San Diego East County: Bars good; Churches bad
From the San Diego Union-Tribune...
A county attorney told the Guatay Christian Fellowship it's OK to sell beer and wine and host live events at the building in a trailer park, but it doesn't have a permit to allow religious services....
Deputy County Counsel Eliot Alazraki told Peterson in a May 30 letter that the county would take legal action against him if the members of the nondenominational church in the community of Guatay continued worshipping at the trailer park....
The church has been leasing the 2,100-square-foot building in the Pine Valley Trailer Park for Wednesday night and Sunday services since 1986. It is the only place of worship in Guatay, a town of 782 about 35 miles east of San Diego....
Since receiving the letter, the congregation has been crowding into members' homes for services while the trailer park building sits unused....
The trailer park's previous owner had wanted a country and western bar at the site, but the plan failed and O'Flynn has leased the building to the church since he bought the property in 1986, LePla said.
“The building was approved for use by members of the general public to share common interests, to listen to live music,” he said. “These are all things that the church is doing that the country and western bar would have done. The only difference is the church doesn't drink during services.”
From the comments...
ceejay on 7/28/2008 at 7:12 a.m.--The trailer park was a mess. I don't think it will come as a surprise to any of the locals that someone finally made a complaint - the church just got caught in the web of the investigation. It's a great little church and it is kept immaculate.
poff on 7/28/2008 at 7:20 a.m.--Sounds like the county has it priorities in order as usual. It must be tough to decide between closing down churches and closing down meth-labs... or fixing roads... or sewer pipes...
3rdGenerationSanDiegan on 7/28/2008 at 2:30 p.m.--Since when does any government agency have the authority to issue permits for people to gather for religious services?
Matthew on 7/28/2008 at 5:24 p.m.--I think this is awesome, in a sense. These people are living in a trailer park, in the desert, in an un-loved and un-desireable [sic] place in the county (by "popular" standards) - and yet they find the time to attend non-demoninational [sic] church services and GIVE their time and money to help people LESS FORTUNATE than themselves...
The only solution here is: let them use the church on a temporary permit, until it all gets sorted out.
Re-code the park to be long-term (who needs an environmental impact report now? It's been 15-20 years, the damage has been done!)
And let these people live in the peaceful hapiness they deserve.
kipling9 on 7/28/2008 at 5:40 p.m.--"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The First Amendment to the U.S. ConstitutionYOU DONT NEED A PERMIT TO HAVE A MEETING ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY
EDS on 7/28/2008 at 10:53 p.m.--This is not a first amendment issue. This would fall under the Federal Law known as the Religious Land Use and Incarcerated Persons Act of 2000, also known as RLUPA. Since the city has accepted Federal money more than once this law applies to them. Several Christian Law societies do RLUPA cases, many of them for free. I suggest the Pastor do an internet search (Thomas Moore, Jay Sacalow [sic], etc.).
From the "compassionate Liberals"...
fish manny on 7/28/2008 at 10:11 a.m.--The Christian Taliban love to cry foul when THEY are discriminated against, yet they are the biggest bigots of all
If this were about an application for a place to give gay weddings, all these "holier than thou" hypocrites would be up in arms
As far as I know there are no counties turning down places for homosexuals pretending to get married. There are states which are trying to force Christians to assist them, though. So who's the Taliban?
Posted by Danny Carlton at July 29, 2008 6:54 AM