In addition to our hardworking students and supportive parents, Atlas School has been discovered by a another special group of people—An especially exasperating group of people that is!—though surely provided in God’s providence to increase our vigilance.
They are the same people, which have been hostile to anyone and anything associated with Christ Church or Trinity Reformed Church for quite some time. We’ve even coined a term for them, “The Intoleristas.”
However, now they have found a new pebble to throw: They are seeking to apply the cities zoning code in a fundamentalist spirit in order to frustrate the ministries of New St. Andrews College (NSA) and now Atlas School.
This may be old news to many readers—the complaint that Atlas occupies its current location downtown in violation of city zoning codes was made in April—However, a recap of the zoning controversy as it pertains to Atlas School is in order.
What’s happened so far:
The complaint against Atlas was made three months after a similar complaint was filed against NSA. It was brought by Saundra Lund, 44, and Rose Huskey, 61, two women, with apparently too much time on their hands, who have left a long paper trail of harassments of members of Christ Church and their undertakings!
Due to the fact that Atlas is closer to a cooperation of homeschoolers than a school and has no formal legal incorporation, Headmaster, Toby Sumpter had not sought to do any paperwork with the city, regarding it’s use of the Nuart Theatre, owned by Campus Christian Ministries.
“Prior to the complaint,” said Sumpter, “The city didn’t even know we were here, so we said ‘Here we are’ and ‘What do we need to do?’”
First on the order of business for the city was to issue Atlas an “occupancy permit,” which is a permit issued by a building inspector, stating that the building is safe to occupy for its intended purpose.
Building inspector Jim Johnson inspected the Nuart and the two, tiny, adjacent rooms, which Atlas occupies. According to Sumpter, he said it looked fine. He did ask Eric Engerbretson, who is responsible for the Nuart theatre, to install a lit exit sign. The sign was duly installed so that Atlas met all the requirements of the building inspector and was slated to receive an occupancy permit.
However, the city also required a zoning permit in addition to the occupancy permit. This was the second part of the complaint: namely, Atlas was operating downtown in the central business district in violation of Moscow’s zoning code.
With regard to this second issue, that of zoning, Joel Plaskon, Moscow’s zoning administrator, wrote a letter to Mr. Sumpter saying, in effect, it looks like you guys are fine. He saw no violation of the spirit of the zoning code by Atlas School, and he said he would not enforce the code against Atlas.
To understand Plaskon’s initial tolerance of Atlas School, you have to understand the larger zoning controversy, because Atlas, at this point in time, was following in the wake of what was happening to NSA. Plaskon’s initial response to the complaint against NSA was also that he would not enforce the code against NSA, because he was reading the law as an “integrated whole.”
Plaskon wrote, “I acknowledge that the current use of New St. Andrews College is not explicitly listed as a permissible use in the CB Zoning District. However, such use has been explicitly permitted as a use by right in the past…. Additionally, I read the law as an integrated whole and considered the intent of the Zoning Code and the Comprehensive Plan. Therefore, it is my determination that such use be allowed to continue while the City more thoroughly reviews the Zoning Code regarding these types of uses and considers amending the Code to clarify or explicitly allow such uses in such Zoning Districts, either by right or by Conditional Use Permit.”
So, due to Plaskon’s reasonableness, the zoning permit, in addition to the occupancy permit, seemed forthcoming by May or early June, according to Sumpter. However, neither permit was yet granted, and in the meantime, the complainers against NSA appealed to the Board of Adjustments, which ruled in their favor.
Plaskon then wrote to Sumpter stating that he could not issue an occupancy permit due to what happened to NSA.
Subsequently, the city council also ruled against NSA and, finally, in the week before school started, Plaskon wrote to Sumpter that he had decided to enforce the zoning code against Atlas, thereby treating Atlas as a separate entity from NSA.
After talking with Greg Dickison, the same attorney representing NSA, Atlas decided to appeal Plaskon’s decision to the board of adjustments, as NSA had done. This appeal occurred near the end of October and was unsuccessful for Atlas. Despite the helpful representation of Dickison and the attendance of Mr. Sumpter and members of five Atlas families, the board ruled against Atlas based on a ridged reading of code.
The complainants were able to convince the board of adjustments and city council of a particular reading of the code, Sumpter said. That is to say, the safety issue was not a real factor at this hearing. (The originators of the complaint, Huskey and Lund, had initially characterized their action as being initiated out of concern for the students safety.)
Where we stand:
Atlas has now appealed to the City council and we have a hearing date on January 19. Unfortunately, this is after the new city council members will be sworn in on January, 3. According to Christ Church member Dale Courtney, who reports on Moscow politics on his blog, the six-member council will be losing two conservatives and gaining two liberals. The new liberals are Bob Stout and the particularly radical Aaron Ament, who calls himself Citizen Ament, like a French revolutionary! Liberal Nancy Chaney will also be taking over as mayor, having a tie-breaking vote on the council. Needless to say, the new council may not be particularly friendly to Atlas school in the January hearing.
