IRSD prayer suit draws plenty of attention

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

A civil-rights Web site called jewsonfirst.org first posted a story about the Dobriches’ situation on June 29, which has sparked the national interest that at least one school board member finds puzzling.

“We just don’t think it’s that big a deal,” School Board President Charles Bireley told the Coastal Point in a recent interview. “Certainly we haven’t done anything to give it national attention. I didn’t know that this was going to happen.”

The jewsonfirst.org story outlines the Dobriches’ ordeal from the 2004 Sussex High School graduation, where Pastor Jerry Fike delivered prayers in the name of Jesus that at least one Dobrich family member found offensive. It tells the story of the Dobriches moving upstate to escape local persecution and threats, and follows recent local and state stories written about the case.

Many bloggers and national news Web sites have since picked up the jewsonfirst.org story and have shone more light on the situation. A posting on Daily Kos, a blog maintained in California by 34-year-old El Salvador native Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, outlines the situation after the jewsonfirst.org story.

“The flashpoint for the initial dispute that has led those two families to flee for fear of violent attack was an alleged pattern of egregious violations of church state separation,” the Daily Kos posting reads.

The Dobriches’ complaint — which was filed jointly with an anonymous family — complains about prayer before board meetings, a teacher preaching one true religion, other teachers handing out Bibles in class, Bible Club students receiving preferential treatment, the 2004 graduation debacle and more.

The group Stop the ACLU — which picked up the story because of the ACLU’s early involvement — has received much of the attention on the Web, for attempting to publicize the Dobriches’ address earlier this year. That organization, which opposes the American Civil Liberties Union — a civil rights organization which worked with the Dobriches to find a lawyer but no longer has a presence in the case — ultimately published the address of people not involved in the suit.

“The Indian River School District deserves a standing ovation from us,” the Director of Stop the ACLU Nedd Kareiva wrote in a March 2 letter on www.stoptheaclu.org in which he attempted to disclose the Dobriches’ address. “I am pleased that we had an effect in this case. We have others we want to put up on the site to shame them but have not gotten around to it,” he added in another post, on patriotboy.blogspot.com, that bears his name.

Stop the ACLU representatives didn’t return two messages from the Coastal Point seeking comment for this story.

“I think (the posting with the address is) a transparent effort to try to harass my clients who are seeking to do nothing more than protect their constitutional rights,” said Thomas Allingham, a Wilmington attorney representing the Dobriches and the other family. “I think it’s destructive that they didn’t even manage to get the right person’s name, address or telephone number.

“I respect any organization’s free-speech rights (but) I don’t know what purpose is served,” by posting the address, added Jason Gosselin, an attorney defending the district. “I don’t want people harassing the Dobriches at home, just as I wouldn’t want people harassing board members at home. I think we need to be respectful.

However, most Web postings about the case — and most favor the Dobriches — don’t appear to attempt to harass any parties involved in the suit. They do find fault, though.

“In Indian River School District, Delaware, Christian parents and the school board repeatedly violated two Jewish families’ freedom of religion and then persecuted them further after they sued, to the point that one of the families moved away in fear,” reads a post on a blog maintained by Brent Rasmussen called “Unscrewing The Inscrutable.”

A chatter named Ketch, writing on a Christians Gone Wild message board on Indystar.org, said about the situation: “Apparently this lil’ town doesn’t really care what your faith is... as long as it’s Christianity. This could be completely understandable if the schools were private, but these are public (as long as your [sic] Christian?) schools.”

Despite the evident views of most of the postings — like the one above — attorneys on both sides of the case agree that it is important to promote discussion on such a volatile issue, although it likely won’t change the course of the Dobrich case.

“The issues in the Dobriches’ complaint (are) on topics people care a lot about on both sides of the aisle,” Gosselin said, adding that he feels that his clients acted within constitutional boundaries. “I hope everybody keeps the rhetoric in check. But as far as discussing the substance, that’s a good thing.

“It certainly doesn’t change the case from my client’s perspective,” Allingham said. But “that it’s finally getting attention is good. For it to get some public attention is likely to breed discussion on what I think are important issues.”