Law Firm Helps Michigan Family Win Fight Over Yard Nativity Scene
by Allie Martin
December 5, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A Michigan family threatened by the company that manages their housing subdivision with hundreds of dollars in fines for placing a Nativity scene in their yard will be allowed to keep the holiday display after all.
Each Christmas season the Samona family of Novi, Michigan, displays a Nativity scene on their front lawn. That Christmas crèche has been part of their family's traditional celebration of the holiday ever since they moved into their new home three years ago. This year, however, the management company that oversees the Samonas' subdivision sent them a letter demanding they remove the Nativity scene or face fines of up to $100 per week.
Unwilling to comply with the demand, the family contacted the Thomas More Law Center, a national public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Law Center agreed to represent the Samonas at no charge and, on November 30, contacted the management company on the family's behalf.
Shortly after hearing from the family's legal representatives, the company reversed its position and sent the Samonas a letter informing them that their Nativity scene was not in violation of any rules or regulations of the subdivision. The company also apologized for any distress its initial letter might have caused and the sent the family a gift basket, calling it "a token of our remorse, in the spirit of this holiday season."
Edward White, trial counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, says the initial demand to remove the Nativity scene was "outrageous," despite the management company's subsequent apology. Think of it: as a private citizen "you believe in your faith, it's Christmastime, you put up a display that is beautiful. It was no danger," he contends; but, nevertheless, "apparently someone in the community complained."
White says hundreds of citizens visited the Samona family home to view the Nativity scene and express support for the family after word of the controversy got out. "As I was mentioning to people who'd come by and in my conversations with the family," he recalls, "you've got to remember that there's always going to be an Ebenezer Scrooge out there who doesn't like something and will complain."
Still, the Thomas More attorney insists, people have a constitutional right to express their religious messages on their own property -- something he feels the management company ought to have recognized from the beginning. "Common sense has to apply here," he says. "It's one thing to paint the house orange and put junk in the front yard, which would lower the values of the property. It's another thing to put up a temporary holiday display at Christmastime or to put a flag outside your house on federal holidays or the Fourth of July or everyday."
That sort of positive-value display "only adds to a neighborhood," White asserts. "It doesn't detract from a neighborhood." Moreover, he says, "The Samonas are a great example for everyone. They showed that people should fight for what they believe in."
White adds that he is glad the Thomas More Law Center was able to help the Samona family and that the firm is also pleased the management company "quickly realized the mistake it had made and corrected the matter." Meanwhile, a TMLC news release notes that the family requested the company's gift basket be forwarded to a charitable organization, the Saint Vincent DePaul Society in Pontiac, Michigan.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
