SMYRNA, Ga. -- A Smyrna-based group plans to picket this year's Cobb County Prayer Breakfast.
The Atlanta Freethought Society will protest the use of a county phone number as a recorded event information line.
"We want people to understand that the local government is running a religious service," said Steve Yothment, president of the AFS. "A county line is being used for [the breakfast], and a person who is in charge of the committee is an employee of the county."
That employee is Virgil Moon, director of the Cobb County Support Services Agency. He does not deny that 770-528-3328 is connected to his office. Many phone numbers with the prefix 770-528 are Cobb County government numbers.
Yothment says that his group simply wants to make a statement with the planned demonstration.
"We'll be protesting -- that's all," he said. "We're not looking to confront anybody; it'll be just a peaceful protest."
The 2011 Cobb County Prayer Breakfast will begin at 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre. Shan Cooper, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin, will be the keynote speaker.