New Florida Town - No Porn or Rubbers

wow. This is fucked up.

New Florida town would restrict abortion
Domino's founder building community around Catholic university

NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.

The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.

The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.

The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.

During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.

Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.

"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.

Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.

"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan. "The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," he said. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."

Gov. Jeb Bush, at the site's groundbreaking earlier this month, lauded the development as a new kind of town where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.

"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.

Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, likened Monaghan's concept to Islamic fundamentalism.

"This is un-American," Kissling said. "I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens."

 

It's a publicity stunt that's doomed to fail. If you want to live in a place like that, move to Vatican City. That's about the only place on earth that really adheres to such restrictions. Bottom line, what he's wanting to do cannot be done in the USA.

 

All it would take to doom that project and tie it up in court for years is one high bid offer for one of those houses by a "non-believer" backed or not by the ACLU, and then the home owner (or illegally denied buyer) would have standing to challenge the constitutionality of every deed restriction, etc in the community.

Hasbeen is right, it's doomed. I really don't care if a group of people want to live that way, but trying to make a separate state to live in is just never gonna fly in the U.S.

 

This is the key phrase, and why there is not anything wrong with what he is doing.

I'm sure that people would be allowed to have condoms in the house or download porn, but that doesn't mean that they could buy them at the local 7-11. A citywide ban on satellite dishes would tighten things down too.

What I find absoutely amazing is that people are so up in arms about a place that does not yet exist. If you don't like the rules, don't freaking move there. It's not like they are changing the rules in the town that people grew up in.

 

I smell investment opportunity.

A giant, Walmart-sized porn shop right outside of town.

 

And what pisses me off is that he's got to know that. All he's going to do is tie up the courts with unwinnable crap that's not even worth debating.

 

People move to the middle of Africa or South America and risk death to do what they think God wants them to do. What's some court costs and legal fees compared to that?

Plus, I still don't think that he's doing anything illegal.

 

It's bigger than that, though, Kozel. If by some miracle (no pun intended) he manages to pull this off, what's to stop wealthy people of other religions from doing the same?

"Welcome to Islamville. Peace be unto you. Here's your Qur'an, and here's the facial covering for your wife and daughter. East is that way. Have a nice day."

 

That would be an interesting little test for this city. A strict Islamic family would have many of the same values, and probably could not be restricted from moving there becasue of First Ammendment issues.

But Islamville would be awesome if the had 2 high schools. They could have Jihad and suicied bombings before (or during) the big football game.

 

I think your comparing this to missionaries is a bit apples and oranges.

Not yet, but I can't see how the kinds of laws he wants to have there won't be in staunch conflict with the ACLU and Constitutional law. Like Harry said, it only takes one person with the resources and will to blow the whole thing up in court.