Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — “Oh Lord, we ask you for thine help this night, that we might deliberate in the best interest of this town,” prayed Chairman of the Limestone Board of Selectpeople Walter Elliot confidently during the Dec. 2 meeting. Many in attendance joined Elliot in closing the prayer with their own “Amen.”
This was the first selectpeople’s meeting that opened with a prayer since October when it was brought to the board’s attention by newly-elected member Wade McLaughlin the constitutionality of listing prayer among agenda items. Currently prayer remains part of the bylaws, as originally drafted, which state that the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer be offered immediately after the call-to-order of a meeting.
A motion to amend the bylaws was first placed before the selectpeople by McLaughlin during a Nov. 4 meeting. He cited a recommendation by Maine Municipal Association (MMA) legal services staff to replace a formal prayer with a moment of silence to conform to Constitutional requirements separating church and state.
“[Limestone selectpeople] are required to take an oath of office, and in that oath the first sentence is, ‘I, (NAME), do swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States.’ The First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution create a freedom of religion and also an Establishment Clause for this freedom for all,” McLaughlin wrote.
“The separation of church and state is, in my mind, a Constitutional absolute. I do not deny there is though a gray area of application at times. My thinking on this subject goes like this — we do not allow prayer, of any kind, in taxpayer-paid-for school, led by anyone, why would we sponsor a mandatory prayer inside of a taxpayer-paid-for municipal office. I do not think that anyone has committed an injustice at this time, however I am also aware of the potential harm it could bring to the town should this ever go to court,” McLaughlin added.
In the original motion, McLaughlin suggested that the agenda format be altered so that prayer be substituted by a moment of silence.
This substitution would follow the recommendation of MMA Staff Attorney Kristin Collins. In correspondence with Limestone Town Manager Donna Bernier, Collins wrote, “My recommendation, if the selectmen want to preserve a period of time for prayer, would be for the Selectmen to amend the bylaws, by vote, to replace the prayer period with a ‘moment of silence’ or ‘moment of reflection’ (if it is not removed entirely.) This will enable everyone to say a prayer on their own or not, as they prefer. The practice of leading the group in prayer should be avoided. Even though this could be done without clearly favoring one religion, it would be difficult to make sure that no particular prayer would violate the Establishment Clause.”
“Although I understand that this may be a rich tradition in town and very important to some officials and townspeople, I think the above suggestion is the only way to absolutely ensure that the Town is not brought into a legal challenge should this ever be raised as an issue,” Collins wrote.
The original motion to replace ‘prayer’ with ‘moment of silence’ was scheduled to be discussed by the selectpeople during their last meeting on Nov. 18 but was tabled to the Dec. 2 meeting due to the absence of a board member.
After much discussion before the Nov. 18 meeting, (the bylaws state that a bylaws change must be done before the beginning of a meeting), McLaughlin submitted a motion to amend his original motion, which suggested that the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer be spoken prior to the start of the meeting. The amended agenda format would list Pledge of Allegiance/Prayer as article one and the call to order of the meeting as article 2.
It was during the pre-meeting discussion regarding the proposed amendment to McLaughlin’s original motion that sparked lively discussion on Dec. 2.
“The bylaws say that we have to have a prayer post call-to-order,” McLaughlin explained to the full audience that gathered for the meeting. “MMA has said to us that it would probably not stand up under a legal challenge because of where the prayer is coming from and where the prayer is located in the meeting time wise,” he said.
“I’m not trying to eliminate the prayer, I was not trying to offend anybody in any way, shape or form, I do not want to see the prayer gone. What I would like to see is the avoidance of a situation where we would be in a position of being liable,” McLaughlin added.
Several members of the community stated that no one has challenged the town up to this point and questioned why the town should change their bylaws when no challenges have been made. McLaughlin cited the Constitution, stating that the Establishment Clause does not allow for any prayer within the meeting setting.
Community members then requested to know how each selectperson intended on voting.
Fred Pelletier stated his opposition to the motion. “I think it should be left alone and when somebody does address it as an issue, then we’ll resolve it,” he said. “You don’t fix something that’s not broken, and it’s not broken yet.”
