Two county officials being sued over foster care referrals to the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch are asking a federal judge to dismiss the case.

The move by Ward County Social Services Director Daniel Richter and Pierce County Social Services Director Mary Hermanson comes on the heels of a similar request by Assistant Attorney General Douglas Bahr, who is representing three state officials named as defendants.

Bahr last month asked U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and some North Dakota taxpayers who believe public money is being used to indoctrinate young people with religion.

The lawsuit filed in June by the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics says referrals to the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, which serves troubled children, are funded by taxpayer money and that the staff at ranch facilities in Minot, Fargo and Bismarck indoctrinate children with religion.

Officials of the state and the Boys and Girls Ranch, which is affiliated with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, dispute the claims.

Bahr, in his motion, said the Freedom From Religion Foundation can challenge only specific legislative appropriations and not government officials' use of money on constitutional grounds.

He is representing Lisa Bjergaard, director of juvenile services for the state Corrections Department; state School Superintendent Wayne Sanstead; and state Human Services Director Carol Olson.

Minot attorney Bryan Van Grinsven, who is representing Richter and Hermanson, said in his motion to dismiss that his clients should not be among the defendants. The lawsuit is aimed at state and not county programs, he wrote.

Richard Bolton, an attor- ney for the foundation, has until Jan. 23 to submit a response to Van Grinsven's motion. He was granted an extension on his deadline to reply to Bahr's motion, until Thursday.

Foundation spokesman Dan Barker has said that asking for a dismissal of the lawsuit based on legal standing is not really addressing the issue.