Broadly speaking, progress has been made with regard to the zoning issue. A proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance is being considered now, which would allow “educational institutions,” like NSA, within the Central Business District on a conditional basis; however, not “schools.”
NSA has received much support, not only from people who own or work in businesses downtown, but from editors of both the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune. Four different editors have supported NSA in no less than seven separate editorials, which are worth quoting in order to show the kind of support that may be available for Atlas School as well.
Jim Fisher of the Lewiston Tribune likes Doug Wilson’s term “Intoleristas:”
“Intoleristas, he calls them, and with good reason,” Fisher said. “They speak for a community that indulges all manner of political and religious thought, as long as it's from the left side of the spectrum, and all manner of small-town businesses, as long as they are not connected to the wrong church.”
Murf Raquet of the Daily News came down on the Intoleristas for their rudeness:
“A handful of opponents of schools,” wrote Raquet, “—in particular the faith-based New Saint Andrews College—in the downtown business district lost their civility in the fervor to speak their mind at Wednesday’s meeting. In the excitement to articulate opinions as to why there shouldn’t be schools downtown all ability to communicate in English was lost. Cat calls, snorts, outbursts and a few boos interrupted the proceedings. That childish behavior was most evident when NSA President Roy Atwood got up to speak.”
Craig Clohessy, writing for the Daily News said, “Neither complaint really has anything to do with the city's zoning regulations. The challenge to NSA is all about personal grudges against Doug Wilson, who sits on the college's board.”
And Steve McClure, writing for the Daily News, also sees what is truly going on: “There will be some who say this is nothing more than spot zoning, or changing the law to avoid enforcement. Some of those people will be the same ones who would have us believe this whole hubbub started over nothing more than zoning issues.”
This is a very strong show of support from the local media—from the editors no less! Therefore its clear that level-headed residents of Moscow, holding no grudges against Christ Church, are ready to support NSA and by the same token, they may support Atlas School as well.
Nevertheless, not many level-headed Moscowans are sitting on the current council. Therefore, Atlas needs a strong and continued show of support. Just because NSA has won it’s fight doesn’t mean that we can let up.
What’s at stake:
What is at stake is not merely Atlas’s convenient location (The downtown location is a central place for all the Atlas parents to drive their sons) and not just the money that we save (Community Christian Ministries has been gracious enough to rent the two rooms that Atlas uses for $250 per month and to allow use of the theatre for some classes. This enables Mr. Sumpter to keep tuition low). What is at stake is the right of Christians to not be bullied by politicians, backed by a handful of activists, for no better reason then that they are annoyed with us! Their complaint is not about our safety or the appropriateness of having a small, half-day school downtown. Their complaint is that we are visible—essentially, that we are invading the town square and potentially upsetting the left-wing, secular uniformity of our small town. Our sixteen student’s blue sweater-vests are too bright for their monochrome vision!
Unlike NSA, Atlas does not have much money invested in its current location.
“We’ve never really thought of this as our permanent home,” Sumpter said, “Every year we’ve revisited the issue, checked with the Nuart to see if we were bugging them too much. If push came to shove, we have a computer and four tables, we could move, but this has been an incredibly convenient location. And it’s cheap: $250 per month!”
A welcome catalyst for moving Atlas from its current location at the Nuart would be an increase in enrolment. Mr. Sumpter would love to have between 25 and 30 students and be able to hire a second full time-teacher. Therefore, while moving would not be excessively harmful, being forced to move would be a mistake for the city of Moscow, and something which all Christians on the Palouse, not just those of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church, should resist. After winning support for NSA to be downtown, it would be a shame for concerned Christians acquiesce to the radical council with regard to Atlas.
Atlas’s argument:
Our argument, as Mr. Dickison has laid out, is that the spirit of the zoning code is trying to prohibit a full sized elementary school from moving downtown and Atlas, considering its size and format is not something a responsible city government should be trying to oust from its current convenient and economical location.
In a public relations tactic to demonstrate that the complaint against NSA was not really about zoning, Nathan Wilson, fellow of rhetoric at NSA and, Aaron Wrench, director of admissions, filed complaints against the Moscow Food Co-op and the University of Idaho for their incompliance. Grocery stores, although defined by the code, are not specifically listed as allowable in the Central Business District, and educational institutions are not listed as allowable in the University Zone. Therefore, according to the intoleristas hermeneutic, which they so zealously applied to NSA, these institutions should also move. Wilson’s and Wrench’s complaints with their accompanying humorous and sarcastic press releases, signed “for the love of the code,” were obviously tongue in cheek, (The complaint against the University of Idaho was made against the entire university!) they simply demonstrated that the code was a mess and needed revision. Obviously, neither the Co-op, nor the University of Idaho, nor NSA should be moved.
The reason the Co-op is a good fit for downtown is that it is not like most grocery stores and in the same way, NSA and Atlas School are not like typical colleges and schools. No one wants a Wal-Mart or a Winco Foods to be downtown and yet everyone is happy with the popular Co-op, because the size and character of the Co-op is taken into account. So also should the size and character of Atlas School be taken into account.
