU's warning to other municipalities to abide by Judge Frederick's ruling. |