By DAN MARGOLIES, Kansas News Service

 

A Google Maps view shows the church is surrounded by commercial and office properties.

GOOGLE MAPS

A Kansas church is suing the city for denying its request to use its building as a temporary homeless shelter.

Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church says the denial infringes on its exercise of religion, violating the Constitution, state law and federal law.

The church, at 9400 Pflumm Road in Lenexa occupies a former elementary school building adjoining commercial and office properties, although the building is zoned residential single family.

The church recently partnered with Project 1020, a nonprofit that provides temporary housing to homeless people, to provide overnight shelter for up to 40 homeless individuals per night from December through March.

Although the city’s fire marshal approved the plan, Lenexa City Manager Beccy Yocham denied the church’s request, saying it did not conform with the city’s zoning code.

Lenexa has no zoning for homeless shelters. Johnson County itself has just one homeless shelter, with four beds for single adult women.

Last winter, Project 1020 served 240 homeless individuals in Johnson County, according to the church’s lawsuit.

Under the homeless policy adopted by the church, adult individuals would arrive at the church at 7 p.m. for dinner, sleep on cots in the building’s former classrooms and depart the premises every day at 7 a.m. Church members and Project 1020 volunteers would provide them with support services while they were on the premises.

City officials initially had no problem with the plan. But on Oct. 24, the city advised the church that the proposed shelter was “inconsistent” with a residentially zoned area.

At a second meeting on Nov. 5, Yocham told church members that it was within her discretion to deny their request, according to the lawsuit. A week earlier, she was quoted in Flatland, KCPT’s digital magazine, as saying, “I absolutely know there is a need. But we have to think whether it is appropriate, and we don’t think it is here.”

Yocham was not available for comment. A spokeswoman for the city said it does not comment on pending litigation.

Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church is represented in the lawsuit by Shook Hardy & Bacon and the Detroit firm of Dalton & Tomich, which specializes in religious land use law.

Daniel Dalton, one of Dalton & Tomich’s partners, said the city’s action constituted a “substantial burden” on the religious exercise of the church “and there’s no compelling governmental reason why this denial occurred.”

 

“There are other things the city could have done other than an outright denial,” Dalton said. “It wasn’t the least restrictive means.”

Among other things, the church alleges the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, which was enacted by Congress in 2000. The law prohibits zoning laws that “substantially burden” the religious exercise of churches.

Courts have generally sided with churches that seek to use their buildings to house homeless people. Most recently, after First Lutheran Church sued the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, a federal judge granted the church’s request to block the city’s imposition of strict conditions on its application to operate a homeless shelter in its basement.

Earlier this year, St. Paul reached a settlement with the church and the operator of the homeless shelter, The Listening House, agreeing to “establish a better process for land-use applications for religious organizations.”

Similarly, a federal appeals court in 2016 found that a California church’s religious exercise was substantially burdened by the city of San Buenaventura’s denial of its request to continue its homeless ministry in the church.

Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church was established in 1967 and has more than 300 members, according to its lawsuit. The church is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which promotes the inherent dignity of every person.

The church says charity and service are integral parts of its mission, and in the lawsuit it cites biblical passages that decree providing for the needy.

The church “perceives its physical location to be a gift that has allowed the congregation to accomplish their sacred mission to create their beloved community; that is, to build a company of people to act as Jesus would; to serve and shelter the people who are homeless,” the lawsuit states.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

 

Gallardo photo Sedgwick County

SEDGWICK COUNTY— A Kansas teen accused in a fatal drive-by gang shooting made his first court appearance Monday, according to the Sedgwick County District attorney’s office.

Eduardo Gallardo, 18, and Jesus Alvarez-Medina, 20, were charged Friday with first-degree murder, criminal discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault for the August shooting death of 17-year-old Ramiro Valdez.

Just after 2:30 a.m. August 4, police responded to a shooting call in the 900 block of East Central in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson. At the scene, police located a a 2003 blue Chevy Silverado driven by Valdez.

He had sustained a gunshot wound and was transported to an area hospital where he died, according to Davidson. There were two other teenagers in the truck who were not injured.

The investigation has revealed the Silverado was eastbound on Central and was followed by a black pickup truck driven by 18-year-old Eduardo Gallardo.

A suspect from the black truck fired multiple times at the Silverado, striking Valdez. Gallardo is one of three charged in the murder.

