Barrow, Evans Outline Their Plans

In a case unique in American history, Central Pastor Tony Spell was twice arrested in 2020 by Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran for the “crime” of holding church services.  In May of this year, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that Rev. Spell’s arrest was “illegal” and “unconstitutional” under both the United States Constitution and the Louisiana Constitution.

The state supreme court threw out the criminal charges against the pastor.  What is still pending is the pastor’s civil rights suit against Gov. John Bel Edwards, Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, and Corcoran.  

On Monday, Oct. 3, the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals will meet at the federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, to hear oral arguments from Spell’s attorneys, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and Baton Rouge attorney Jeff Wittenbrink.

One of the important legal issues to be considered is the argument by the defendants that they are protected by “qualified immunity.” The defendants argue that even if they violated the pastor’s constitutional rights, they are immune from liability in this case.

Rev. Spell has issued the following statement regarding the hearing:

STATEMENT BY 

REV. TONY SPELL

Monday, October 3, 2022 will be another red-letter day in the history of religious liberty.

That morning the U. S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will meet in Fort Worth, Texas, to consider the case of Pastor Tony Spell v. Gov. John Bel Edwards et al.  This is our suit for deprivation of federal civil rights based on my arrest and imprisonment on orders of Gov. Edwards for the crime of holding in-person worship services at Life Tabernacle Church.  

However, this is not just about my arrest and imprisonment.  It’s also about the Governor and the Mayor-President telling the public not to attend our church; the 24-hour surveillance of Sister Spell, our congregation, and me by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies; wiretapping our phones; facial recognition photos of our congregation and everyone coming and going at the church; the firing of members of Life Tabernacle who chose to continue attending church; the refusal of the Sheriff to respond to calls for help from our church; putting me in an ankle bracelet; restricting my travel outside Louisiana, and much more.  It’s about all the things the Governor, the Sheriff, and the Police Chief did to us for the “crime” of holding church.

Thanks to God above and our great legal team, the Louisiana Supreme Court dismissed all criminal charges against me, ruling that everything Gov. John Bel Edwards did to us was illegal and unconstitutional.  Now we are on the civil law side of the case, asking the federal courts to find the Governor, the Sheriff, and the Police Chief liable for their violation of our constitutional rights.

While the Louisiana Supreme Court has clearly determined that our religious liberties were violated, this case is before the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals because a federal District Judge ruled (incorrectly) that even if our religious liberty were violated, these three public officials cannot be held liable.  That judge cited the principle of sovereign immunity, the ancient concept in English law that “the king can do no wrong” and thus he cannot be held accountable for his actions.  The principle of sovereign immunity has been watered down over the years to the concept of qualified immunity, which is that a government officials cannot be held responsible for violating people’s rights, unless he knew his actions were illegal and unconstitutional.

However, there is a fundamental flaw in the Governor’s argument that his wrongful actions are protected from liability by his claim of qualified immunity.  The Governor knows the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right of everyone to hold church and worship freely!  Furthermore, if he missed that rather obvious part of American constitutional law, he must certainly have read the Emergency Powers Act, the state law which he repeatedly cited as the legal basis for his illegal, unconstitutional decrees and orders.  Within the Emergency Powers Act is Section 736D.  It says quite clearly that “Nothing in this Chapter shall diminish the rights set forth in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of the Rights of the Louisiana Constitution.”  Edwards knew or should have known his actions were unconstitutional.

Therefore, his claim of qualified immunity is without merit.

We are making another very important argument before the court.  Most attorneys would probably approach this civil case from an “equal protection” standpoint.  That argument is based on the 14th Amendment’s requirement that every person shall be guaranteed equal protection of the law.  This means that if WalMart is open with a thousand customers inside, you cannot restrict a church to 10 people, as Gov. Edwards tried to do.  However, the problem with that argument is, What if they close WalMart completely?  Do they then have the power to close churches?  Of course, they should not!  But you can see that, if we base our arguments solely on “equal protection,” we are abandoning our most fundamental argument — that the “free exercise clause” of the First Amendment guarantees that the church has the right to be open even if everything else is closed.

