The Clermont County Public Library Board of Trustees is facing a lawsuit in Federal Court for not allowing a financial planning meeting in the Amelia branch for religious reasons. The library is being sued by George and Kathy Vandergriff of Amelia and the Institute for Principled Policy which sponsored the seminar.
The Vandergriffs have been doing Crown Financial Ministries financial seminars since the late 1980s. Most of the seminars were held at the Vandergriffs' church, Lindale Baptist on state Route 132 in Amelia.
"We had done them quite often at church," George Vandergriff said. "We felt there were people who were reluctant to come to a church setting for instruction of Biblically based financial planning."
The Vandergriffs felt the Amelia branch of the Clermont County Public Library would be an ideal neutral location. Cathy Vandergriff first approached a library employee about using a room on Dec. 21, 2007. When she mentioned the financial planning seminar was Biblically based, the library staff member asked if she would be quoting scripture or praying. When Vandergriff said yes, the staff member said she would not be permitted to use the room and explained that the library's policy states, "The use of Library meeting rooms for political, religious or social events, or any other reasons specifically designated by the Board of Trustees, is not permitted." The policy was adopted July 8, 2002.
George Vandergriff then submitted a written request for use of a meeting room in either the Amelia, Williamsburg, New Richmond, Union Township, or Owensville branches, using the library form, for the seminar on March 21, 2008. This request was denied by interim-Director Dave Mezack in writing on March 25 on the grounds that Vandergriff would be quoting "biblical versus" (sic).
The Vandergriffs, along with the Institute for Principled Policy, filed a lawsuit against the library's board of trustees on June 4. The suit claimed a violation of the Vandergriffs' first amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, as well as their 14th amendment right to due process through equal treatment.
At the June 9 board meeting at the Williamsburg branch, the trustees voted to adopt a new meeting room policy that will only allow rooms to be used by the library or for library sponsored events, immediately eliminating all public organization use of the rooms, according to Clermont County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mary Lynne Birck.
On July 10 Birck filed a motion arguing that the lawsuit is now moot because of the new policy. Birck said that according to several precedence, once a government organization eliminates the possibility of a repeat violation, the organization is no longer liable. Birck also stated the 14th amendment violations were moot because the Vandergriffs failed to appeal the decision, or file a complaint with the board of trustees regarding the decision.
The Vandergriffs' attorneys Timothy Chandler and David Langdon have not yet filed a response to Birck's argument and a decision on the case is not expected for sometime.
The News Democrat was unable to contact anyone from the Clermont County Library for comment. However, the libraries in Brown County have also been following the issue. According to Alison Gibson, director/clerk-treasurer of the Union Township Public Library, there have been no incidents at the Union Township Public Library since the library does not have a room that is rented out to private parties.
"It's just a public room," Gibson said. "We don't rent it out to any private group, like a wedding party. The room doesn't have a kitchen or anything, it's just not built for that."
Gibson said that many of the people who use the room for informal meetings and organization meetings usually like to start the meeting with a pledge or something similar. According to Gibson, there have been no incidents or complaints about prayer. However, the library is keeping an eye on the issue.
"We've been watching it (the lawsuit) and have been reading articles on the internet and blogs. If something comes out of this where we have to change the meeting room policy," said Gibson, "we'll definitely take that into consideration."
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