NJ man double-crossed by town for displaying two crosses in front yard

alliancedefensefund.org ^ | 07/01/2011 | Jon Scruggs

[massmike]

The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the township of Livingston urging officials to stop using a town ordinance to prohibit a resident from displaying crosses in various areas of his own yard. Police ordered the homeowner to take down a cross he had affixed to a tree in celebration of Lent after a neighbor complained.

“It’s ridiculous to stop citizens from displaying a cross on their own property,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The Constitution guarantees the right of Americans to express their religious beliefs in this fashion, and no local ordinance can trump that.

In April, Patrick Racaniello displayed a 31-by-19-inch wooden cross on a tree in his front yard to celebrate the season of Lent. When an irate neighbor screamed objections about the cross at him and his family, Racaniello called the police, who later ordered him to remove the cross because it was located on a tree within eight feet from the curb. Fearing a citation, Racaniello complied.

Still desiring to display his cross, Racaniello built a 6-by-4-foot wooden cross and placed it in his yard nine feet from the curb. Township officials told him that he was again in violation of Livingston Ordinance 178-11 and that the township requires a 10-foot right-of-way into his yard. The zoning inspector then sent Racaniello a letter that demanded he “move the cross to another location on your property, outside of the Township right-of-way and not on any tree….”

Racaniello also wants to display a cross on a tree further back in his yard, but he is refraining from doing so out of fear of reprisal from zoning officials, who are now prohibiting him from displaying a cross on any tree on his property.

[DonaldC]

The world east of the Mississippi has gone nuts.

[Red Badger]

When an irate neighbor screamed objections about the cross at him and his family...

THOSE DARN AMISH AGAIN..............

[massmike]

The sad thing is that if he was burning the flag,the town probably wouldn’t have said “boo!” to him.

[Greysard]

zoning officials, who are now prohibiting him from displaying a cross on any tree on his property.

This should be nipped in the bud, of course. But if the guy wants to work around the system he should make the cross out of branches of living trees. The city fathers will overheat and explode since they are probably druids and worship trees.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

““move the cross to another location on your property, outside of the Township right-of-way ....”

I don't follow. Is it his property, or the township's. Is the property in question actually part of the road right-of-way; or does the township claim an interest in private properties?

[Spktyr]

Well, you know, if you’re a vampire, it is quite irritating if your neighbor starts nailing up crosses everywhere... :P

[antiRepublicrat]

BS. I just read 178-11:

“No person shall post or affix any notice, poster or other paper or device calculated to attract the attention of the public, nor cause, suffer or permit the same to be posted or affixed, to any tree, lamppost, public utility pole or traffic sign, or upon any public building or structure, except as may be permitted or required by law.”

Not a public building, his own property. They are trying to claim that their right-of-way effectively turns his yard into public land or a public tree. Right-of-way doesn’t do that, it only creates an easement in case they need to do something on his yard relating to public works.

[DonaldC]

If Mexico were really interested in upholding laws....

[DonaldC]

oops, my last post was in the wrong thread...sorry.

[lowbridge]

bump

[ml/nj]

How is this different from a display at Christmas time?

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

And are mezuzzas on ones front door still okay?

ML/NJ

[lowbridge]

But if the guy wants to work around the system he should make the cross out of branches of living trees.

Or shape crosses out of his bushes :-)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

They'll fine you for pruning your trees in an unapproved manner.

[muawiyah]

Naw, this guy simply moved into a neighborhood where there are a number of people who have an unnatural and bizarre fear of a "cross".

I'd imagine they wri e le ers wi hou he le er " "

[Godwin1]

Who is the neighbor? What kind of person would object to a cross placed on another person’s property? Only a bigot, a bigot with the totalitarian need to control others.

[goldi]

He should put it in his front window.

[Jack Hammer]

The real question here is, who would complain?????

[Coleus]

Livingston, the childhood home of NJ Governor Chris Christie.  A town whose library was also threatened by the ADF for not allowing religious groups to use the library's community room.  This is a type of liberal town that doesn't like Christmas either.  The city said the cross attracted too much attention, then how about billboards?

Cross on Livingston resident's lawn becomes First Amendment flashpoint

Livingston resident Patrick Racaniello wanted to celebrate Lent in a simple way, but his gesture — affixing a wooden cross on a tree in his yard — apparently brought the ire of neighbors and then an official admonition by zoning officials, which ordered the cross taken down. He has since built a bigger cross, and enlisted an Arizona legal alliance that advocates on behalf of religious freedom, whose lawyers are threatening legal action, saying his free speech rights are being arbitrarily stifled.