Civil Commotion

• Roselle church says abuse by former deacon a ‘terrible tragedy’

  Leaders of the Living Hope Bible Church in Roselle say they are grieving after learning a former deacon faces charges for sexually abusing a young girl.

  A statement released Friday by the pastors and elders of the church states that the senior pastor learned about the abuse on Aug. 30, and immediately reported it to police.

• Former Los Alamos pastor gets 1 year in jail for child porn

  A Los Alamos church pastor who pleaded guilty to owning and distributing child pornography must serve a year in jail and register as a sex offender.

  A judge in Santa Fe handed down the sentence Friday for 54-year-old Paul Cunningham.

I’ve never known the origin of the tradition, but every Labor Day the Mackinac Bridge — the bridge between the Upper- and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan — is opened to foot-traffic for those who want to walk across. My participation will be confined to occasionally checking-in on the Bridge Authority’s webcam.

The Holy Men are getting worried.

They’re coming after your housing allowance…again

“They” would be the Freedom From Religion Foundation which gained a victory in a federal court district ruling in 2013 which disallowed the cash housing allowance. Unfortunately for them, the ruling was overturned at the appeals level. The appeals court found a problem with a technical legal issue, standing, and made no determination about the constitutionality of the cash version of the minister’s housing allowance.

This problem with standing has been resolved and we should expect, I am told, to see another suit filed by the FFRF challenging the housing allowance.

Good for the FFRF; I hope they prevail.

Uhhh … what? A sale on hair gel?

‘RenCen’ is Renaissance Center, an office complex built by the Ford family in the mid-70s. It was a commercial failure.