That’s why our argument is that the government has no power whatsoever under the First Amendment to exercise control over worship services.  Legally, it may be harder for the court to agree with us, but it is really what our case is about: The First Amendment.  Only secondarily is it about the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment!

I am believing October 3 will be a decisive day in American history!  Please pray that the courts will do their job and protect our fundamental liberty — not only for Life Tabernacle but for generations of Americans to come.

***

The hearing on Pastor Spell’s case will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 3 at the federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas.  It is open to the public.

He said the city has a strong reserve fund and keeps on hand $7 to $8 million — a full one year‘s budget — in case some disaster should hit.

Sales taxes are generating about $8 million a year, and the city is able to have a surplus of $1 million to 1.5 million a year, he said.

As to road construction, the city is able to spend up to $1.5 million dollars a year, while the MoveEBR program is providing another $1.8 to $2 million for new construction.

The mayor says the proposed Central Arena, which is being funded as a result of the work of Senator Bodi White, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has the potential to provide many benefits for the City of Central. He said the school board has been working on learning more about the project and had a good field trip to Sulphur to learn about the West-Cal Arena & Event Center. 

“The arena will be very good for community events and will have a variety of uses to benefit Central for many years to come,” he said. The mayor said Central’s future is bright and he will work to maintain the balance between the rural atmosphere and providing the amenities that everyone desires.

***

In his remarks to the Ronald Reagan Newsmaker Luncheon in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, Sept. 13, Central Mayor Pro-Tem Wade Evans had this to say:

Before the flood, I was in the landscaping business. After the flood, I tried to get our cabinets repaired and I realized what a need there was for cabinet work. I became a cabinet distributor and have served more than 200 homes. It became a new business for me.

That experience made me get out with people. It made me realize that ordinary people like me weren’t really being heard by people in public office. That led me to run for councilman at large in Central. I was fortunate enough to be elected and now serve as mayor pro tem.

This has given me the opportunity to learn a great deal about our community and about public service. Some people say I’m always running. The truth is I’ve been in the trenches — or literally in the ditches — of our community working on the problems of our community.

It’s been frustrating to bring plans and ideas and had almost all of them rejected, even though we have money in the bank. At the beginning of the last term, Central had $33 million on hand and today we have $65 million in the bank.

I strongly believe we need a well thought out drainage plan and an equally well thought out road plan. Riding around the city to see what roads need to be fixed is not really sufficient. You need to have a comprehensive plan and wisely spend $3 to $4 million a year on roads.

Drainage is a somewhat different issue. Roadside ditches flow to bayous and then to rivers. The Corps is working on the Comite. We spend far too much money on studies and not enough an actual work. I believe we can develop a good road plan and a good drainage plan within 30 to 60 days.

Central survives totally on our 2% sales tax plus money from MoveEBR — about $2 to $3 million a year. It needs to be put to work.

Besides roads and drainage, the third thing we need to focus on is creating a pro-business atmosphere. The reality is we need to generate more business.

Central faces is a choice. Either we can have more rooftops, which is not what people want, or we can be a destination location where people want to come and spend money but not necessarily live here.

Our City Council has made the rules for new developments stricter. One way is by making sure that developers have bigger retention ponds and invest more in things that will assist with drainage.  

One of the things that we can do is brand our city. We already have a fine community sports park, Blackwater Conservation Park, the Frenchtown Conservation Area, and two bike trails.  We also have the old hospital property on Greenwell Springs Road, which has many potential uses. For example, we could have a kayak launch at a park built at the old hospital to go down to the Frenchtown Conservation Area.

I’d like us to create destinations where people would bring their money but where we don’t necessarily have to educate their children. As to the new arena which Sen. Bodi White has provided funds for, it has tremendous potential for livestock events and much more. Eventually, this needs to be under the city. Eight months ago I spearheaded a study of the feasibility of having an arena here. So I think it is a great idea.  We just need to do our homework to make sure it is feasible.

The mayor has proposed a 10-acre site for City Hall. While I do not necessarily favor that particular location, I think it is important to move forward, and I have a proposal.

The last few months have been very significant for me and I have really grown spiritually. I am a child of God, father of three, husband, and a business owner who wants to make our community better. I would really appreciate your support!