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November 13, 1998/ 24 Cheshvan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 8
Gilbert mayor, ACLU lock horns
ANNE BRADY
Associate Editor
Gilbert Mayor Cynthia Dunham met this week with Arizona Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Eleanor Eisenberg to attempt to hammer out a solution to the ongoing controversy over the mayor's annual proclamation of Bible Week in the town.
Unfortunately, not much was accomplished at the Nov. 11 meeting, according to Eisenberg.
"Essentially, I was proposing alternatives to Bible Week, and they (Gilbert officials) were proposing alternative language (in the Bible Week proposition)," said Eisenberg. "We did not reach an accord, and I am not optimistic. I left the door open, though."
She said she would wait "until the last possible minute" to file a lawsuit seeking an injunction to block the proclamation, which Dunham is now scheduled to sign on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Originally, Dunham had been scheduled to sign and read the proclamation at the Gilbert Town Council meeting on Nov. 10, but she agreed to take it off the agenda for a week and hear public comment on the issue after the ACLU threatened to sue.
At the Nov. 10 meeting, there were speakers for and against Bible Week.
Eisenberg said the proclamations violate the principle of the separation of church and state, and both the Arizona and U.S. constitutions.
This year's proclamation did leave out language adopted last year that urged residents of Gilbert to read the Bible. But Eisenberg said the resolution still promotes religion, which is unconstitutional.
She added that the ACLU's opposition to Bible Week has prompted threatening phone calls to her offices.
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