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OBSERVANCE page 8

make an issue of the incident. It
is better to approach the school
in January or February to make
sure the same thing does not
happen at the next holiday event.
"The battles become extreme-
ly emotional at this time (in
December) and little is accom-
plished," she said.
* Try to approach the teachers
and other administrators in a
problem-solving manner.
"It goes a long way to say that
you'll work with them to solve

the problem, rather than to come
at them and expect a solution,"
she said.
* T ry to involve an interfaith
coalition. A group voice is
stronger than one individual
voice, especially if the group's
members don't share the same
faith, she said.
"There are plenty of faithful
Christians who think the home
and the church are the places for
the indoctrination of religion,"
she said. ❑

School Prayer
Resolution Addressed

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10

S

ome members of the
Oakland County Board of
Commissioners hoped to
send a statement to law-
makers voicing the board's sup-
port of voluntary prayer in public
school.
But on Dec. 8, the board failed
to pass a voluntary prayer reso-
lution. The measure fell short by
two votes but the fact that it even
appeared on the agenda angered

Garfield said. "It's important to
let the president and Congress
know how we feel."
While a total of five commis-
sioners voted against the mea-
sure and 11 favored it, nine
commissioners were not present
at the time the votes were cast.
The proposal, which needed 13
votes to pass, stated: "The
Oakland County Board of
Commissioners strongly believes
that reinstitution of voluntary
prayer in the public schools is one
step in the restoration of religious
choice guaranteed by . the
Constitution and will assist in
moving this nation toward those
religious rights and beliefs upon
which the nation was founded."
The resolution parallels a na-
tional trend by some Republicans

Larry Pernick and
Shelley Goodman Taub

some commissioners and com-
munity activists.
"We don't do schools," said
Shelley Goodman Taub, a
Bloomfield Hills Republican who
voted against the measure.
Southfield Democrats Larry
Pernick and Lillian Jaffe Oaks,
the other Jewish commissioners,
also voted against it.
"Schools are not part of our ju-
risdiction," Ms. Taub said. "Aside
from the fact that Pm against gov-
ernment-led prayer, I don't feel
it's our place to tell legislators
what to do or how to do it."
John Garfield, a Rochester
Hills Republican and co-sponsor
of the measure, disagrees. He re-
members a time in the late 1980s
when the commission voted on a
resolution against apartheid.
'We should take stands," Mr.

who support a constitutional
amendment that would allow
school prayer.
Mr. Garfield said allowing stu-
dents a moment of silence to pray
in school, as he did growing up,
strengthens family values.
Before county commissioners
voted, David Gad-Harf, the ex-
ecutive director of the Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit, told the
board he though the resolution
was unnecessary.
"If a student wants to pray to
himself or herself during the

SCHOOL PRAYER page 19

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