ACLU wants prayer banner removed ASAP

CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - The ACLU is demanding that a controversial prayer banner at Cranston High School West be removed immediately, but Cranston's mayor insists it cannot come down until a dispute over legal fees is resolved.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that the mural that has hung in the Cranston West auditorium for decades be removed because it violates the Constitutional separation of church and state.  The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of atheist student Jessica Ahlquist.

Instead of removing the banner, however, Cranston school officials decided to cover it up while they decided whether to appeal.  Last week, the school committee voted not to appeal the judge's ruling, but the covered-up banner still hangs at Cranston West.

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung tells Eyewitness News that school and city officials will meet next week to discuss the ACLU's request for $173,000 in legal fees related to the prayer banner lawsuit.  Until then, the mayor says, the banner will remain intact.

But the ACLU argues that the legal fees are a completely separate matter.  The group's executive director, Steven Brown, released a scathing statement Wednesday that reads in part:

"Under the circumstances, it is unclear to us whether the City, separate from the School Committee, is genuinely thinking about appealing, or whether this is an attempt by some petty officials to dredge up a new excuse to avoid complying with the Court’s decision"

Mayor Fung took exception to the ACLU's comments.

"One hundred seventy three thousand dollars to the taxpayers is not petty," the mayor told Eyewitness News.  "[The ACLU] can make whatever allegations that they want."