CHAPEL HILL - The Town Council will hear public comment and discuss possible changes to the town’s bus advertising policy at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Town Hall Council Chamber, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The ads that have sparked the debate appeared on Chapel Hill Transit buses in August and read: “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.”

The Church of Reconciliation, a Presbyterian USA church in Chapel Hill, paid for 98 ads. They did not include the church’s contact information and were removed 10 days later for revisions. The ads returned to the buses in early September.

The ads prompted a deluge of emails to the town and to The Chapel Hill News about whether political and religious ads belong on public buses. (See more in today’s issue, page 4A.) They also spurred a strong public response at the Sept. 12 council meeting.

The town’s bus advertising policy, established last year, allows political, religious and “issues” advertising if the ad also carries a disclaimer identifying who paid for the ad and their contact information.