Petal tackles church issue

Published 7:03 pm Thursday, July 3, 2008

The city of Petal is concerned about allowing police officers and firefighters to go to church while on the clock.

So concerned is the city that they’ll asked the attorney general’s office what liability they could face if officers do attend worship while on duty.

For the time being, police officers and firefighters cannot go to church while on duty.

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The issue came up this week after a member of the board of aldermen saw a fire department vehicle parked at a church.

City Attorney Thomas Tyner said there could be concerns of a possible lawsuit if city employees were allowed to continue to go to church on duty now that the city knows about the issue.