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with the Pledge of Allegiance, which could mean council meetings would be less welcoming and <br />inclusive for those individuals; saying the Pledge would not feel like a choice if it was an agenda item; <br />those who refused to participate might be ridiculed by others; recital of the Pledge had the potential to be <br />a rote action and people might not think about what it meant when they said it; people had been <br />persecuted in the past for failure to say the Pledge; residents such as agnostics and atheists could object to <br />the phrase “. . . under God” in the Pledge; and those with certain religious convictions were precluded by <br />those convictions from saying the Pledge. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka enlarged on a proposal first offered by Mayor Piercy, which was that the council would <br />recite the pledge at special meetings, such as those closest to Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, and <br />the Fourth of July. He suggested the council could invite organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign <br />Wars and the Boy Scouts to participate. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling suggested the State of the City was another opportunity to recite the Pledge. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark emphasized that his intent was that reciting the Pledge be voluntary. He was willing to support <br />the compromise proposal voiced by Mr. Zelenka. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown saw no connection between the process session and the proposal to recite the Pledge of <br />Allegiance at council meetings. He said the Pledge had been divisive in American politics throughout its <br />whole history. There were multiple legal challenges to the recital, and federal courts had ruled that the <br />required recital of the Pledge violated the First and Fourteenth amendments. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka suggested that he work with Mr. Clark to craft a proposal for the council that incorporated <br />the comments made by various councilors. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Farr, moved to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the council <br />meetings closest to Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, and the Fourth of July as <br />well as the State of the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka moved to table the item. <br /> <br />With the concurrence of his second, Mr. Farr, Mr. Clark withdrew his motion. <br /> <br />Emergency Program Manager Joe Rizzi and Safety/Loss Control Environmental Manager Craig Sorseth <br />provided the council with a briefing regarding the actions people should take in the case of earthquakes. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 7:17 p.m. <br /> <br />Respectfully submitted, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Beth Forrest <br />City Recorder <br /> <br />(Recorded by Kimberly Young) <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 20, 2011 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br />