School funding
meeting devolves into attacks on GSA

A meeting to discuss school construction devolved into a debate over a gay and lesbian club operating at Lake City High School in Mica Flats, Idaho. "I have far greater concerns than buildings," Hayden resident Jim Connell said. "Our students are being taught that the gay lifestyle is all right." Connell was referring to the Gay Straight Alliance Club that has been formed at the school. Coeur d'Alene school superintendent Harry Amend attempted to keep the Thursday night meeting focused on an upcoming levy referendum, but the discussion about the club would not go away. "How much money would fund the GSA?" asked Phil Thompson. Amend replied that no money from the levy would fund any clubs. "I am a Christian, an educator for 37 years, and I witness to kids," Amend said. "My son is a minister, I have very strong religious beliefs. But I have to obey the law. Allowing the GSA falls clearly within federal and state law." Connell countered that sodomy is against the law in Idaho and that the club constitutes passive approval of illegal activity. Jim Hollingsworth of Coeur d'Alene felt that encouraging the GSA is encouraging students to be child molesters. "We need to break down the barrier," Hollingsworth said. "We don't want hate. It's imperative that we take a stand as a community to discourage deviant behavior." "This isn't about religion, it's about a lifestyle choice," Martin Howser said. "I think you need to revisit this. This is a very dangerous lifestyle. You could lose your levy over this." Amend said the long-range planning committee would go back to the drawing board if the levy failed on March 14. (AP)