Post by AuntieSocial on Nov 26, 2003 12:54:12 GMT -5
Judge Kent did not cause 9/11
Click here to read the article on the original site
By: RICK CASEY
Published: November 19, 2003
Publication: Houston Chronicle
U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE Sam Kent of Galveston wants it known that he does not hate God.
In fact, he's a devout Methodist. And he teaches Sunday school.
What's more, he's a life-long Republican, nominated for the bench by Sen. Phil Gramm.
The reason Kent wants this known is that some right-wing Web sites are painting him as an agent of Satan, and Tuesday their poisonous claims spilled into Houston's air waves.
A site called "issuesineducation.org," for example, blames Kent for the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center:
"So when people ask where was God when this tragedy was happening? (sic) The answer is, He doesn't come in when He's KICKED OUT!"
It goes on: "In May of 1995, U.S. District Judge Sam Kent of Texas ruled that any student mentioning the name of Jesus in a graduation prayer would be sentenced to a 6-month jail term. The judge then said, `Anyone who violates this order, no kidding, is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this Court gets through with them.' "
The legal controversy in question was the famous Santa Fe School District case.
Kent said his office received some calls Tuesday morning from angry citizens who heard a similar account from talk show host Pat Gray of KPRC, who apparently took it off some Web site.
"I talked to Pat Gray about it," said Kent. "I was bothered that someone of that stature wouldn't call and confirm some of this."
Gray did not return phone and e-mail messages Tuesday.
If Gray had done a bit of research, he would have found that Kent did say something along the lines of the quote about what would happen if someone violated his order.
But he also would have found that the rest of the report was utter nonsense.
For example, at the time he made what Kent now admits was a rashly worded statement, there was no order to violate. The families of four students were asking him, among other things, to enjoin the district from allowing a prayer at graduation ceremonies the next month, and one of the lawyers asked how he would enforce such an injunction.
After holding hearings, however, Kent ruled that students could engage in public prayer at graduation and football games as long as the prayers were non-sectarian and non-proselytizing.
But that wasn't good enough for the school board. It wanted students to be able to engage in proselytizing and sectarian public prayers at football games.
It appealed, though lawyers reportedly warned an appeal could backfire.
It was a bad bet. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the students couldn't pray for the crowds at football games, though they could at graduation. The Supreme Court agreed.
The appeals court also awarded legal fees to the plaintiffs, something Kent had refused to do. The amount: about $250,000.
For Kent to be held responsible for the ruling is especially ironic, given the tenor of his order in which he denied damages to the plaintiffs.
Responding to a complaint that a teacher, after sending home a permission slip, had the class sing the "Johnny Appleseed" song ("Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord ... ") before lunch, Kent wrote: "To suggest that this song establishes a religion is simply asinine."
At another point he discusses a note sent home by a new teacher giving six tips for raising happy, successful children, such as eating together. The note also mentioned a poll indicating that students with a "strong religious background" are the most successful in school.
For a parent to contact the ACLU and "make a federal case" of the letter, Kent wrote, "was so unreasonable as to be simply bizarre, in light of the actual content of the letter."
Spoken like a true Republican Methodist.
Click here to read the article on the original site
By: RICK CASEY
Published: November 19, 2003
Publication: Houston Chronicle
U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE Sam Kent of Galveston wants it known that he does not hate God.
In fact, he's a devout Methodist. And he teaches Sunday school.
What's more, he's a life-long Republican, nominated for the bench by Sen. Phil Gramm.
The reason Kent wants this known is that some right-wing Web sites are painting him as an agent of Satan, and Tuesday their poisonous claims spilled into Houston's air waves.
A site called "issuesineducation.org," for example, blames Kent for the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center:
"So when people ask where was God when this tragedy was happening? (sic) The answer is, He doesn't come in when He's KICKED OUT!"
It goes on: "In May of 1995, U.S. District Judge Sam Kent of Texas ruled that any student mentioning the name of Jesus in a graduation prayer would be sentenced to a 6-month jail term. The judge then said, `Anyone who violates this order, no kidding, is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this Court gets through with them.' "
The legal controversy in question was the famous Santa Fe School District case.
Kent said his office received some calls Tuesday morning from angry citizens who heard a similar account from talk show host Pat Gray of KPRC, who apparently took it off some Web site.
"I talked to Pat Gray about it," said Kent. "I was bothered that someone of that stature wouldn't call and confirm some of this."
Gray did not return phone and e-mail messages Tuesday.
If Gray had done a bit of research, he would have found that Kent did say something along the lines of the quote about what would happen if someone violated his order.
But he also would have found that the rest of the report was utter nonsense.
For example, at the time he made what Kent now admits was a rashly worded statement, there was no order to violate. The families of four students were asking him, among other things, to enjoin the district from allowing a prayer at graduation ceremonies the next month, and one of the lawyers asked how he would enforce such an injunction.
After holding hearings, however, Kent ruled that students could engage in public prayer at graduation and football games as long as the prayers were non-sectarian and non-proselytizing.
But that wasn't good enough for the school board. It wanted students to be able to engage in proselytizing and sectarian public prayers at football games.
It appealed, though lawyers reportedly warned an appeal could backfire.
It was a bad bet. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the students couldn't pray for the crowds at football games, though they could at graduation. The Supreme Court agreed.
The appeals court also awarded legal fees to the plaintiffs, something Kent had refused to do. The amount: about $250,000.
For Kent to be held responsible for the ruling is especially ironic, given the tenor of his order in which he denied damages to the plaintiffs.
Responding to a complaint that a teacher, after sending home a permission slip, had the class sing the "Johnny Appleseed" song ("Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord ... ") before lunch, Kent wrote: "To suggest that this song establishes a religion is simply asinine."
At another point he discusses a note sent home by a new teacher giving six tips for raising happy, successful children, such as eating together. The note also mentioned a poll indicating that students with a "strong religious background" are the most successful in school.
For a parent to contact the ACLU and "make a federal case" of the letter, Kent wrote, "was so unreasonable as to be simply bizarre, in light of the actual content of the letter."
Spoken like a true Republican Methodist.
