update on that asshole Newton - gotta read the entire articl

[Anonymous]

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Who said anything about fun? Seriously
troxler
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By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published March 29, 2005

On the burg beat:

The mayor of Indian Rocks Beach , a barrier-island town in Pinellas County, has quit in frustration after eight years. Bob DiNicola explained that (among other reasons) his job was "not fun any more."

Not fun any more ! Have you been to a small-town public meeting? When, exactly would being the mayor of Indian Rocks Beach be fun, except maybe for getting to ride in the annual Holiday Parade?

(Even that parade, which is a fine event, once became a political sore point when DiNicola proposed rescheduling because the usual parade date conflicted with his Bucs tickets. Let's just say his idea was not universally applauded.)

DiNicola is just the latest guy to go in Indian Rocks Beach. The city's director of community development and building quit. So did the city's permit clerk. The building officer was fired, and the city manager who did the firing is now on the hot seat.

In general, the bigger the city, the less likely the mayor is to quit on the spot (not that it wouldn't be fun to see now and then). However, it happened just last year in Madeira Beach , when longtime Mayor Tom DeCesare got fed up with the local doings. The city attorney went, too.

To complete the changing of the guard in Madeira Beach, voters this month refused to elect the former city manager, Jim Madden, to the City Commission. At the first meeting of the new commission, citizens cheered and declared they had "taken back the city." (Folks someplace or another are always taking back their city.)

No word yet on how this taking-back in Madeira Beach will affect the Christ at the Sea Foundation, otherwise known as the house at 13280 Fourth St. E. It is a home-turned-church that has ticked off the neighbors and become somewhat of a national cause among the religious-freedom folks.

The operator, Dr. Miller Newton - known for once running the controversial anti-drug program Straight Inc. - faces fines of as much as $500 a day and maybe even jail time if he keeps defying the city's order to remove external religious symbols, such as a rooftop cupola and cross.

The biggest beach burg in Pinellas is St. Pete Beach , which changed its name a few years ago from St. Petersburg Beach to create, uh, a more distinct identity. (The name "Mortimer" might have done that job better, but who am I to argue?)

St. Pete Beach is in the middle of a fight over whether to let its downtown get denser and taller. Anti-growth folks don't like it. A few pro-growth folks elsewhere in town want in on the action. There was a public hearing where 85 citizens showed up. Are we talking about a Treasure Island -style voter revolt brewing?

Another current controversy in St. Pete Beach is whether a longtime city employee should be fired for not reporting his DUI arrest to his bosses. His mom called in sick for him. His lawyer drew on his own personal experience to defend him: "I was sicker than a dog from a hangover. Saying that is not sick leave, I don't know what is."

As a fallback position in case that argument falls through, the fired fellow is pointing out that the guy who got him fired, St. Pete Beach's public works director, was himself investigated for accusations of improper racist, sexist and religious remarks.

The boss was cleared in an internal investigation - but then it turned out the investigator was a member of his boss' Bible study group. Perhaps they relied upon Proverbs 30:10 ("Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.")

Crystal River in Citrus County just ran off its ninth city manager since 1990. Several department heads are out too, just in time for the big courtroom showdown over the city's annexation wars with the county. Maybe they should save time by hiring and firing the next city manager with the same vote.

Lastly, Port Richey in Pasco County just had a blast from the past when former City Manager Vince Lupo came back to testify in the arbitration hearing of former police Chief Bill Downs. Lupo had fired Downs before Lupo's elected bosses fired him in turn. Lupo, who won both notoriety and criticism for his passion for big-game hunting, once ordered Downs to walk the streets as a beat cop to take him down a notch or two. Now, see, that's politics.

[Anonymous]

Newton is a prick.  I hope that the City gets him and he loses the church and ALL his property (except) his house (I ain't that mean) and ends up in jail.  Ghosh, that would be perfect.  I think I'm gonna make the drive north to see him at his hearings.  It should be fun.

[Erinys]

More:

http://stpetetimes.com/2005/03/23/Neigh ... reli.shtml

Chapel leaves up religious symbols


Christ at the Sea Foundation hasn't met conditions set at a hearing. One resident threatens to sue.
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published March 23, 2005
------------------------------------------------------------------------


MADEIRA BEACH - A controversial private chapel is again in violation of city codes and faces a potential fine of up to $500 a day unless its owners remove all exterior religious symbols.

