Newport
demands removal of crosses Newport
demands removal of crosses Newport, KY – Pastor Rich Livingood and the staff at Trinity Baptist Church in Newport, KY once thought government officials wouldn’t force a church to take down its crosses …until it happened to them.
“It’s a story that kind of began when we put some crosses up for the Easter season,” explained Livingood, head Pastor at Trinity since 1992. On a Saturday afternoon just prior to the Lenten season some of Trinity’s men got together on a Saturday, built the crosses, and erected them in the churchyard.
“Our intention was just to do something unique and out of the ordinary to get the Easter message out,” said Livingood. After the simple yet striking display drew numerous compliments from many in the neighborhood, “We weren’t in any hurry to take them down after Easter,” Livingood said.
But apparently a few people were. In June “the city of Newport (in the person of Greg Tulley, Newport planning and development coordinator) made a surprise visit to Trinity Baptist while I was gone,” Livingood explained.
Tulley spoke with Robert Strunk, Trinity’s youth and music director, and in a sworn affidavit filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court in Covington, KY, Livingood testified that Tulley told Strunk “he had received complaints about the crosses from certain residents in the neighborhood” and that Tulley, acting on behalf of the city “demanded that the church remove the crosses from the lawn of thechurch property.”
After conferring with legal professionals, the Trinity staff decided “to leave them there and see what happened.”
In July, Tully again showed up at the church unannounced. “And he was pretty determined that we were going to remove those crosses,” Livingood said. The Trinity staff told Tulley they would remove the offending crosses provided “they give us some kind of written assurance we could display our crosses” in the future at the church’s discretion. Livingood said, “and when he left, we thought we had resolved the issue.” However a few days later on July 22 the church received a letter from the city “which, in fact said: ‘Remove the crosses immediately. And if you wish to erect them again you’ll be required to go through the temporary signage procedure for the city of Newport’…which was not what we agreed to,” said Livingood.
A call to Newport Planning and Development Coordinator Tulley was not returned.
“After the city came by the second time we became concerned,” Livingood said. The church contacted a local attorney and a review of Newport’s city ordinances revealed that “the ordinance actually allows them to come on our property and physically remove our crosses,” Livingood said.
Which apparently is what at least some of the members of one Newport neighborhood group want.
Christian Citizen, USA has obtained copies of e-mails circulated among members of a group known as “East Row Neighborhood.” One e-mail vows to “escalate the situation as necessary” and mentions that he has spoken to the Newport Police Chief, three city Commissioners and Tulley and tells the group “Greg has assured me that the crosses will indeed come down.”
In light of the e-mailers threats and concern over possible action by the city, Trinity decided to take action. They filed a suit in Federal Court questioning the constitutionality of the city ordinance, contending it infringed upon Trinity’s freedom of speech.
Livingood told the court: “Our intention and our goal is to build bridges in the community.”He added, “But unfortunately, we have a very vocal adversary here.”