Rob Sherman Advocacy         

November 1, 2006

Rob Sherman Advocacy Succeeds Again
Burbank, IL, Drops Requirement that Resident Display Christian Cross from her Car
 

      The attorney for Rob Sherman Advocacy has reached a settlement with the attorney for the City of Burbank, IL (southwest suburb of Chicago in the area of 79th Street between Cicero Avenue and Harlem Avenue), wherein resident Nichole Schultz is no longer required to display a Christian cross from the windshield of her car.

      Officials of the City of Burbank, like so many Christian government officials before them, tried to pull off a scam that would have forced Christianity down the throats of its residents.  This time, the secular excuse involved the City claiming that they were merely trying to honor veterans, but the way they chose to honor veterans was to put on their vehicle sticker a war memorial that has a prominent Christian cross as the central focus of the scene.  When one resident objected, City officials told her to just deal with it.  She dealt with it by asking me to put the fear of God into them.

      I asked them at a City Council meeting to be reasonable, but they replied that they wouldn't budge.  I then sent them a request (demand) letter in July, which they ignored, so last month, I asked my attorney, Dmitry Feofanov, to sue them in Federal Court.  We did and they caved.  Yesterday, the City agreed to allow Nichole to remove the sticker from her car, with a promise that they won't penalize her for not having a vehicle sticker on her windshield.

      Unfortunately for the taxpaying residents of the City of Burbank, this is going to cost them thousands of dollars in legal fees.

      There are two morals to this story for government officials:  First, if you violate the wall of separation between state and church, you're going to have Rob Sherman to deal with.  Second, it's going to cost your taxpayers a ton of money.

      Nichole has received a lot of abuse from people in the community accusing her of being anti-veteran.  Nichole asked me to let you know that she fully supports veterans.  She just doesn't want the government to use her support for veterans as a scam to force her to promote the Christian religion against her will.

      The Chicago Tribune published a story about this matter in the November 1, 2006, editions of their print and online newspapers.  I encourage you to view the article at the Chicago Tribune web site or to buy their newspaper and read it there.  For the convenience of those of you who are unable to do either of those two things, here is an unedited, cut-and-paste, library/archive copy of the article:

Settlement in vehicle sticker squabble


By Jo Napolitano
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 31, 2006, 7:47 PM CST

 
A Burbank woman who sued the city last month over the requirement that she display what she considers a Christian-themed sticker on her car will no longer have to comply with the ordinance under an out-of-court settlement, her attorney said.

According to a court filing dated Tuesday in which both parties asked that the federal case be dismissed, Nichole Schultz is no longer required to display the sticker, which includes a drawing of a soldier kneeling before a gravesite marked by a cross.

The filing states that if Schultz is ticketed for failing to display her sticker, the city will not pursue a fine.

Schultz's attorney, Dmitry Feofanov, said he expects the dismissal motion to be approved by a judge in the next few days.

City officials have said the grave marker is a generic symbol, not an endorsement of a particular religion, but Schultz, who has declined interviews, said in her lawsuit that Burbank was advocating the "forced Christianization" of her car and that she no longer wanted to drive her vehicle as a result.

Mayor Harry Klein said he was unaware of the latest developments and declined to comment. An attorney representing the city, mayor, clerk and City Council—all named as defendants in the case—could not be reached for comment.

Rob Sherman, an atheist advocate who had taken up Schultz's cause, was happy about the outcome.

"Of course it's a victory in that the city, without saying so, admitted that they were wrong," he said. "They admitted that the design of the sticker was unconstitutional. If they weren't wrong they wouldn't allow her to take the sticker off of her vehicle."

Such cases send a strong message to government officials about the importance of the separation of church and state, he said.

The court will decide if the city must pay Schultz's legal fees.

jnapolitano@tribune.com

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