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The next commish?
He brought American ballplayers to Cuba and beat back the umpires' union. Now some say he is the natural to take over the helm of major league baseball -- someday.
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Just how far will George W. reach out to minorities? As far as he can without alienating any bigots.
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[10/06/99]

Homeboy in the 'hood
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By Jake Tapper
[10/05/99]

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Monday, families and friends of Daniel Rohrbough and Kelly Fleming filed suit in federal district court in Denver charging the district violated their right to free speech and religion by removing 4-by-4-inch art tiles they had created with religious symbols and slogans. They are represented by local attorneys affiliated with the Rutherford Institute, the Virginia group behind the Jones sexual harassment case.

The suit does not seek damages, but the families will seek attorney's fees. On its Web site, the Rutherford Institute is also requesting donations to assist in the case. The goal is to get the religious tiles placed inside the school.

Several key facts in the case are undisputed by either side. Everyone agrees that throughout the summer, the school encouraged students, faculty, families and community members to paint 4-by-4 ceramic tiles, to be displayed around the school, as a way to take part in the $1.2 million post-shooting restoration process. About 1,500 new tiles were painted and hung this summer, joining 500 placed over the past three years.

The tiles were hung by community volunteers, supervised by a staff member from the school, according to school district spokesman Rick Kaufman. "There were some circumstances that occurred that some of them got up that shouldn't have gotten up," he said. Kaufman declined to comment further, citing the pending litigation. Some tiles were rejected up front, because of content deemed inappropriate, and about 80 more were chiseled off the walls later.

The suit describes several of the disputed tiles. One contained the phrase "Jesus Christ is Lord," and another was inscribed with the following passage from Isaiah: "There is no peace says the Lord for the wicked." Several other tiles named in the suit included symbols of crosses and Rohrbough's name.

The suit charges that "[participants] could not place dates, names of their slain children, initials or religious symbols on their tiles because of fear of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union."

Kaufman acknowledged that the district imposed those restrictions, but disagreed about the reason. He said religious symbols were forbidden because of clear church-state violations, not because of ACLU threats. The ACLU was actually mentioned by a parent during a lengthy meeting with school officials, he said.

One news report Thursday said that about 80 of the tiles contained graphic depictions of violence or referenced the tragedy. However, Kaufman said that such images were in the minority, and that they chiefly involved religious symbols or names and dates.

Next page | "So what if there's a few religious things on the wall?"