At another level, the families of Atlas school are simply arguing that they ought to have the freedom to drop their kids off downtown for classes, provided they are not starting a large school right on Main Street. A school with 100 kids could be a safety issue, depending on how the kids were dropped off and picked up, but a half-day school with less than 1/3rd that number of students, who are not outside playing in the street, ought not to be repressed under the guise of safety, as the following post taken from Dale Courtney’s blog, aptly explains:
"We were so concerned about the kids' safety," Lund said. ?????
"Unsafe for kids" does not appear to be a very defensible position for this Nanny or the city to hang its hat on...it is simply a "red herring", an appeal to "emotion" or "motherhood"; i.e., how can anyone argue against "motherhood" ("safety")?
Imagine, fifteen kids show up five days a week and go into a building between 7:45am (before stores are open), and leave at lunchtime.
What they are doing in that building is irrelevant to the argument. They could be taking dance lessons, learning martial arts, playing Dungeon and Dragons like they do at the Palouse Mall. Parents paying for their kids to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew somehow makes them unique for zoning? If that is "unsafe" what about the "kids" going to the theater itself? Lots more bodies I suspect. Or what about the dance school across the street? How many kids come and go from there? Or how many kids come and go from Hodgin’s? (a lot I bet because it's a really neat store).
The logical conclusion is for the P&Z to declare a "kids free zone" on Main Street. The City can place a kiosk at both ends of the street. Parents would have to register their kids at the kiosk before entering the "kids free zone", and obtain an official "Moscow Kids Safety Token", which would allow them to enter the "Zone". The number of Tokens would be determined by an appointed number of "concerned" citizens of Moscow. Fines could be issued. Think of the revenue that could be raised! And OH! the safety that would result!!!
The bottom line is that parents have the freedom to drop their kids off downtown, so that they can go into a building and study for four-and-a-half hours. Atlas is not a large elementary school with buses and street guards and hundreds of pedestrian children. The Intoleristas in Moscow are simply unable to comprehend or accept the diverse educational options outside the monolithic public schools.
What its all about:
Again Atlas Families and students need to remember that this controversy is not really about zoning or safety issues, but about a group of people who are bitter about Christ Church. They are trying to use the city code, something designed to be for the benefit of all the citizens of Moscow to strong arm a particular group whose religious and social views or perceived views they find offensive.
These intoleristas begin to squeal with delight when they think they have the law on their side as if the law is their own personal wooden gavel that they can bop people over the heads with. Lest you think that this metaphor is too far off the mark, the anti-NSA/Christ Church website “zonemoscow.com” plays an audio clip of the mayor of Moscow banging his gavel at a city council meeting when the site first loads! Theirs is the rhetoric of the banging gavel.
The Intoleristas tried to pose as merely concerned citizens, wanting to abide by the laws. But they ended up looking like a bunch of zoning Nazis or Pharisees.
As Pastor Doug Wilson has pointed out. When Judas brings back his 35 shekels to the Pharisees, a serious discussion ensues about where it is lawful to use the money, never mind the fact that they just ordered the betrayal of Jesus! In the same way, Moscow has a lot of citizens pretending to have an orderly, rational discussion about the zoning code, when what they are really interested in is persecuting a church which obediently educates its children under the guidance of God-fearing parents and teachers, instead of secular bureaucrats.
In perspective:
We at Atlas School, are thankful to Jim Wilson and Eric Engerbretson of Community Christian Ministries for offering the extra space in the Nuart Theatre. It’s convenience and low-cost have been a real blessing. If we are forced to move because a few radical city council members have a little too much fun with their gavel wielding, then we will be thankful for that demonstration of the Lord’s will as well. Such an outcome may be indication that it is time for Atlas School to grow.
However, we are hoping and praying that through our representation before the City Council, and other means, the Lord will thwart the designs of the Intoleristas, as He has done on so many other occasions, for the glory of his name in Moscow, Idaho!
How to help:
Please pray for Atlas School and Greg Dickison, our counsel, as we go before the city council on January 19. Pray that the intoleristas would be exposed once again as the anti-Christ-Church fanatics that they are and that the council would distinguish between Atlas and a full-sized school and thereby recognize the freedom of Atlas Parents and Mr. Sumpter to hold classes where they wish. Mostly, pray that God would be glorified by our actions regardless of the outcome of the hearing.
Atlas school is also accepting gifs in order to cover legal costs. Although Atlas is seeking to avoid being forced to move, obtaining a new facility is nevertheless a foreseeable expense within a couple years, if not sooner, if enrolment increases. And so donations may also be saved for this purpose and other needs.
Please consider sending a gift, to our treasurers Bill and Robin Amos (606 Homestead Place, Moscow ID 83843) in order to support Atlas and its unique mission to train and educate young men in logic and languages, math and science, music and poetry and history, to the end that they may be faithful servants and conscientious worshipers of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sorry, gifts are not currently tax-deductible. Checks may be made to “Atlas School.”
