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Rowan County Must Pay ACLU Legal Fees In Prayer Lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case about public prayer at Rowan County commission meetings. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Rowan County has been ordered to pay almost $300,000 in legal fees in a lawsuit surrounding prayer at the start of public meetings. 

The lawsuit dates back to 2013 when three residents sued the county commission over the public prayer that opened meetings. The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The suit wound its way through federal courts until an appeals court ruled in 2017 that the manner in which prayers were delivered was unconstitutional. A judge with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that because the Board of Commissioners rotated sectarian prayers amongst themselves, no one else was permitted to offer an invocation.

The Salisbury Post reports that the court ordered the county to pay the ACLU's legal fees, amounting to $285,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take on the case, allowing the lower court ruling to stand. 

County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved the payment, effectively ending the lawsuit.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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