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August 14, 2002
FORT WALTON BEACH -- More than 150 people shouted "under God" and held up signs bearing crosses and flags as the School Board turned down a request to take the Pledge of Allegiance out of classrooms.
The crowd spilled from the Okaloosa County School Board's meeting room into the lobby and hallways in this Panhandle town.
Two parents, both Army veterans, stood alone Monday in urging the board to banish the pledge on grounds that the phrase "under God" violates their children's rights of free speech and religion under the First Amendment.
They were greeted by angry shouts, clapping and singing from the audience.
The parents, Marcel and Stephney Aigret, a divorced couple, said they were motivated by the June ruling in California that "under God" was unconstitutional.