Frank Lay Won? Really?

H. Frank Lay - sittin' pretty

Outside the Federal Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, there emerged victorious Pace High School Principal H. Frank Lay, smiling and waving to the assembled crowd, most of which were; A) skipping school, B) skipping work or C) unemployed. Some of the supporters actually lived in Florida – others came across state lines to; A) get on TV, B) go to the beach on Friday, or C) find a job in Florida.

Question is – since Frank Lay was let off the hook by U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers (because there was not enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Lay intentionally violated the Admission of Liability he signed in December 2008) then preaching, proselytizing and prayer are back “in” at Pace High School, a.k.a., “the Baptist School.”

Right?

After 9 hours of debate and 10 witnesses, Judge Rodgers said no. She stood by her previous orders, upholding case law that prohibits prayer in school.

Rodgers made it clear that “the unconstitutional promoting of religion by public school officials will not be tolerated.”

The only thing that was saved was Principal H. Frank Lay’s butt spending quality time in jail bunking with “Dr. Dino” (Kent Hovind) behind bars.

And what of H. Frank Lay?

Now that he has stood up for his principles and fought the Evil ACLU, surely he, the truly awesome super-Christian, Frank Lay, will be leading prayers at Pace High – right?

Let’s hear from our intrepid leader:

Location: exterior, Federal Courthouse, Pensacola, Florida

Time: early evening, approximately, 6:45 pm, Sept. 17, 2009

- Dan Thomas (WEAR-TV3, Pensacola) – “Principal Lay, are you sorry that prayer took place in this incident?”

- Lay: “I’m not…”

- Horatio Mihet/Lay’s lawyer (forcibly interrupting before his client ends up back in court): “Let’s just focus on the victory today.”

Later, apparently, Frank Lay and his attorney, Julio Iglesias – I mean, Horatio Mihet (an attorney for the Falwell backed-Reverend Moon funded-Liberty Counsel), must have had a long talk, because by the time the channel 3 news came on at 10:00 pm, Principal Lay had all of the right responses – for someone who wants to stay out of court:

"We regret that it caused such consternation."

[Quotes from an interview with Lay and his attorney Mihet by Dan Thomas, reporter for WEAR-TV3, Pensacola. The interview took place in front of Lay’s home. Dan Thomas’ questions have been omitted, because they were all about the same – “Do you regret praying?  and ect... ~ Ekta]

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We will be honoring the consent decree.”

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We’re just excited about the fact that we’ve been exonerated by Judge Rodgers. We appreciate her graciousness and we intend to comply with the consent decree.”

Thomas question…

- Lay: “We regret the fact that it caused such consternation. We realize now that we have to honor the consent decree.”

The same Thomas question…

- Lay: “Well – [interruption by yelling of supporters] – ha, ha – Can you rephrase your question again?”

Again, the same Thomas question…

- Lay: “We regret what resulted from it” [the prayer].

Final Thomas question to Lay…

- Lay: “We will comply with the consent decree – there’ll be some adjustments made” [at Pace High School].

I’m no brain surgeon, but it seems to me like Principal Lay intends to “comply with the consent decree.”

Score one for the ACLU.

Now – some lingering questions:

1) Was Santa Rosa County public school transportation (buses, vans, etc.) used to transport Santa Rosa County students to the courthouse?

FritoLay, Inc. - supporter of school prayer?

2) Did Frito-Lay, Inc (or PepsiCo) authorize the use of their “Lay’s” trademark for use on printed and sold T-shirts supporting Frank Lay? Does Frito-Lay, Inc. (PepsiCo) support overturning the ban on prayer in public schools?

3) Did the students who elected to stay in school in Santa Rosa County and did not attend the federal courthouse protest & vigil receive proper education and supervision? Were they “singled out” or treated differently in any way?

4) Were Pace High School students told they could miss school (wink, wink) and support Lay with no consequences by their teachers or by the school staff?

Just asking.