Library brouhaha ends in settlement

Dunedin agrees to pay more than $3,600 to a religious group that was told it couldn't use a public meeting room. The city also will change its policy.

By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 22, 2003

DUNEDIN -- A month after a Central Florida religious group took the city to court over what it called an infringement of its constitutional right to free speech, the two sides reached a settlement this week.

Dunedin officials agreed to pay more than $3,600 in legal fees to the Liberty Counsel of Orlando -- a nonprofit, religious civil liberties education and legal defense organization.

The city also will change its policy prohibiting the use of public meeting rooms for programs of a political or religious nature.

"We're very pleased with the settlement and pleased that other people, as well, will benefit from this," said Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel for the Liberty Counsel. "Our position has always been that in a library community room that's open for anyone from the public to conduct a meeting, you can't censure a speech because it deals with a religious viewpoint."

Both sides expect a U.S. District Court judge to approve the terms of the settlement in the coming weeks.

The matter heated up after representatives from the group inquired about reserving a meeting room at the Dunedin Public Library for an open discussion on America's Christian heritage.

Dorothy Noggle, the library's community room coordinator, sent the representatives letters on Sept. 5 and Nov. 19 denying their requests.

The city's policy says, "Community rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to nonprofit tax-exempt (for federal income tax purposes) groups or organizations of an educational or cultural nature. Meetings/programs of political, religious or of a formal social nature are expressly forbidden."

But that's about to change.

The First Amendment guarantees free speech and the free exercise of religion, but it also prohibits the "establishment" of religion by government. However, when government creates a platform or forum for all comers, it is a violation of the First Amendment's free-speech guarantees to pick and choose speakers on the basis of their message, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

"This is a highly desirable settlement," City Attorney John Hubbard told city commissioners Thursday night. "This is about as cheap as these things can be."

Commissioners took Hubbard's advice and unanimously approved a motion to accept the settlement.

Hubbard is no stranger to matters of the First Amendment.

Last fall he found himself in a similar situation in Tarpon Springs, where he also serves as city attorney, when the library board there closed its community room to the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The city said the group violated the political neutrality clause in the library's policy by hosting political candidates at meetings.

But when the group called the decision unconstitutional and threatened to sue, Tarpon Springs city leaders opted to discontinue use of the room.

The result will be different in Dunedin.

"We have agreed to take out of our policy the present limitations on political and religious viewpoints," Hubbard said, adding that he plans to work with the city manager to amend the policies regarding the use of public facilities throughout the city. "We haven't agreed to anything that's not in the case law."

-- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Leon M. Tucker can be reached at 445-4167 or tucker@sptimes.com .

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