FFRF sends unrelenting mayor to federal court

December 13, 2011 | Filed under: Judicial,News | Posted by:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit today against the Town of Whiteville, Tenn., and its mayor, James Bellar, to force him to remove crosses on the Whiteville water tower, in front of Whiteville City Hall and on the city-owned sidewalk.

FFRF, a national state/church watchdog, began complaining about a prominent lighted cross atop its water tower a year ago. After writing three unanswered letters of complaint, FFRF, with Tennessee attorney Alvin Harris, sent a letter of demand on Sept. 29 warning Bellar if he didn’t move the cross, FFRF would sue by the end of the month.

Bellar initially announced on Oct. 3 that he would move the cross, although he referred to FFRF and its members as "terrorists" in local media reports.

But on Oct. 17, Bellar told reporter Daniel Wilkerson, WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tenn., that "Somebody has to stand up to these atheist sons of bitches, and you can quote me on that." In late October, Bellar used nearly $4,000 in taxpayer money to hire a crane service to inexplicably break one arm of the cross. Then Bellar began lighting what remained of the cross.

On or about Nov. 28, 2011, the town installed two large crosses in front of Whiteville City hall. On or around Nov. 30, defendants decorated the crosses with Christmas wreathes.

FFRF is suing on behalf of a member who regularly comes into unwelcome contact with the town displays of crosses.

"Mr. Doe’s contact with the cross in front of the Whiteville City Hall is unwelcome and offensive to Mr. Doe, who believes the installation of religious symbols on Whiteville property is an illegal and unconstitutional exercise of Whiteville’s authority and its defendants’ endorsement of religion. The crosses on public property signify to Mr. Doe that Whiteville is only welcome to religious people (specifically Christians) and that as a non-religious person, he is unwelcome in Whiteville."

FFRF is seeking a declaratory judgment that the policy and practice of defendants’ installation of religious symbols on Whiteville property is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and deprives FFRF and its members of their civil rights.

FFRF seeks preliminary and permanent mandatory injunctions requiring defendants to immediately and permanently remove the crosses on the Whiteville water tower, in front of city hall and on publicly owned sidewalks, and to enjoin them from installing crosses and other religious symbolism on Whiteville property in the future.
 

Related articles:

  1. Petulant mayor breaks cross to abide by First Amendment
  2. Cross watches over Tennessee town; so does FFRF
  3. FFRF sends “Reasons’s Greetings” to New Yorkers
  4. In Brief: Federal appeals court says highways’ crosses are unconstitutional
  5. FFRF urges Camp Pendleton to uphold Constitution

3 Responses to FFRF sends unrelenting mayor to federal court

  1. avatar Nicholas December 13, 2011 - 7:39 am

    A lawsuit is not so bad, but maybe even better would be to promote the clipped-cross symbol is a symbol of Atheism! I suggest erecting a billboard in town showing the single-arm-cross symbol with wording such as "This is a symbol of how our society has neutered our historical religion in order to advance humanity under the banner of reason and science."

    Reply
  2. avatar Gay P December 13, 2011 - 10:09 pm

    I had hoped this nonsense had settle down but apparently not. To make matters worse, there are people who are even turning on others who profess Christianity because they don't put a cross up to support the mayor who has a reputation of treating people differently and with harassment and violence if they don't agree with him. Just go to Topix under "Whiteville Cross Debate Continues" and related topics. You will find that some of the mayor's minions are looking for what they perceive (more likely they are wrong) to be a "spy" for some person who is a known atheist. They are putting it under "Wanted" a sand colored SUV with Tipton County tags. That, to me, sums it up about what this mayor and some of his goon cops (not the ladies) do around here if he doesn't like you, especially if you speak up. It is so embarrassing for those of us who didn't crawl out of the primordial slime just yesterday and we all fear retaliation for not putting up crosses even if we go to church (just not here for sure). I hope the Feds get here before some of us perish in the crossfire.

    Reply
  3. avatar Rick January 23, 2012 - 12:33 pm

    "…is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and deprives FFRF and its members of their civil rights." I'm uncertain as to why Mr. Doe and others aren't hiring prominent Civil Rights attornies and suing the town for these violations for $98M dollars when they occur? Why isn't this happening? Why the warnings at all? Why the letters? To give them a chance? Why? Why not: "You have violated my civil rights with that cross on PUBLIC property. If it's not removed within 24hrs, I'll be filing a civil lawsuit for the amount of $250 million dollars. Have a nice day sir and fuck off." How come not this scenario?

    Reply

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