Hide Article Text (OCR)
by DANIELLE PARKER News Editor Templo Bautista Nueva Jerusalem may be a small church of only 20 members, but it has determined it will not be pushed around. Feb. 7, the church sent a letter demanding the city council rethink its deci sion to deny the church a special use per mit, or the city may have a lawsuit to han dle In October, Robert Ramos purchased a building situated in between Main Street Grocery and Marquez Motor Company at 1408 N. Main St. with the intent of settling his small Hispanic church in the facility. “We just started out,” Ramos said. “We are a very close-knit church of about 20-25. Our goal is to reach everyone around us, not just Hispanics. We had hopes that would be able to stay here a few years and then buy a bigger building, still using this for ministry.” However, the church hit resistance when it went to get their utilities turned on. “went to the city offices and was told that we would need a special use permit to occupy the building,” Ana Candido, the church’s administrator, said. The church continued with city proce dures that led them to January’s city coun cil meeting. Because a property owner, who owns about 20 percent of the land around the churc urchased building, opposed the church Moving in, a superma jority was required for Templo Bautista to be granted the SUP. However, the church was one vote shy of a supermajority, as Councilmembers Johnette Jameson and Paul Ford voted against the approval. “We have complied with every require ment the city has asked of us,” Candido said. We received the Planning and Zoning recommendation to approve re-zoning and we received a majority vote from the city council. Still, one single citizen who opposes the church is keeping us from wor shipping in our own building. For one per son to have so much weight on this is real ly unfair. Templo Bautista sent a demand letter to the city of Duncanville, claiming the city council’s lan. 15 decision “discriminates against Templo Bautista Nueva Jerusalem and denies the congregation religious free dom to gather and hold services.” “This is an obvious and flagrant viola tion of federal law,” Director of Litigation for Liberty Legal Institute Hiram Sasser, who is representing Templo Bautista, said. “Congress overwhelmingly passed Reli gious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in 2000 to provide churches such as Templo Bautista protection against such oppressive discrimination. ALUIPA is See CHURCH, Page 17 Listing’ Lyng tye: Today photo by DANIELLE PARKER Members of Templo Bautista Nueva Jerusalem joined Hiram Sasser of Liberty Legal Institute at 1408 N. Main St. for a press conference Feb. 6.
Newspaper Details
Duncanville Today
Duncanville, Texas, US
Thu, Feb 14, 2008
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Luke B.
USA 04 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Duncanville, Texas
Duncanville Weekly Chronicle
Duncanville Suburban
Duncanville Daily News
Duncanvillite
Duncanville Today
