Today in history: Bible to be read in all city schools | News

Beginning immediately after the Christmas holidays and on the first day of the resumption of school, the Bible will be read as a part of the opening exercises in each room of all the city schools. This was the decision made yesterday after a meeting of officers of the various units of the Parent Teacher Association with the principals of the ward schools and Supt. C.W. Crandell. The action taken Monday afternoon were merely a ratification of plans formulated last spring when, at the suggestion of the Cadillac Ministerial Association, the Parent Teacher Association took the matter up and decided on a course of action. The matter was not acted upon during the summer recess, but recently the Board of Education sanctioned the plan. A resolution was passed yesterday favoring voluntary reading of the Bible without comment by all teachers unless they have a personal prejudice when this belief will be respected. The passages to be read will be selected from portions of the Bible which make no allusion to sectarianism or which would be so translated. At a meeting of the ministers held in the Y.M.C.A. last evening and which was addressed by Dr. W.S. Fleming, a resolution was adopted by pastors recommending the reading of the Bible in the schools. This resolution was passed before the ministers had been apprised that their earlier request had been favorably acted upon and would be put into operation. The resolution adopted by the Ministerial Association reads as follows: “Believing it to be the right and duty of the State to do what is necessary to promote public morals, especially to give to the young the moral training necessary to good citizenship and also to give them those fundamental principles of religion about which there can be no prevailing immorality, and, Believing the Bible to be the source of all moral and religious ideals, therefore we a group of citizens of Cadillac hereby respectfully request the School Board to give the daily reading of the Bible followed by the Lord’s Prayer an honored place during the opening exercises in every school room in the Cadillac Public Schools using passages selected from the Bible by local pastors.” This petition was also signed by 24 representatives from the various churches, including the Presbyterian Church. Dr. A.W. Johnstone, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, was in Detroit attending a meeting of workers in the New Era Movement. The ministers also went on record as opposing professional boxing matches in Cadillac. The expression was asked by an official of the American Legion who attended the meeting. The association thanked the service man for his courtesy in asking their stand. It was brought out in the discussion that the Legion was merely as a mask for such activities.

Two men, both of Muskegon, and a minor youth pleaded guilty Friday to taking brood stock from the Harrietta Fish Hatchery. As a result of the findings in Judge Frank Miltner’s 84th District Court, the three men were each assessed $100 fine, $50 court costs and sentenced to 90 days in jail on misdemeanor charges. In addition, the three were ordered to pay a total of $2,500 in liquidated damaged to the state for the theft of the 251 pounds of fish taken from the hatchery, officials reported. That averages out to $10 per pound of fish confiscated, the maximum under state law, and constitutes the largest fine issued on a conservation violation, to the knowledge of District 6 Enforcement Chief Willis Copeland. Copeland reported that a van type vehicle, confiscated at the scene of the theft, has also entered the picture and the state could petition the court for a decision on the van. Copeland said the hatchery had been raided six times in the past two weeks with a loss of an estimated 1,600 pounds of fish. A 24-hour watch was started a week ago and the three men were arrested. Copeland expressed deep concern over the damage done to the rainbow trout experiments currently underway at the hatchery and noted that the 251 pounds of fish taken were all rainbows. Copeland explained that these trout were different because the fish normally spawn in the fall. Copeland said the theft seriously jeopardized the program as these were the only fish in the world with these spawning habits. Also confiscated were pails of fish spawn, presumably intended to be used as bait, and several fish spawn bags. Also confiscated were several posters offering fresh-tied steelhead spawn bags.

Hunters got less bucks for their bags in the 1996 firearm season. But even though the numbers were down from 1995, the Department of Natural Resources still ranked the season as one of the best ever. The DNR estimates that 177,000 antlered and 102,000 antlerless deer were harvested during Michigan’s firearm deer season, the state’s fifth-largest harvest on record. The DNR said the season was also the state’s safest deer season ever, with 15 accidents, including one fatality and 14 non-fatal incidents. In 1995, there were 26 accidents in the state, including four fatalities.