Selectperson Mary Morin, who seconded McLaughlin’s motion to substitute a moment of silence for prayer, said, “It’s not that I want to get rid of the prayer, it’s not that I don’t believe in God. I’m basing [my decision on] what I see in front of me,” she said, referring to the recommendation of the MMA staff attorney.
Elliot expressed his support of the prayer. “Prayer is always a part of my life in everything I do, so for me, it’s fine the way it is, I have no problem with it,” he said. “Until it is challenged, there’s no reason to change it, and I have had several citizens come to me in the last week saying that they don’t want [prayer out of the meetings] and they want it the way it is; that is why it was put there.”
Selectperson Jim Leighton was also for keeping the prayer as it has been. “Things should stay the same,” he said, “we’re not having any problems. We’ve spent three meetings on this, we’ve got bigger issues in town,” he added.
Again, McLaughlin reminded the audience that he was not anti-religious, and that his reasoning for putting the motion fourth was in response to his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
One pro-prayer woman in the crowd suggested that Limestone stand up and show the rest of the nation how Limestone feels, asking “what are we, sheep being led to slaughter?”
Another woman vocalized her objection to the substitution of prayer with a moment of silence. “Now you’re asking God to leave the room; you’re not talking to him, you’re not praying to him,” she said. “You guys need all the prayers because this town hired you by voting you into your positions, and you’re letting the townspeople down,” she stated. “You’re not the Almighty up there; we can take you back out because we put you there to be our voice, because we’re telling you what our concerns are and you’re not listening to our concerns.”
McLaughlin’s motion to amend his original motion (which would result in the prayer being given before the start of the meeting) was voted down 1-4 with McLaughlin voting in favor.
McLaughlin’s motion to substitute a moment of silence for prayer was voted down 2-3 with McLaughlin and Morin in favor of the motion.
With just about twelve minutes of intense discussion behind them, the selectpeople proceeded with their meeting. An agreement with Cote Auto Repair, Inc. and Caldwell’s Auto, LLC for maintenance repair of town vehicles was approved.
In her manager’s report, Bernier reported that David King has been nominated to serve on the Loring Development Authority Board of Trustees. She also mentioned that a recent Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) audit regarding the Limestone Water and Sewer Department project went seemingly well.
During the elected officials’ report, McLaughlin asked Bernier if there was any additional information regarding the suggested downtown district agreed upon during the last meeting of the Limestone Downtown Revitalization Committee. Bernier informed McLaughlin that the individual she needed to speak with was the same person who did the CDBG audit; Bernier told McLaughlin that the conversation was very informative, though the woman suggested that the proposed district was much too large.
Leighton suggested to Bernier and members of the board that it would be beneficial for the town to put together some sort of TIF (Tax Increment Financing) package to encourage new businesses to locate in Limestone.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, it was suggested that a TIF package also be extended to businesses already established in Limestone and Leighton agreed with the importance of sprucing up existing businesses in the town.
Limestone Fire Chief Paul Durepo raised a question of protocol regarding the process of removing a selectperson from office. He referenced an altercation between selectperson McLaughlin and himself following the Nov. 18 meeting, during which Durepo expressed his opinion that prayer should be kept a part of the meetings.
“[McLaughlin] approached me after the meeting here at the town office and told me that I would never be allowed to speak at a selectperson’s meeting again, and that he would be going after my job like nothing that I have ever seen before in my life,” Durepo told the selectpeople. “I told him that he can’t take away my First Amendment rights and he can’t threaten me with my job; his response to that was, ‘I just did.’”
Durepo also said that McLaughlin followed him home and, despite being asked repeatedly to leave, McLaughlin remained.
“This kind of out-of-control selectpeople cannot exist,” Durepo stated.
Commenting on his actions, McLaughlin explained that his act of going to Durepo’s house and the reason why he would not leave was because it was an attempt to apologize.
McLaughlin denied comment regarding what was said during the events of that evening because, “I believe [Chief Durepo] took what I said out of context. I did not mean it with any maliciousness in the way that you have accepted it, and again I would apologize.”
