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Parkersburg wrestles with team’s biblical slogan

Parkersburg News and Sentinel photo by Jeff Baughan Trudy Chichester was one of many wearing her Parkersburg South wrestling team T-shirt to Tuesday's meeting of the Wood County Board of Education.
Parkersburg News and Sentinel photo by Jeff Baughan
Trudy Chichester was one of many wearing her Parkersburg South wrestling team T-shirt to Tuesday’s meeting of the Wood County Board of Education.

 

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A controversy concerning wrestling T-shirts and a Bible verse led to some heated comments Tuesday evening and more than a few fingers pointing in blame.

Two weeks ago Superintendent Pat Law ordered a Bible verse painted over in the Parkersburg South High School gymnasium and removed from a PSHS wrestling team web site. The verse has been used as the team’s slogan for years, but the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation recently objected to the verse’s use on team T-shirts, saying it was brought to the group’s attention by a local complaint.

Dozens of people attended Tuesday’s Wood County Board of Education meeting wearing navy blue versions of the South wrestling shirt. About a half-dozen addressed the board during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Also attending was David Foggin, a Parkersburg South teacher who has been on administrative leave for more than a month due to an ongoing investigation by Wood County Schools. Foggin was suspended for four days in mid-March after he made a post on his Facebook page seemingly making fun of a student organization for straight, gay and lesbian students, the PSHS Gay-Straight Alliance.

Foggin’s suspension was not listed as a discussion topic or action item at Tuesday’s meeting, but his name came up in some comments by the public. Foggin did not address the board.

Law on Tuesday presented a brief timeline on the T-shirt controversy but said he believed the situation had been resolved. Law said after receiving the letter he sought legal counsel and was told “it was very clearly a violation of the separation of church and state and we had to make some changes.”

Law said Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Wharton, who represents the school board, and local attorney Bill Merriman, who was contacted by the parents of a South wrestler, reviewed the case and looked at options. Law said the school has restarted a student Christian athletes organization and students are allowed to wear the T-shirts, but they cannot be part of the team’s official uniform.

Board member Jim Fox argued there was no issue with the T-shirts and the wrestlers never should have been asked to not wear them…

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