Ohio church, local town battle over effort to stay open 24/7 to serve homeless
A local Ohio church says it simply wants to stay open overnight to help the most vulnerable citizens in its community, but the city has repeatedly targeted the local pastor's efforts to provide around the clock shelter to homeless citizens.
Pastor Chris Avell faced nearly two dozen criminal charges for keeping his church open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, attorneys at First Liberty Institute (FLI), which is representing the church, told Fox News Digital. The goal is to assist anyone in the Bryan, Ohio community who wishes to use its facilities amid a reported housing shortage and a lack of space at the homeless shelter across the street.
According to one lawyer supporting the church, this all represents "vindictive, bullying behavior."
The city criminally charged Pastor Avell 19 times last November and issued the church an ultimatum to either cease operating overnight or face a penalty of $1,000 per day and a forced eviction, which would permanently shut down the church. Pastor Avell refused.
While 18 of the 19 charges have been voluntarily dismissed, one criminal charge remains, which lawyers say would force the eviction of the church. FLI maintains the attempts by the city are a violation of the Ohio Constitution, the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the Fair Housing Act because there are disabled individuals that stay inside the church.
"The one charge is still remaining and that's significant," Jeremy Dys, senior counsel and chair of religious institutions for FLI, told Fox News Digital. "That's a $1,000 a day fine while he's in noncompliance."
FLI and the law firms Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP and Spengler Nathanson PLL appealed a decision by a federal district court judge last week, denying a preliminary injunction to protect the religious activities of Dad’s Place and Pastor Avell to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. But, while Dad's Place and FLI were waiting on an emergency appeal from the Sixth Circuit, the city of Bryan filed a separate civil lawsuit in state court that, if successful, Dys said would effectively evict the church from its building.
"That carries with it some pretty significant problems," Dys told Fox News Digital. "What they're trying to do is to try to get the people out of there, at least overnight. Now they're citing the fire code saying that there's an issue of health and safety, which I think their own arguments actually undermine this. If they don't want people there overnight, well, is it any less safe to be there during the day without the necessary protection that they claim is needed there? That doesn't make sense."
"It's not a good move on their part," Dys added. "It's just purely vindictive, bullying behavior of the sort that we've seen over and over again from the town of Bryan, Ohio."
He claimed the move contradicts what the city's fire chief said in his sworn testimony in their depositions.
"He said he'd have no problem with people sleeping there, as long as they are not in the prone position, meaning laying down. So someone could sit with their head on a desk. That shouldn't be a problem," Dys told Fox News Digital.
Mayor Carrie Schlade hit back at claims by the church, telling Fox News Digital in a statement: "It is simply not true that the City of Bryan is harassing Dad's Place. In fact, in a recent court ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary said that the City of Bryan is properly pursuing enforcement of its fire and zoning codes in the name of safety. That is all we have ever been focused on - safety."
The statement added, "Dad’s Place has claimed it ‘wants to be a place of safety for those in desperate need.’ Yet, instead of simply complying with the law and zoning codes, Dad's Place Pastor Chris Avell is putting in danger the very people he claims to serve.
Dad's Place is welcome in Bryan. We simply want Pastor Avell to follow the law and protect the people who gather at Dad's Place."
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Dys described the situation as "tragic" for Pastor Avell, because he wants to support the struggling people in his community, but instead "they are prosecuting him, trying to get a criminal conviction of this pastor, and it is atrocious."