VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:23:28 12/02/02 Mon
Author: Cincinnati Post
Author Host/IP: dialup-65.58.210.30.Dial1.Cincinnati1.Level3.net / 65.58.210.30
Subject: Menorah up on Fountain Square Re: Well, the US Supreme Court speaks
In reply to: schwabra 's message, "Well, the US Supreme Court speaks" on 10:45:23 11/30/02 Sat

Menorah up on Fountain Square

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post staff report

Jewish leaders erected a menorah on Fountain Square today after the city's annual holiday decoration controversy went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati City Council member Jim Tarbell said something must be done to stop Fountain Square from becoming a "battlefield" at Christmas.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the city's ordinance that banned all private displays from Fountain Square during seven weeks of the winter holiday season. The ordinance was the most recent of numerous city attempts to keep a Ku Klux Klan cross off the square. Although the cross wasn't displayed last Christmas and isn't expected to be erected this Christmas, past Klan cross displays have touched off controversy, anger and violence.

Battle background
• The nonprofit Chabad Chabad of Southern Ohio challenged a municipal ordinance that says only the city can use Fountain Square during the last two weeks of November through the first week of January.
• The ordinance grew out of the city's efforts to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from erecting a cross during the Christmas season.

• Over the city's objections, the Klan won rulings in federal courts entitling them to erect crosses on Fountain Square in the 1990s.



The city ordinance also banned the menorah that has been erected on the square each year over the past decade.

The Jewish group that sponsors the menorah, Chabad of Southern Ohio/Congregation Lubavitch, filed a lawsuit against the ordinance in federal court and won, with Justice John Paul Stevens upholding the victory.

Rabbi Sholom Kalmanson complained about city officials' trying to keep the menorah off the square.

"From the viewpoint of city officials, the menorah has become a target," he said. "For some reason, city officials don't want the menorah there. I don't know why, but there's an innuendo that the menorah is chasing people off the square.

"That sends the wrong message to me. I think the square should be open to the public. That's part of democracy."

The menorah, about 10 feet high, is at the corner of Fifth and Vine streets.

One group, the Black Fist, is already promising to protest it. Kabaka Oba of the Black Fist organization said his group and others would hold a protest at noon Wednesday. "We believe the so-called Jews have opened the doors for the Klan to come in," said Oba.

Tarbell said the city is not against the menorah but that it is desperately seeking some solution to the Fountain Square's holiday controversy.

"The holiday season is a time to celebrate and come together, but it's been just the opposite here and it's got to stop," he said. "Fountain Square has become a battlefield instead of a sharing field.

"We can't continue this. It has brought out the worst in people. It's just tearing the town apart. We've got to find a middle ground, something that serves everyone."

Tarbell suggested a "community tree" on the square where various organizations could place standard sized "messages" on the tree as ornaments.

"There could be X's or O's or K's or menorahs or swastikas or whatever," he said. "The beauty is, one wouldn't take precedence over another."

Kalmanson bristled at the thought of placing a Jewish menorah on a "Christmas" tree.

"Who are we fooling here?" he asked. "It wouldn't be a community tree. It's the Christmas season, and it would be a Christmas tree. It would be offensive to Judaism if I put an ornament on a Christmas tree."

Tarbell said that, if there are objections to a community tree, then erect a geodesic dome with lots of panels for groups' messages or a scaffolding structure with spots for such messages.

"It's time to think outside the box to solve this problem," he said. "We've got to be more creative and make Fountain Square a source of pleasure during the holidays, not a source of angst."

Kalmanson, though, said the city is making things worse -- and even attracting the Klan to the controversy -- by continuing to fight against public displays on the square during the holidays.

"There was no Klan application for a cross last year or this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody from the Klan starts showing up again after what the city has tried to do," said Kalmanson.

"I think the city should stop being ridiculous and start spending its time, effort and energy on bigger problems."

Local representatives of the Ku Klux Klan could not be reached for comment.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-6
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.