School bus driver causing controversy by using pickup to deliver religious messages

Another Prosser school employee is generating controversy — this time it’s offline.

A group of concerned parents and others met Friday morning with Superintendent Ray Tolcacher to discuss a sign sitting in the bed of school bus driver Dale Brown’s pickup.

On one side, the sign reads, “Beware! Cults(:) Islam Mormonism Watchtower Jesus is Lord.” and on the other, “God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.”

Brown is the husband of Prosser Heights Elementary library assistant Peggy Brown, who remains on paid administrative leave following negative comments on her Facebook page about the recent Day Without Immigrants protest.

Carie LaMarsh, one of the eight people attending the meeting and a parent of a Keene-Riverview student, organized the meeting with Tolcacher.

She first saw Brown’s truck leaving the bus yard on March 9, she said. At the time, she didn’t know who he was, or that he drove a bus for the district. She contacted transportation supervisor Bill Petersen to ask about the sign.

“I just knew that truck was disgusting and racist and hateful,” LaMarsh said. “It was actually someone I trust my child with. Bill said he had never had any complaints about him, and he was a good guy and had been there for a long time.”

In a YouTube video posted in October 2016, Brown said it’s his religious duty to “confront sin ... whether it’s convenient or not.” The sins he chooses to preach against are what he considers cults and “the homosexual agenda.”

After getting locked out of posting on Facebook, he began using the truck to carry his message, he said.

“We have to find other ways to reach the public because, ultimately, there is a spirit that tries to shut down the message of the gospel and our freedoms,” he said in the video.

LaMarsh contacted city and school officials, and learned there is little they can can do about the sign, she said.

Prosser codes don’t regulate signs on vehicles, City Planner Steve Zetz said.

“We would have to regulate and permit bumper stickers,” Zetz said. “We have nothing in our code that addresses vehicles.”

In the video, Brown said the city requires a permit for signs on private property, but doesn’t if the sign is on the back of a vehicle.

Brown declined to speak to the Herald for this story.

Zetz said even if the city decided to regulate signs on vehicles, it would run into legal problems.

“Cities and jurisdictions can’t regulate speech,” Zetz said. “We can’t regulate what content is on that sign.”

Tolcacher is in a similar position, saying he can’t control what Brown drives when he is not on school grounds.

“It has not been on school property to my recent knowledge at all,” Tolcacher said. “It may be parked near there, but that’s on public streets.”

The superintendent promised to ask Brown to remove the sign if the truck ventures onto school property.

He wouldn’t discuss employee issues, but said his Friday meeting went well.

“They’re really good, caring people,” he said. “I appreciated them spending the time with me.”

LaMarsh agreed the meeting went well, and said she was told by Tolcacher that both of the Browns know how to exercise their First Amendment rights.

“There was not a lot he could do but check on some additional employee training,” LaMarsh said.

This story was originally published March 25, 2017 at 1:44 PM with the headline "School bus driver causing controversy by using pickup to deliver religious messages."