Posted on 03/25/2002 5:20:33 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
Cayuga County will use part of its $1 million in HSBC to pay local municipalities and school districts for delinquent taxes, and not replenish the accounts, if a measure before the Legislature is adopted Tuesday.
The move, and similar decisions by the town of Throop, some churches and individuals, come after the bank ended its lease with the Cayuga County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The bank does not agree with the Scouts' policy banning gays as troop leaders - a policy the U.S. Supreme Court allowed to stand in a court case two years ago.
Cayuga County Treasurer David Farrell said money in the bank will be used to pay municipalities the tax dollars they are owed from property owners who do not pay their taxes; the county then tries to collect the tax and eventually sells the property if the taxes aren't paid over a period of time.
Farrell said other county HSBC deposits, called courts and trusts, can't be removed. The Legislature, at the request of Herb Marshall R-Throop, will vote on ending all possible business relationships with HSBC at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday during the Legislature meeting.
Legislature Chairman Ray Lockwood said he has mixed feelings about backing away from HSBC.
"We're beating up local people who have no control over what their headquarters are doing," Lockwood said. "The local economy is bad enough without crippling another business. I agree with the resolution in principle, but I hate to kill the wrong messenger."
At least two churches have decided to withdraw their money from HSBC. They also plan to no longer deal with the London-based bank.
This week, board members of the First Presbyterian Church, 112 South St., voted 7-1, to take as much as $12,000 from the bank, said the Rev. Jerry Rife.
On Tuesday, the trustees at the 600-member Second Baptist Church, 1 N. Herman Ave., unanimously agreed to withdraw $40,000 from three accounts it has with HSBC because of the Boys Scout controversy, said Paul Spink, administrative assistant and church treasurer.
Spink believes that the bank is discriminating against the Boys Scouts, since the country's highest court ruled that the youth organization can ban gays from leadership positions.
"They're doing exactly what they accused the Boy Scouts of doing," Spink said. "It's a moral issue. I don't think there's any question of that."
Realizing that the bank wasn't taking a big hit with the church's transaction, the board decided it needed to show support for the Boy Scouts, Rife said.
A Cub Scout troop meets weekly at the church and hopes to soon start a Boy Scout troop, he said.
"It was because somebody thinks they know better than the Supreme Court. Politically correct is more important than what's legally right. We had a problem with that," Rife said.
The Otisco Valley Bible Chapel on Otisco Valley Road, doesn't have any money in HSBC, but the Rev. Ronald Rice wants to make sure the bank knows where his church members stand on the issue.
He pointed out that the teachings of the Boy Scouts are based on what's in the Bible.
"We don't hate homosexuals, but we don't want to condone that behavior or legitimize the lifestyle in this country," Rice said.
What disappoints Rice, however, is that the only way people can send the message to the bank is "by hitting them in the pocketbook" or through a boycott, he said.
Kathleen Rizzo-Young, HSBC's vice president of media relations, didn't return a reporter's phone calls to comment about the Boy Scouts controversy.
Earlier this week, however, Rizzo-Young said it was corporate policy not to discuss a customer's financial accounts with the bank.
BUMP
Hell, I thought it meant Hillary Should Be Convicted!!!
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