As Bartow police dragged the president of Atheists of Florida out of the Polk County School District auditorium before Tuesday's School Board meeting, he yelled, "Prayer has no place in government! Prayer has no place in government!"

BARTOW | As Bartow police dragged the president of Atheists of Florida out of the Polk County School District auditorium before Tuesday's School Board meeting, he yelled, "Prayer has no place in government! Prayer has no place in government!"



Police charged John Albert Kieffer, 61, of Tampa, with disorderly conduct, resisting an officer without violence and possession of prescription medication without proof. He remained at the Polk County Jail on Tuesday night with bail set at $1,000.



Bartow Sgt. David Wyant said the disturbance occurred as a minister led a prayer before the board meeting.



EllenBeth Wachs, the group's legal coordinator, was given a trespassing warning at the meeting by police at the request of Fred Murphy, assistant superintendent of support services, Wyant said.



Wachs is no longer allowed to go onto the School Board's property, police said.



Kieffer stood near School Board members while Wachs took photographs during the prayer before the meeting began. He also spoke as the minister was speaking.



After the invocation, he was rebuked by board member Frank O'Reilly for the disruption.



Wyant said that is when Kieffer yelled, "Prayer has no place in government! Prayer has no place in government!"



Murphy asked Bartow police Officers Jason Griffith and Julio Pagan to remove Kieffer from the auditorium.



Kieffer braced himself against the officers as they dragged him out of the room, Wyant said.



After board Chairman Kay Fields told Kieffer to leave, he said he wasn't violating any laws because the meeting hadn't officially started.



"It has now," Fields said, and she slammed down her gavel.



When Griffith and Pagan got Kieffer out of the meeting, they tried to calm him and asked him to leave, but he refused, Wyant said.



Griffith and Pagan then told him he was under arrest. As they attempted to handcuff him, he "pulled and twisted" his arms away and resisted their orders, Wyant said, reading from the report filed by the officers.



When police took Kieffer to the jail, they found he had a prescription anxiety pill in his pocket without proper documentation, Wyant said.



Wachs was told by police to leave the meeting. If she returns to the property, she can face criminal charges for trespassing, Wyant said.



Earlier this month, the School Board began a new practice in which the board placed a disclaimer on the meeting agenda and held a prayer before the meeting officially began.



The policy change came after a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened a lawsuit if prayers during regular meetings continued.



The disclaimer reads: "Voluntary invocation may be offered before the opening of the School Board meeting by a private citizen. The views or beliefs expressed in the invocation have not been reviewed nor approved by the School Board, and the Board is not allowed, by law, to endorse the religious beliefs or views of this, or any other speaker."



School Board meetings are regularly videotaped and open to public inspection. But because Tuesday's outburst occurred before the meeting officially began, no footage was recorded, Murphy said.



Near the end of the meeting, board and audience members discussed the outburst.



Audience member Tabitha Hunt told board members that the invocation needed to return as a part of the regular meeting.

"They (the atheist group) are very outspoken and I think as Christians we need to be just as outspoken," she said.



Retired School Principal L.D. Wilcox said the incident brought tears to his eyes because of the children who were sitting in the audience.



"We talk about not leaving debts for our children, but what about integrity and responsibility?" Wilcox said. "It's all right to disagree, but we have to learn how to respect one another."



Fields said she would meet with School Board Attorney Wes Bridges about returning the prayer to its former spot on the meeting agenda.



O'Reilly said that while district officials want prayers at the meeting, it will be a costly legal fight and the district needs the community's support.



"So if there are people who say we want prayers, then you better step up," he said. "You go to your churches and synagogues and tell them they'll need to help us."



[ Jeremy Maready can be reached at jeremy.maready@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-802-7547. ]