NashvillePost.com - Teen Challenge Sues Tennessee Locality
June 22, 2007
By E. Thomas Wood and Walker Duncan
NashvillePost.com
Political strategist Mike Kopp, speaking for Buck Dozier's mayoral campaign, said this afternoon that Dozier does not recall having any conversation with a Teen Challenge representative specifically about Rip Ryman's zoning amendment that affected the organization's plans.
"He does not believe he would have made the kind of comments she alleges in the lawsuit," Kopp said, adding that Dozier does not plan to comment further while the case is pending.
As originally posted:
Activist attorney, Larry Crain has filed a lawsuit against Metro government on behalf of the faith-based drug/alcohol rehab program Teen Challenge International.
The complaint, filed in Nashville's federal court, alleges that the organization was unfairly denied land use permits for a planned 13-acre facility in Goodlettsville due to improper political muscle-flexing by the district's councilman, Rip Ryman. It also asserts that mayoral candidate and Councilman-at-Large Buck Dozier was complicit in that impropriety.
According to the filing, which is available at this link, Springfield, Mo.-based Teen Challenge purchased 13 acres in Goodlettsville in March of 2006 with the intention of putting a residential rehabilitation facility on the land. Teen Challenge claims that though councilman Ryman initially seemed to support the idea, he soon launched a campaign to block the organization from getting the necessary approvals to build the facility.
In May of last year, Ryman set up a public meeting for residents of the area to discuss the proposed facility. At that meeting, held at Goodlettsville's Hillview Baptist Church, angry residents are said to have shouted down an official from Teen Challenge. According to the complaint, one of the remarks heard was: "We don't want any whores and drug addicts or sex offenders walking our streets!" The lawsuit claims that Ryman had misinformed the crowd as to the nature of facility.
Later, Teen Challenge claims, when it was seeking approval from various Metro agencies, Ryman used his influence to block attempts to obtain land use permits.
After the permits were granted anyway, Ryman proposed a zoning change for the property that would effectively block Teen Challenges plans.
After being voted down in the first reading, Rymans proposed amendment was approved in the two subsequent readings, though not without apparent reservations from some council members. The filing claims that Dozier admitted to Teen Challenge officials during the meeting that Rymans proposal was "probably illegal," but later stated, "I am voting for it anyway. I am committed and I cannot change."
As the bill was on third reading on February 6 of this year, Ryman is reported to have made this statement in the Council: "I dont care what you call it. If you want to call it a group home, half-way house, rehabilitation services, they always told me that if it walks like a monkey, it swings from a tree like a monkey, its gonna be a monkey." The lawsuit says several African-American members of the Teen Challenge staff who were present took offense.
Ryman told NashvillePost.com he had not yet seen a copy of the lawsuit e-mailed to him. A spokesperson for Buck Dozier said this afternoon he had not yet seen it either. This story will be updated with any comments received from either councilman.
In May of this year, Teen Challenge says, it was forced to sell the property at a significant loss.
The organization claims its participants' rights have been violated under three different federal statutes: the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It seeks $500,000 in damages as an institution and $50,000 for each of the three would-be residents of the facility listed anonymously as plaintiffs.
This lawsuit is the latest of several involving religious liberty claims that Crain has filed in recent years on behalf of the American Center for Law and Justice, an organization founded by televangelist Pat Robertson that pursues cases related to a variety of conservative causes.
By E. Thomas Wood and Walker Duncan
NashvillePost.com
Political strategist Mike Kopp, speaking for Buck Dozier's mayoral campaign, said this afternoon that Dozier does not recall having any conversation with a Teen Challenge representative specifically about Rip Ryman's zoning amendment that affected the organization's plans.
"He does not believe he would have made the kind of comments she alleges in the lawsuit," Kopp said, adding that Dozier does not plan to comment further while the case is pending.
As originally posted:
Activist attorney, Larry Crain has filed a lawsuit against Metro government on behalf of the faith-based drug/alcohol rehab program Teen Challenge International.
The complaint, filed in Nashville's federal court, alleges that the organization was unfairly denied land use permits for a planned 13-acre facility in Goodlettsville due to improper political muscle-flexing by the district's councilman, Rip Ryman. It also asserts that mayoral candidate and Councilman-at-Large Buck Dozier was complicit in that impropriety.
According to the filing, which is available at this link, Springfield, Mo.-based Teen Challenge purchased 13 acres in Goodlettsville in March of 2006 with the intention of putting a residential rehabilitation facility on the land. Teen Challenge claims that though councilman Ryman initially seemed to support the idea, he soon launched a campaign to block the organization from getting the necessary approvals to build the facility.
In May of last year, Ryman set up a public meeting for residents of the area to discuss the proposed facility. At that meeting, held at Goodlettsville's Hillview Baptist Church, angry residents are said to have shouted down an official from Teen Challenge. According to the complaint, one of the remarks heard was: "We don't want any whores and drug addicts or sex offenders walking our streets!" The lawsuit claims that Ryman had misinformed the crowd as to the nature of facility.
Later, Teen Challenge claims, when it was seeking approval from various Metro agencies, Ryman used his influence to block attempts to obtain land use permits.
After the permits were granted anyway, Ryman proposed a zoning change for the property that would effectively block Teen Challenges plans.
After being voted down in the first reading, Rymans proposed amendment was approved in the two subsequent readings, though not without apparent reservations from some council members. The filing claims that Dozier admitted to Teen Challenge officials during the meeting that Rymans proposal was "probably illegal," but later stated, "I am voting for it anyway. I am committed and I cannot change."
As the bill was on third reading on February 6 of this year, Ryman is reported to have made this statement in the Council: "I dont care what you call it. If you want to call it a group home, half-way house, rehabilitation services, they always told me that if it walks like a monkey, it swings from a tree like a monkey, its gonna be a monkey." The lawsuit says several African-American members of the Teen Challenge staff who were present took offense.
Ryman told NashvillePost.com he had not yet seen a copy of the lawsuit e-mailed to him. A spokesperson for Buck Dozier said this afternoon he had not yet seen it either. This story will be updated with any comments received from either councilman.
In May of this year, Teen Challenge says, it was forced to sell the property at a significant loss.
The organization claims its participants' rights have been violated under three different federal statutes: the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It seeks $500,000 in damages as an institution and $50,000 for each of the three would-be residents of the facility listed anonymously as plaintiffs.
This lawsuit is the latest of several involving religious liberty claims that Crain has filed in recent years on behalf of the American Center for Law and Justice, an organization founded by televangelist Pat Robertson that pursues cases related to a variety of conservative causes.