Ohio pastor charged for housing the homeless in his church sues city in federal lawsuit
The suit, filed Monday, accuses the city and its officials of launching a harassment campaign against Dad's Place, a church in Bryan, for keeping its doors open 24/7 for the homeless.
An Ohio pastor who was charged with zoning violations for housing people experiencing homelessness has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Bryan and its officials.
Earlier this year, Pastor Chris Avell decided to keep the doors of his church, Dad's Place, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to reach out to the city's most "vulnerable." Bryan is a small city of about 8,600 people, 65 miles west of Toledo.
In December, Avell was hit with 18 zoning violations by the city, which claimed he had violated a city ordinance that says residents can't stay on the first floor of that property. Further, the local fire chief found a slew of fire code violations at the church.
Avell pleaded not guilty to the charges at his Jan. 11 arraignment, according to online court records.
Now he's suing the city, claiming discrimination on the basis of religion and claiming city officials have launched a harassment campaign against the church.
where are the riots for better wages, housing, better public services, for actual politicians that are public servants out to do right for the citizens they themselves depend on, for worker's rights, or for anything?
what happened to the US?
We can’t do that cause that’s sOcIaLiSm (sarcasm)
We're also really tired from our demanding jobs. Most of us also can't just suddenly take time off work to protest these things.
Plus it's effort driving from our homes to wherever the protests may be. I'm being partially facetious here, but these all play a factor in this.
True. Can’t even get our Election Day as a federal holiday. The USA is a fucking sham.
Always has been.
You don't know about them because the media either refuses to cover them or misrepresents them.
For example, consider the shitshow going on around Cop City in Atlanta: the police have already murdered one protestor in cold blood, the mayor is thwarting a public referendum, etc.
Entitled dumb as shit boomers are what happened. You know the ones; they love mob stories and cops and robbers and cowboys and indians and oh are they SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SMART!
Because nobody riots for vague goals like that?
It's always reactionary to some event.
Why aren't you personally doing something?
Downvoting me won't solve the world's problems.
Judging by their wording, it sounds like they are from somewhere other than the US. What do you expect a foreigner to do that could possibly affect US domestic policy?