The city has formally cited Christ at the Sea Foundation for failing to comply with conditions set during a hearing last month before Special Master Herbert Langford Jr.

Chief among those conditions were removal of the church's roof-top cupola and cross, as well as all other religious symbols and signage on the exterior of the building, located at 13280 Fourth St. E.

None of those conditions have been met, Director of Community Development Paula Cohen says.

Now, the foundation and its leader, Dr. Miller Newton, will have to appear once again before Langford, this time sitting as the city's special master for code violations. The hearing is set for 2 p.m. April 13 at City Hall.

If no resolution can be reached, the city could levy fines of up to $500 a day - and even a jail term of up to 60 days, according to Cohen.

Only two things could stop this process - compliance with the conditions set by Langford or a court injunction.

Meanwhile, residents in the area, who originally protested conversion of part of a single family home into a private chapel, are not pleased.

An e-mail sent by resident James Kelley to Mayor Charles Parker two weeks ago castigated the city for failing to take action against Newton and the foundation.

"I am considering suing the city for failure to enforce its zoning laws," wrote Kelley, who accused Parker and City Manager Jill Silverboard of favoring Newton and his church.

However, Parker said Friday that he "believes in the legal process" and approves the code violations filed against Newton.

"Mr. Newton had his day in court (the special master hearing) and he has apparently refused to comply with that ruling. He will have to bear the consequences," Parker says.

But, Newton may be seeking a different kind of "day in court." His attorney, Rena Lindevaldsen of Liberty Counsel, wrote to the city recently declaring Newton's intent to fight the special master ruling in federal court.

"It is unconstitutional for a government entity to impose a land use regulation on a religious organization," Lindevaldsen wrote. "(The order) has created a substantial burden on the ability of Christ at the Sea to use its property in furtherance of its mission."

She asked the city to halt its code violation hearing process until the issue could be decided in federal court.

No federal lawsuit has yet been filed. The deadline for appealing Langford's conditions in state Circuit Court has passed.

Silverboard said the city's attorney instructed her not to postpone the code hearing unless a court stay or injunction is issued.

The home on the property was expanded, with city permitting, in 1998 to include a recreation structure that has since been used, in violation of city code, as a private chapel for the Orthodox Church of Antioch. Newton is a priest in the church and originally owned the building before turning it over to the foundation.

The controversy began months ago when neighbors protested the building of a cupola with a cross on the roof of the foundation's building, which is in a residential neighborhood. The foundation uses the building as a temporary residence and prayer center for members of the church.

Newton then applied for a special exception to use the property as a church to resolve the dispute.

Langford's final ruling in February not only required the removal of all religious symbols on the exterior of the property, but also restricted the use of the building, as well as the type and number of services and the number of people who could participate in those services.
[Last modified March 23, 2005, 00:55:18]

Vain are the thousand creeds that move men's hearts, unutterably vain, worthless as wither'd weeds.
--Emily Bronte

[Anonymous]

I am curious how he will play the religious freedom vs the state thing

[Anonymous]

When I was in Kids of Bergen County, Miller and Ruth Ann Newton did not allow the free practice of
religion.  He allowed no practice of religion, actually.  Christians could not have a bible.  No one who was on first phase was allowed to read, not even a street sign or billboard, to the point that we often had to keep our keeps down below the
window line en route to the host homes.  
Muslims could not pray - let alone known when sunrise or sunset was.  
Jewish persons on first phase, and probably second
phase, were not allowed to go to temple.  
I remember I requested a bible when I got there,
and was told I was not allowed to read and could not have one.
This man is a hipocrate, a decieving, power hungry
individual.  I assure you, what goes on behind the closed doors of his church are not you typical orthodox service (my opinion).  
I wonder who he has locked in there, who's child
has been turned over to him to be saved only to be
tortured. I wouldn't be surprized if such were the case.

[Anonymous]

60 days in Jail? That won't happen but what if it did? It would mean so little.
Now make it 6 years and then you'd have something.
It still would be a softer experience than the
zero freedom 1st phase life. But at least he'd be
humiliated.  A common criminal. A petty violator of the law.