Prayers end

City, county eliminate prayer before meetings
 
Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
To kick off 2019, both the Newcastle City Council and Weston County commissioners eliminated the invocation, or prayer, before meetings. 
Traditionally, both boards started every meeting with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Since the beginning of the year, both groups have discontinued the prayer that was said by one of their members, citing different reasons. 
“I think it has been going on as long as I’ve been town attorney — so over 30 years,” City Attorney Jim Peck said. “The only invocations I paid attention to were those said by George Butler. He used to say Native American prayers, Buddhist prayers and other invocations that were short prayers from all over the world. They were always interesting.” 
According to Peck and Mayor Deb Piana, the city discontinued the invocation before the meeting to comply with the separation of church and state. Weston County Commission Chairman Tony Barton said that the county discontinued the practice because several commissioners believed the invocation was an outdated tradition that should no longer be continued. 
“The long and short of it is, if you check in bigger cities like Casper, you will see there has been some big issues down there,” Peck said. “The legal position is that you should discontinue the invocation, and the reason is there have been some lawsuits filed about separation of church and state.” 
He noted that it is one of those areas that you can’t foresee being sued, and while it probably wouldn’t happen in Newcastle, the council decided to not take that risk. 
“It is one of those areas that it is fairly easy to avoid a potential lawsuit,” Peck said. “I think the mayor, with the backing of the council, decided to discontinue the invocation.” 
Piana said that it is “kind of a freedom-of-religion-type thing” and that it really comes down to the separation of church and state for her. 
“At one of the WAM (Wyoming Association of Municipality) meetings, we discussed the invocation and it was stated that you don’t have to have one, but if you do, you cannot refer to any specific religion or God,” Piana said. “It has to be general, and it is difficult to have one without Jesus Christ being mentioned.”
Rick Kaysen, WAM’s Executive Director, told the News Letter Journal the issue of prayer at meetings has not been brought to the attention of the association by any of its member municipalities.
“WAM’s current staff (senior member with 17 years, junior member 6 months, and me 2.2 years and 7 years on the WAM Board going back to 2009) have no recollection of any communiqués and no inquiries regarding prayer during that period of time,” he wrote in an emailed response to questions regarding the Newcastle City Council’s decision.
Kaysen said he also asked WAM’s legal counsel, who has been with the association since 2007, if he had been involved in any conversations about prayers and municipal meetings and was told that he had not. Kaysen said there are notes in a WAM record from 2001 that determined such prayers were legal.
“The notes share that there is nothing prohibiting prayer, that such practice is used by some municipalities, prayers are used by the Wyoming Legislature and Congress, and it would be an individual choice,” Kaysen informed the NLJ. Peck said that WAM certainly didn’t recommend that the city not have an invocation but it was made clear during a discussion at one of the conferences that there is a potential for issues. 
“It is possible a city would have to defend their actions and cost taxpayer dollars doing so,” Peck said. 
Kaysen, however, denied that the issue is even on WAM’s radar, and indicated that he has not heard of any concerns about the prayer or any lawsuit as a result of the practice.
“WAM has no knowledge of a municipality being sued. WAM has no knowledge of an abundance or a single inquiry of Wyoming citizens raising a concern over the practice. I share these responses as I have not had a single inquiry on either question or any discussion. WAM has received nothing from the State of Wyoming regarding this matter. WAM has received nothing from a national organization, from a committee, or other type of advisory (board). In summary on your inquiries — there have been no municipal inquiries, nothing from others, no meeting, no discussions,” Kaysen wrote.
Piana said that the council discontinued the practice of praying before meetings at the beginning of the year, the same time as the Weston County commissioners, although there was no coordination between the two entities. 
The Wyoming State Legislature continued the practice this year, even stopping when a late night session turned into an early morning session to offer a prayer before continuing.
“Just after midnight we adjourned for one minute, then gaveled back in for the 36th day. Usual morning routine of morning prayer and reciting of the pledge were conducted,” Rep. Hans Hunt, R- Newcastle, reported on social media when the legislature was held over for an extra day to complete their work on Feb. 28.