Churches Suit Dismissed
PETERSBURG, Va. (AP)ÛÓCircuit Court Judge Oliver A. Pollard Jr. yesterday dismissed a suit challenging the stateÛªs right to force churches to pay unemployment insurance for their school teachers.</br></br>ment Commission over an amended state law that requires parochial schools to pay the unemployment tax.</br></br>In taking his action, the Petersburg judge agreed a cpnstitutional issue of the separation of church and state may be involved. But he said the three churches should first exhuast administrative remedies provided by the 1977 law before seeking judicial review.</br></br>Guy J. Farley, the Fairfax lawyer representing the churches, argued that church schoolsÛª are an integral part of their religious services Since churches are not be taxed, he said, their schools should not be either.</br></br>Assistant State Attorney General Robert Barry contended that the schools provided the same educational experience as public schools. He also pointed out that the law states that after the administrative procedures are exhausted, any court action must be filed in Richmond Circuit Court.