Constitution

By ELLEN LYON Staff Writer A church that ministers to gay and lesbian people will be invited to join the Washington County Council of Churches after council members decided Wednesday that the church met the membership requirements. "The decision has been made. Some people are uncomfortable with that decision but it has been made, in a very messy fashion as I expected it would," Rabbi Charles P. Rabinowitz, president of the Washington County Council of Churches, said at the end of the meeting.

Hagerstown-based National Little League on Sunday brought its membership together for the first time since the October election of a new board of directors. cont. from front page After a season of turmoil in which the membership dissolved the board, 10 new board members were elected Oct. 24, leaving five seats vacant. The new board introduced its officers, gave an update of the league's finances and reviewed its proposed constitution Sunday at the Funkstown Moose Lodge.

Md. Constitution does guarantee public schools To the editor: In the letter entitled, "Constitution doesn't guarantee us public schools," a Feb. 27 writer said "free public education isn't enunciated as a right in the Constitution of the United States of America. " Section I of Article VIII of the Constitution of Maryland says in its entirety, "The General Assembly, at its First Session after the adoption of this constitution, shall by Law establish throughout the State a thorough and efficient System of Free Public Schools; and shall provide by taxation, or otherwise, for their maintenance.

The principle of separation is one of America's greatest contributions to political thought. Responsible citizenship makes it important to identify myths to sort out intended and unintended distortions of fact. Myth 1: We don't have separation of church and state in America because those words do not appear in the Constitution. Baptist scholar Brent Walker points out that there are many words used in accepted constitutional interpretation that do not appear in the original document.

katec@herald-mail.com About 640,000 individuals become naturalized American citizens every year, said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Washington, D.C. It's not easy. Citizenship is not a right. It is not automatic. "It is something to be earned," Bentley said. Requirements include legal residence and good moral character, according to the agency's Web site at uscis.gov . Applicants must show that they are "attached" to the principles of the Constitution.

Is Rep. Jeffrey Coy's "time" in office done because he's resigned his post as a Pennsylvania legislator? Or does it extend to the end of the term the Franklin County, Pa., Democrat would have served if he hadn't resigned? That's the essence of an legal struggle now going on between Coy and Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert. Coy probably won't agree, but there are good reasons for the position Pappert is taking. Coy, an 11-term representative, resigned his seat on Sept.

My three favorite phrases are, in reverse order: No. 3. "What the Founding Fathers really said was ... " No. 2. "What the Founding Fathers were trying to say was ... " No. 1. "What the Founding Fathers meant to say was ... " I think it's really cool the way we can, two centuries hence, all travel back in time and place ourselves squarely in the Founding Fathers' respective lemons. The woman who's running for Senate in Nevada recently said if one reads the Founding Fathers' writings, it's clear they were conservative.