In other business, County Council voted 7-2 to table a $20,000 grant of table game taxes for the restoration of the 187' tall steeple at Easton's First United Church of Christ. Voting Yes were John Cusick, Peg Ferraro, Bill McGee, Matt Dietz, Kevin Lott, Bob Werner and Lori Vargo Heffner. Voting No were Council President Ron Heckman and Tara Zrinski.
The previous day, Council Solicitor Chris Spadoni advised Council that the proposed grant appears to be consistent with the Establishment Clause. But Council members, particularly Heckman and Dietz, expressed concern that the county is buying a lawsuit.
Though the resolution has been tabled, the grant is still a part of the budget. A budget amendment is needed to remove the grant in its entirety.
23 comments:
Am hearing some NJ cases were cited and given to council. Is the county solicitor a constitutional lawyer by any chance? Is this a PA constitution issue or a US constitution issue...or both? Council skating on thin ice here and surely a law suit will ensue regardless of Spadoni's valued legal opinion. I implore council to do the right thing...now..before it is too late. Walk away from Dowd and his adherents. He is not worth the trouble he brings you.
In regard to the source of those cyber attacks, a colleague who is knowledgeable about security issues in Ukraine writes "Keep in mind that Russia uses a lot of infected servers in Ukraine. This a price you pay when most of your country’s operating systems are pirated copies of software missing a decade of security upgrades."
Wild camp must be colluding with the Ukrainians.
Bring back the old metal voting machine monstrosities. That was an era when computers were very rare, and had no access to the units.
Express-Times contacted. MCall..left several messages..awaiting call backs.
Looks like the process by which the steeple funding slips by. Go ahead county council. Make the ACLU's day.
"most of the attacks originated from Ukraine"
Originated in Ukraine or routed through Ukrainian servers so as to mask the true origination?
Such unsophisticated trajectory that gives away origination might be an indication that some entity may be attempting to make Russia appear to be more influential in our elections than they are, while at the same time diverting attention away from their own potential undue influence on our elections, whether they be internal or external.
I think there are those that are far more interested in our election outcomes than the Ukraine.
It has got to be the dysfunctional democrats infecting all venues in the tri boro three ring circus carnival. There is a for instance from yesterday's gas commodity tax as I personally spent 8hrs grounded in my car and made to go around in circles? Not only are they doing the milk, bread and eggs commodity this bunch of political parasites are costing the populus?
I am very sure the imaginary EMA person spoke so highly of must have been seeking grants instead of coordinating the public servants in this the snow emergency x3?
Just think and they call me a retard, simpletons.
I asked the President if McClure is right and he said it was "Fake News"
I did not realize Dowd had so much influence over the county. They are fighting hard for him on this one. The republicans wanting to give him money is no surprise. Neither is the economic development people since I am told they always take care of each other but he even has the democrats helping him. You are fixing his active church, he is the minster. If there ever was a case of the government funding a religious organization this is it. What is so hard to understand. I am just amazed at how long this stupid debate has gone on and how hard the administration is pushing it.. I guess Dowd has major favors to call in.
Evidently Dowd could care less about the US constitution and more about his church building. Dowd is not worth the trouble he will eventually cause over this grant regardless of the favors he is owed by those in power here. This is a clear cut abuse of power by council and a clear violation of the US Constitution's Entitlement clause. Spadoni is not a constitutional law scholar yet council will take his advice and plunge headlong into a legal quagmire that will cost the tax payers dearly! Stop now and tell Dowd to get lost!
I was told it is not for the church but for the church bell tower and that is different than a church.?.?
It is most certainly for the church and it serves a religious purpose as a “beacon of hope and faith,” as stated at the hearing.
anon 8:00 are you serious? Whomever told you that either thinks you are an idiot or is playing a joke. I cannot believe any of those elected official are dumb enough to buy that story. The steeple is not part of the church?? Now that is funny! Why not just be honest and say we want some of that cash to fix up our church. How gullible are some of these people. They are elected to watch over our money??
Hard top believe the county is giving a church this money.
Stop watching porn on county computers. This is why we can't have clean networks.
Turn this whole project over to Steve Barron. He will get the Unions involved and they will rebuild the steeple free of charge. They owe him big time for selling the County down the river while he was controller.
Those who ask..get..especially if your name is Dowd.
9:04, The NJ cases have no application. They deal with a provision in the NJ Constitution that have no application to what is going on here. I have no problem with aid to a church, provided it is for a secular purpose.
Dowd, the douche strikes again!
UCC among other liberal protestant established denominations in retreat as attendance dwindles yearly. The baby boomers kept them afloat but the next generation has shunned organized religon except for major religious holidays and funeral,baptism services. Dowd trying to prop up an antiquated ideology at tax payers expense.
Can't blame Dowd for using his insider economic development ties at the county to grab for some easy cash for his church rehab. The problem is the elected county officials that are either to dumb or to arrogant to just stop it.
I would rather see proper public attention and reasonable money spent on this church than to see it falter and go to some other religious group. That is, if the congregation would suffer a sad financial failure, I would rather see a public/private partnership with the current and original congregation or have it become a publicly owned building which could be used as a museum and lecture hall and rooms rented for other public and/or religious meetings. The reason is that it is of historical importance as a colonial site, having served as a hospital for the wounded Revolutionary War troops and also a location for certain Indian treaties [it's all available history at the NC Historical Society, Easton Library, and the church in Easton.] The history is way too rich, too significant for the citizenry to ignore.
By the way, I am a member of another church in Easton for which I would not expect the same attention.
Can someone explain to me how Russia or the Ukraine tried to infiltrate our voting machines 44 times when the machines at the polling place are not hooked up to the internet. Bernie, I think our county executive has been staring at the steeple too long.
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