January 7, 2009
BATAVIA – The Clermont County Public Library has settled a lawsuit with a couple barred from holding a free financial planning seminar because they intended to quote the Bible.
George and Cathy Vandergriff of Pierce Township were paid $2. The Institute for Principled Policy, which joined them in the suit, received $1.
“We were never in it for the money,” George Vandergriff said Wednesday. “We are Christians, we believe in the Bible – that it’s God’s inerrant word – and we believe that everyone could profit from studying it.”
The library will pay $10,000 to David R. Langdon and other attorneys for the Vandergriffs, who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in June.
Insurance will cover half of the amount paid to the attorneys, or $5,000, said Joe Braun, president of the library board.“We’re disappointed in the fact there was no admission of guilt even though we know the reason they settled is they thought they were guilty,” Vandergriff said.Braun disputed that.“Every member of the Clermont County Library Board is a practicing Christian,” Braun said. “So it’s beyond my comprehension that anyone would suggest we would treat someone in an improper manner because of their religion.”Prompted by the suit, the library board voted in June to limit the use of meeting rooms to library programs. The 10-branch system’s old policy had allowed groups such as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and other nonprofits to use meeting rooms, but it had prohibited the use of rooms for political, religious or social events.“We regret that we caused this to happen, but at the same time we felt there was a wrong that needed to be righted,” Vandergriff said. “It’s kind of a chicken way to do things. … If they believed their policy was OK, then fight it – but they didn’t.”After the suit was filed, Braun said the library was leery of allowing groups “of any belief and to any extreme” to meet at branches.“I don’t think we should be expending public dollars to fight a lawsuit like this,” Braun said. “Its something that could have been resolved without intervention of the courts had they simply approached the board with their concerns.”The Vandergriffs had requested permission to hold seminars on two days in April at the Amelia branch at 58 Maple St. The request was denied by Dave Mezack, director of the library system.“One of the things we could have done is arranged for them to have met somewhere else – a school, a church or a community building,” Braun said.“We had been holding them in churches before this,” Vandergriff said of the financial seminars. “We started our teaching in church back in the late 1980s.”Vandergriff, 65, said he and his wife, Cathy, 53, are independent Baptists who belong to Lindale Baptist Church in Ohio Township.After The Enquirer first reported on the suit, the couple received an invitation to hold one of their seminars from noon to 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Carnegie Public Library in Washington Courthouse, Vandergriff said. The free seminar is limited to 25 people, who are encouraged to bring Bibles. Call the library at 740-335-2540 to register.“We’re really excited about it,” Vandergriff said. “We just started doing them in public venues.”Discussion of the Bible in a library should be protected under the First Amendment right to free speech, Vandergriff said.“I feel that some of the municipalities or other government entities need to understand what the Constitution says – specifically the Bill of Rights,” Vandergriff said.
“We were never in it for the money,” George Vandergriff said Wednesday. “We are Christians, we believe in the Bible – that it’s God’s inerrant word – and we believe that everyone could profit from studying it.”
The library will pay $10,000 to David R. Langdon and other attorneys for the Vandergriffs, who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in June.
Insurance will cover half of the amount paid to the attorneys, or $5,000, said Joe Braun, president of the library board.“We’re disappointed in the fact there was no admission of guilt even though we know the reason they settled is they thought they were guilty,” Vandergriff said.Braun disputed that.“Every member of the Clermont County Library Board is a practicing Christian,” Braun said. “So it’s beyond my comprehension that anyone would suggest we would treat someone in an improper manner because of their religion.”Prompted by the suit, the library board voted in June to limit the use of meeting rooms to library programs. The 10-branch system’s old policy had allowed groups such as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and other nonprofits to use meeting rooms, but it had prohibited the use of rooms for political, religious or social events.“We regret that we caused this to happen, but at the same time we felt there was a wrong that needed to be righted,” Vandergriff said. “It’s kind of a chicken way to do things. … If they believed their policy was OK, then fight it – but they didn’t.”After the suit was filed, Braun said the library was leery of allowing groups “of any belief and to any extreme” to meet at branches.“I don’t think we should be expending public dollars to fight a lawsuit like this,” Braun said. “Its something that could have been resolved without intervention of the courts had they simply approached the board with their concerns.”The Vandergriffs had requested permission to hold seminars on two days in April at the Amelia branch at 58 Maple St. The request was denied by Dave Mezack, director of the library system.“One of the things we could have done is arranged for them to have met somewhere else – a school, a church or a community building,” Braun said.“We had been holding them in churches before this,” Vandergriff said of the financial seminars. “We started our teaching in church back in the late 1980s.”Vandergriff, 65, said he and his wife, Cathy, 53, are independent Baptists who belong to Lindale Baptist Church in Ohio Township.After The Enquirer first reported on the suit, the couple received an invitation to hold one of their seminars from noon to 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Carnegie Public Library in Washington Courthouse, Vandergriff said. The free seminar is limited to 25 people, who are encouraged to bring Bibles. Call the library at 740-335-2540 to register.“We’re really excited about it,” Vandergriff said. “We just started doing them in public venues.”Discussion of the Bible in a library should be protected under the First Amendment right to free speech, Vandergriff said.“I feel that some of the municipalities or other government entities need to understand what the Constitution says – specifically the Bill of Rights,” Vandergriff said.
By Barrett J. Brunsman • bbrunsman@enquirer.com • January 7, 2009
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