School to Pay $59,000 for Barring Speech
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Oroville High School officials have agreed to pay a former valedictorian and his attorney $59,000 to settle the student’s allegation that the Butte County school refused to let him speak at his graduation for religious reasons.
In paying $29,000 to Jason Niemeyer and $30,000 to attorney Steven Burlingham, school officials did not admit fault or wrongdoing, according to documents filed in Sacramento federal court.
In early 1999, Niemeyer, now 20, proposed two speeches to school officials. One extolled the benefits of a relationship with Jesus Christ. The other was religious but nonsectarian, said U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton.
School officials rejected both talks as sectarian.
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