| Several Mormon missionaries are working as volunteers in Davis County Public Schools in Davis County, (the location of Hill Air Force Base and the largest percentage of non-LDS population in the state). The young, clean-cut missionaries are sometimes introduced as "elders" and "sisters" wearing the "trademark modest shirts and dark suits" and tend to display name tags announcing their affiliation with the Mormon Church, according to the Daily Herald (Provo, UT) of December 12, 1997 (p. A-1). A Layton (Davis County) school patron is concerned about their presence to convert non-believers to Mormonism, according to the article. The resident, who has two children in the school, contends that the missionaries even live out-of-the-county -- and some are not even US citizens, and that their presence is totally out-of-place. He stated, "They do not even represent our community, they represent the [LDS] Church." At least four elementary schools in Davis County are participating in the LDS program. "So far," the article says, "the district has no intention to ask them (the missionaries) to stop, saying they have not violated the district's strict prohibition against proselytizing." However, their presence, attire, name tags, being referred to as "elder" and "sister" is evident reason for patrons to be upset! The District Attorney, David Doty is quoted as stating they are to be allowed to continue. The patron recently wrote a letter to the Ogden (UT) Standard-Examiner questioning the propriety of such actions. A related article quoted Salt Lake area officials as saying they weren't using LDS missionaries as volunteers in the classrooms, but that they might be looking into it. A Utah County official stated that using the missionaries was a "great idea." She noted that she had known of Mormon missionaries who had volunteered out-side of Utah and who had been used as aids in their schools. An Alpine County (UT) official said they had banned use of the missionaries in their public school system. The official admitted that he had used LDS missionaries when he was a principal in Orem, Utah several years ago. He said elders were not allowed to use their badges in that situation. Other Utah schools do not seem to use the program. |
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