The King City Council will review a draft today of its limited public-forum policy regarding religious flags being flown at the city’s Veteran’s Memorial before it holds a public hearing about the policy later tonight, a city official said.
Attorneys for the council will discuss the policy with the council during a closed session at 3 p.m. at City Hall on South Main Street, City Manager John Cater said on Friday.
If the council “likes what they see of the limited public-forum policy during the closed session,” then the city may provide copies of it to the public at the hearing, Cater said.
The Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz., is preparing the policy, Cater said.
Joe Infranco, a defense fund lawyer and Walter “Wrennie” Pitt, the city’s attorney, will answer questions from people who will attend the public hearing at 6 p.m. at King Elementary School, a city notice publicizing the meeting, said.
Stephen James, an organizer of the King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation, said he will ask the attorneys questions such as what groups will be allowed to fly a flag at the site, how long can a flag be flown there, which religious flags will be allowed to be flown and when will the policy begin.
“These are things that we need know,” James said.
The attorneys may answer some of those questions, Cater said.
The foundation was started on Nov. 8, a week after the King City Council unanimously voted to approve a policy that would eventually let a Christian flag fly again at the Veteran’s Memorial in the city’s Central Park as a part of a display of religious flags recognized by the U.S. military.
A spokeswoman for the Alliance Defense Fund said that Infranco has declined to answer questions about the policy until after the hearing. Pitt didn’t return a phone call on Friday asking for comment.
The foundation is still considering filing a complaint with the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings against the city if the majority of the people at the hearing object to the city’s policy, James said.
The foundation argues that under state law the council acted erroneously when it approved the limited public forum policy because no lawsuit had been filed against the city regarding the Christian flag being flown at the memorial.
The dispute began this summer when a veteran who lives in King complained about the Christian flag at the memorial. In mid-August, the council and city attorney received letters from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
Both groups urged the council to remove the flag, saying that the flag was a violation of the First Amendment.
On Sept. 15, the council voted 3-1 to take down the flag, on Pitt’s advice. More than 5,000 people rallied in King on Oct. 23, urging the city council to return the flag to the memorial.
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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