WHO: ADF Senior Legal Counsel Byron Babione and ADF-allied attorney Frank Mylar

WHAT: Press conference after hearing in American Atheists v. Duncan

WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 13, immediately following the hearing which begins at 7:30 a.m.

WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, 350 South Main St., Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — ADF Senior Legal Counsel Byron Babione will be available for questions immediately after a federal court hearing in American Atheists v. Duncan Tuesday. ADF, along with local attorney Frank Mylar, represents the Utah Highway Patrol Association, which opposes a lawsuit brought by American Atheists that seeks to remove roadside memorial crosses placed by families of highway patrol members who lost loved ones in the line of duty.

“It’s ridiculous that a small group of offended atheists would seek to stop the families of slain troopers from honoring their loved ones as they see fit,” said Babione. “There’s nothing unconstitutional about what the UHPA and these families are doing. The memorials cost taxpayers nothing as they were constructed by volunteers and materials donated by local businesses.”

“Memorials honoring these troopers in no way constitute an impermissible state advancement of religion. It’s an outrage that the right of these families to honor their fallen heroes is under attack,” said Mylar, an ADF-allied attorney in Salt Lake City. “We trust the court will uphold the constitutional right for private citizens to place these memorials to our fallen heroes.”

The Utah Highway Patrol Association is a private organization that supports highway patrol officers and their families.

American Atheists sued the Utah Highway Patrol and Utah Transportation Department, seeking a court order to force the removal of the memorials. In March 2006, a federal judge granted ADF attorneys’ motion to allow the association to intervene in the case to represent the interests of the victims’ families and others who support the memorials (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3696).