Posted on 12/23/2003 7:27:27 PM PST by GeronL
BALCH SPRINGS – The ban on spoken prayers, preaching and gospel music at the city-owned senior center is ending.
The City Council voted unanimously Monday to revoke the policy, which had prompted a federal inquiry and a lawsuit by several senior citizens.
An attorney for the seniors was awaiting word this week that the city had met all the demands of the lawsuit.
"As long as the city cooperates and settles this thing, that's what the Department of Justice is looking for," said Hiram Sasser, staff attorney with the Liberty Legal Institute, which filed the suit on behalf of the senior citizens.
Justin Dillon, an attorney with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, had sent a letter to Mr. Sasser in November seeking information about the dispute. Justice Department officials familiar with the inquiry couldn't be reached Tuesday.
City Manager Kandi Hubert put the ban in place on the advice of City Attorney David Berman after two senior citizens complained about a lack of separation of church and state at the center.
The new policy says the center may be "used by any and all members and others lawfully on the center's premises to engage in constitutionally protected speech without regard to its content or viewpoint."
Mayor James Kelsey said the wording safeguards both religious and secular expression.
After the vote, council member Howard Williamson called for discussion about firing Mr. Berman at the next meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, the council voted 4-2 to accept Ms. Hubert's resignation. Council member Gary Jones, who voted with Mike Hall against accepting the resignation, said she would receive $75,000 plus pay for accrued vacation as part of a settlement with the city.
"I just want to go on record as saying that Kandi Hubert is the best city manager this city ever had," Mr. Hall said after the vote.
Some had blamed Ms. Hubert for the legal dispute over the senior center. In October, council member Ricky Willis had placed an item on the council agenda seeking to fire her, but she had obtained a temporary restraining order that prevented discussion of her termination.
Four of the seven council members walked out of that meeting. The same four, including Mr. Willis and Mr. Williamson, are targets of a recall effort. They have voted in previous meetings not to accept the recall petition signatures or to call the recall election. The pro-recall forces have said the dispute is headed for court.
E-mail ksanderson@dallasnews.com
They had a Christmas Party and my dad went in and right back out because it was too crowded. So its apparently pretty popular.... has a huge heated indoor pool too... with a waterslide... geezerslide?
Trolling for matrons? I look forward to that part of my life. 8>)
/john
Dad is terminal with cancer that is eating his head and face. I fully understand.
But he's promised to be hell on wheels if we put him in a wheelchair. So we dasn't. He'd corner some candy striper and then we'd have a (worse) problem. God bless those that live to the end of their days.
/john
Sounds like a pretty arrogant bunch that needs to be tossed.
Maybe, maybe not. We had a city manager here that was a good city manager, but her political correctness was out of control, she led the mayor, and several council members around by the nose. She went on a spending spree, and ignored some mandated projects, the city, which was very financially sound, now isn't.<P. The voters cleaned house, without a recall. The voters fired the Mayor two years ago, and have since replaced the council members who went along with the spending spree. The new Mayor kept the city manager on a very short leash, it didn't take her long to find another job.
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