[Vision2020] Ten Commandments activists still owe city of Boise more than $10, 000

Fri Jun 27 17:10:43 PDT 2008

I see . . . according to those on the fringe, only those who claim to be
able to afford to pay their freely acquired debts should actually have to
pay.  And, for those who claim they can't afford to pay, then the government
should just pick up their tab.  And, because Fischer & Swindell are expected
to pay the bill they willingly ran up rather than having the taxpayers
financially foot their folly, it's "deeply disturbing" and "vindictive."
Imagine having to play by the same rules as the rest of us  J  Whining seems
to be a recurrent theme in certain circles, doesn't it?

Thanks for sharing the article with us, Tim - it gave me a great laugh!

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

Well-behaved women seldom make history.

~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2008 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of TIM RIGSBY
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 2:28 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Ten Commandments activists still owe city of Boise
more than $10, 000

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/427122.html

What is really crazy is that these people are upset because a lien was
placed on their property even though they have had 4-1/2 years to pay the
court ordered debt.  Some people are just crazy...

Ten Commandments activists still owe city of Boise more than $10,000

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Statesman file photo

In March 2004, the Ten Commandments monument was moved from Julia Davis Park
to St. Michael's Episcopal Church.

Kathleen Kreller - kkreller at idahostatesman.com

Edition Date: 06/27/08

Local Christian activists Bryan Fischer and Brandi Swindell are asking for
donations after the city of Boise slapped a lien on their property to
collect a $10,131 bill from their group's failed legal effort to keep a Ten
Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park.
Swindell and Fischer led a lengthy court battle to keep the monument in the
park.
The Boise City Attorney's Office wrote the duo they had until July 15 to
resolve the matter, or it would "proceed against you to collect the amounts
due, plus interest and costs."
In his daily newsletter, Fischer, a former pastor who runs the Idaho Values
Alliance, asks supporters for financial help.
"Ms. Swindell and I both work for small non-profit organizations and thus
have limited means," Fischer said. "The city of Boise, on the other hand,
has an annual budget of $479 million, and thus is certainly in a position to
waive this judgment."
"The recent actions by Mayor (Dave) Bieter and the Boise City Council to go
after a former pastor and single woman, who both run non-profit
organizations, is deeply disturbing on many levels," Swindell wrote a press
release, and went on to call the city's action "vindictive."
Adam Park, spokesman for Bieter, denied the city's action is vindictive.
A district judge ordered Generation Life, Swindell and Fischer to pay the
city's fees in connection with the suit in 2004, Park said. At that time, an
automatic lien was placed against the property when the order was recorded
in the Ada County Recorder's Office, he said.
Bieter and the Boise City Council directed the attorney's office to collect
the funds after recently finding out the money hadn't been paid, Park said.
"By requesting that the parties comply with the judge's order, we are simply
fulfilling our obligation to taxpayers to pursue all money owed to the city
by any party," Park said.
Park said the city is willing to work out a "payment plan."
Swindell and Fischer formed the Keep the Commandments Coalition after city
officials moved the 40-year-old Ten Commandments monument from Julia Davis
Park in March 2004.
The City Council removed the monument in 2004 to avoid a legal battle with a
controversial minister from Kansas seeking to put an anti-gay monument in
the park. The monument was donated to the city in the 1960s.
The coalition gathered more than 18,000 signatures in support of an
initiative that would have asked voters to return the monument. The group
filed legal requests to halt the move.
In April 2004, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ordered Swindell, Fischer
and Generation Life pay the city's attorney fees after a request from the
city.
Bieter refused to schedule an election, and a 4th District Court judge
agreed. The coalition asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the district
court's decision and prevailed.
In November 2006, nearly 53 percent of Boise voters rejected an initiative
asking the city to replace it.

" 'Politics is the art of controlling your environment.' That is one of the
key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody
who thinks that 'it doesn't matter who's President' has never been Drafted
and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of
the World -- or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public
property -- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons -- or
locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and
twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it
matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will
wish you had voted." - Hunter S. Thompson

  _____  

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