Opinion
To participate in future surveys, please click here.
November 8, 2009
Question:
If Forsyth County loses its fight for sectarian prayer to open government meetings, it may have to help pay the legal expenses of the winning side. Should taxpayers have to pay for such losses?
Response:
NO: 40% -- YES: 60% - Total Responses - 151
'No' Responses
Absolutely not. County officials should come to their senses.
Jan Smith, 27104
Enough foolish lawsuits; why should I have to pay because some goof decides to sue the county? Besides, we have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
Tony Young, 27023
I can hardly afford my house and expenses related to it right now. How on earth can I pay for welfare, poor peoples' medical expenses and this? Please explain.
Judy Neese, 27104
I think that each group should pay their own legal fees: Forsyth County what it costs to defend and the group wanting to end the prayer whatever it costs them to fight for what they want.
Heather G. Delp, 27292
If any side of this debate wishes to sue Forsyth County over this issues, they should be more than prepared to pay their legal fees -- not we taxpayers who are on, I am sure, differing sides of this dispute. What an absurd law!
Joel Harrison, 27127
If these commissioners keep fighting a losing battle, the taxpayers should not have to pay.
Mike Sears, 27043
… but we could pray about it.
Bart Johnston, 27009
It was my understanding the county was being represented for free. Taxpayers have much more important things to spend money on.
Steve Shore, 27028
It's ridiculous that the county is taking this so far; just follow the rules and we won't have to pay more money for our government making mistakes.
Tom Moser, 27106
It's ridiculous that we are even in a fight for this to begin with. If any individual doesn't want to say a prayer, he doesn't have to, but he should not be able to dictate what others do.
John Llewellyn, 27023
Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers would say no. And so do I.
Beth Premo, 27106
Let the commissioners who decided to keep up this fight open their checkbooks and pay for it themselves. Our forefathers wanted separation of church and state for good reason.
Edward Potts, 27284
Let the county commissioners who voted to let this go forward pay the bill.
Andrew Filipowski, 27045
It looks like we need a new country. If this is actually true, we may need to once again fight for our religious freedom. We need another tea party, too.
Wes Patterson, 27106
No way, no how, should I as a taxpayer have to pay legal expenses for fighting to have sectarian prayer.
Anne Hodges, 27101
Not only should they not have to pay, but one should also be able to have a prayer before a meeting.
Davidene Hayes, 27127
Our taxes are paying enough; people are out of work and bills keep coming.
Ken Hoglund, 27104
Pass the cost on to those who want to come and pray.
Sherri Goode, 27103
Separate church and state. Period. No questions asked. They were smarter over 200 years ago.
Buzz Ellis, 27127
Taxpayers should never have to pay the "religionist" bills to start with.
Andrew Leslie, 27021
The county is a government entity bound by the rule of law. Why should taxpayers pay for such a foolish indulgence of some politicos trying to generate a platform from which they can rail?
Robin Dyer, 27030
The ACLU is on the other side. Let it pay. I have no love for this organization. The ACLU is always trying to ban that which is good and moral. I say that the ACLU should be banned.
Pat Lane, 27023
‘Yes' Responses
If our elected officials feel something is this important, then they need to take a stand. That is what we elected them for. Sometimes the consequences are not what we hope for.
Patricia Stockmeister, 27103
I don't care who gets the bill. All I know is that no prayer of any kind is appropriate before any governmental meeting. Let's stop wasting time and money on this nonsense.
Tom Lyng, 27101
It is unbelievable that we have to fight to have sectarian prayer in the first place -- the majority is for having them, but we don't want to hurt the little feelings of the others, now do we? Absolutely ridiculous.
Tom Sanders Jr., 27040
If the county makes the decision to fight on the issue and loses, clearly it is on the taxpayers' dime. Who else would pay?
Bob Lohmeyer, 27107
Doesn't all money spent by the country come from taxes collected? The lesson here may be to pick your battles carefully.
Mark Haynes, 27106
But it shouldn't have even come to this. There should be no sectarian prayer to open government meetings. Let's not forget the separation of church and state.
Sandy Tysinger, 28659
I think anything should open with prayer, period. I think people should be able to pray whenever and wherever they want to.
Richard Sanders, 27360
If we elect county officials who are stupid enough to fight this suit, then we have to pay for it. I would rather pay for better schools or a new county library.
Robert Geyer, 27104
Officials are employed by the taxpayers, so the taxpayers should pay for their actions, but the whole idea is absurd. If one wants to pray, one should pray at home or silently.
Michael Hines, 27104
There were 151 responses.
To participate in future surveys, please fillout the form below completely and weigh in on the important current issues. We will not send you any other emails other than our weekly survey.
