CEASE & DESIST: Town Orders Family to Stop Hosting Bible Studies on Farm

toddstarnes.com ^ | 7/18/18 | Todd Starnes

[a little elbow grease]

July 18, 2018

The owners of a Pennsylvania farm have been ordered by the Sewickley Heights Borough to cease and desist holding Bible studies on their private property.

Borough leaders accused Scott and Terri Fetterolf of improperly using their 35-acre farm as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue. They were served a cease-and-desist order in October 2017, the Post-Gazette reported.

[Alberta's Child]

It actually sounds like they're running a tax scam there on that "farm."

They have an agricultural use of the property and they're probably paying very little in taxes on it, but they're operating it as a commercial establishment. If I was a neighbor or a competing business I would have every reason to be upset over this.

[a little elbow grease]

A Sewickley Heights type home ......

[a little elbow grease]

"We’ll be driving through that neck of the woods on our way to Buffalo in a few days. We Must be vigilant to avoid of any of these evildoers who might cross our path. Bible Study People... how menacing.

(However, covens wouldn’t be a problem, probably.)"

_______________

LOL

You should check it out if you do get close ........ maybe pick up some fresh honey.

;-)

[a little elbow grease]

There's the rub. My guess is that the area is full of upper middle class and wealthy gentry who purchased lifestyle farmettes for their exurban escapes. They don't want energetic neighbors commercializing what they now consider a residential area. There can be some mighty fine lines drawn in such disputes. It's a quarrel among hobby farmers.

___________________

right....

[a little elbow grease]

"They have an agricultural use of the property and they're probably paying very little in taxes on it, but they're operating it as a commercial establishment. If I was a neighbor or a competing business I would have every reason to be upset over this."

_______________

You may be correct.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Come to Texas, I’ll show you what a nice house looks like. Then we gotta run before the Salvadoran landscaper/drug dealer who owns it calls the cops. Bring your drone with a camera, it’d be safer that way. lol.

[Flick Lives]

I’d suggest the owners of the farm stop the Bible studies and start a meth lab. Very quiet operation. Perhaps the neighbors will then STFU.

[Palio di Siena]

this stuff happens in our area.
local govt most always gets involved because of complaining neighbors.
would be good to hear both sides.

[yldstrk]

If it is $500 per event it is going to bankrupt them. If they need three permits at $500 each annually, pay it.

[yldstrk]

large and ugly

[knarf]

I’m here in district 18 and the recent gerrymander put more Allegheny in control of me.

[redfreedom]

My initial opinion is close to yours. There is little we can trust coming from any media source these days. Most of this trash is written to sway public opinion where certain facts are left out while others are taken out of context.

Freepers are no different, many of us fall for this trap in cases like this - if it is in deed a media trap. It just needs more investigation.

[bert]

Damages, ddamages man....... how much damages did they ask?

[MayflowerMadam]

Is it near Grove City?

[Preachin']

That house is gorgeous.

[knarf]

A town in Alabama fought against an "Agenda 21" effort and won.

In the article was this;

"While Agenda 21 is a globalist movement, its implementation is through local ordinances, usually by policymakers who are ignorant of the ultimate goal. (emphasis mine) ..... As property-rights advocate Tom DeWeese wrote, “On the local level, this translates into planning policy that controls energy use and the efforts to cut down on the use of cars, enforcement of the building of expensive light rail train systems and bike paths, and the installation of smart meters, etc.”

Eternal Vigilance

[Labyrinthos]

The District was presumably in place before the Fetterolf's bought the place, so unless there was a pre-existing business on the property, grandfathering would not seem to be in play. One would have to start by looking closely at the District rules. It's really just a glorified HOA, and that can be trouble.

The particular Zoning Code at issue has been in place since 1968, and it clearly and unequivocally prohibits the following uses within the Historical-Rural Residential District: “Place of Worship,” “Place of Assembly,” “Commercial Venue/Event Space,” and “Special or Studio School.”

Like them or not, zoning codes that restrict or even prohibit certain uses are permissible under the 1st, 5th, and 14th Amendments to to the United States Constitution. As applied specifically to "places of worship," a municipality, under the US Constitution and federal law (i.e., the Religious Land Uses and Institutionalized Persons Act), can completely prohibit religious uses in a zoning district as long as the municipality does not completely ban places of worship from all zoning districts within the municipality, treats places of worship the same as similar, non religious uses (i.e., non-religious places of assembly), and does not discriminate between religious uses.

The Zoning Code for the Sewickley Heights Borough appears to meet these requirements in that places of worship are allowed in several other zoning districts within the municipality and the Historical-Rural Residential District in which the farm is located, prohibits just about every use that is not a single family residence or related to agriculture, including cemeteries, country clubs, cultural centers, day care centers, firehouses, recreational facilities, restaurants, and schools/educational facilities.

[PLMerite]

“LOL ...... I’d hope they’d use a slightly different verb. “

Or, as Blackadder put it, “Fornicate off.”

[ryderann]

Isn’t there a muslim camp in that area where they teach terrorist tactics?

[silverleaf]

Good for you!
Mt Pleasant native here