Gallardo was arrested the day of the shooting but had been out of jail. Police arrested him again Saturday, according to the Sedgwick County booking report. He is jailed on $500,000 bond. Police have not arrested Alvarez-Medina.

This incident was not random and is in reference to an ongoing gang feud, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Nicholas A. Popejoy photo Jasper County

WEBB CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man has been charged with sexually assaulting a student at a Missouri school where he taught and coached.

Twenty-eight-year-old Nicholas Popejoy, of Arma, Kansas, pleaded not guilty Monday to statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy of someone under the age of 14. His attorney, Teresa Grantham, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press. His bond is set at $100,000 cash.

Popejoy worked for the Webb City, Missouri, school district from August 2014 to Nov. 18. He was the freshman boys’ basketball coach and the assistant high school track coach. He also taught science and math at the junior high.

The affidavit says Popejoy used his position as a coach to gain private access to the minor.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man pleaded guilty today to swindling the buyer of an online pharmacy business, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Jeffrey P. Wilson, 37, Olathe, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. In his plea, Wilson admitted he placed an ad on Craigslist offering to sell Medx1.com, an online pharmacy business he claimed used a fulfillment pharmacy in India. When a man from Texas responded, Wilson made false statements and sent him fabricated bank records for the business. Wilson claimed the business was generating gross revenues of $15,000 to $40,000 a month, which was not true.

After paying Wilson $120,000, the victim learned the business had virtually no revenue and the website for the business had been shut down because Wilson failed to pay for monthly maintenance and hosting.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 18. He could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

BALLWIN, Mo. (AP) — Police were called this week to free a small dog from the clutches of an automated vacuum cleaner.

Ballwin, Missouri officers received a call that a Roomba vacuum had sucked up the tail of a shih tzu mix dog as it napped in a front room.

Police spokesman Mike Burgoyne says that when officers arrived they could hear a dog yelping, a woman screaming and a newborn baby crying.

The officers cut fur off the dog’s tail to free it from the Roomba’s grip. Burgoyne says the dog was shaken but not injured.

He says the family was “definitely thankful, and the officers put an end to “a pretty hectic start to their day.”

 

Miller photo Shawnee County

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A special prosecutor will decide whether to pursue a DUI charge against Kansas Sen. Vic Miller of Topeka.

A special prosecutor is an attorney appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a case in which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay says he had assigned

Franklin County Attorney Brandon Jones to fill that role.

Kagay says prosecutors in his office who would handle the case had appeared before Miller during his time as judge for Topeka Municipal Court. Kagay says his office also routinely requests legislative changes which involve dealing with him.

Topeka police arrested Miller in May after finding him inside his crashed vehicle in the ditch. Police said he wasn’t injured but appeared intoxicated.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military dog that played a starring role in the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seemed oblivious to the praise that President Donald Trump heaped on it Monday at the White House.

Conan, a Belgian Malinois, seemed much more interested in the head scratches it was getting from Mike Pence, repeatedly looking up at the vice president in search of more attention.

Trump used a slew of adjectives to describe Conan, which was injured when it was exposed to electric wires in the late October raid while chasing al-Baghdadi at the terrorist’s compound in northwest Syria. “Incredible.” “Brilliant.” “Smart.” “Ultimate fighter.” “Very special.” “Tough cookie.”

“So this is Conan,” Trump said. “Right now, probably the world’s most famous dog.”

Trump said he bestowed a medal on Conan and presented the dog with a plaque. First lady Melania Trump stood a few feet away.

The president said initially Conan was going to be muzzled for the appearance, but Trump said he thought that would put the dog in attack mode.

“He’s not in a bad mood today,” Trump told dozens of reporters, cameramen and members of TV crews gathered in the Rose Garden. “So you’re safe.”

Trump said he asked members of the U.S. special forces who met with him Monday if an unarmed man would stand a chance against Conan. He said the special forces, who could not appear in public, told him ‘No.”

“Conan is really a hero,” Pence said, patting the dog on the head.

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police say a fire at a Kansas community college apartment started by boiling a candle.

Emergency responders were called at around 7 p.m. Sunday to an apartment fire on the campus of the Garden City Community College.

Police say firefighters extinguished the flames in a kitchen area after college staff had been unable to put it out.

The investigation found the resident had boiled a candle in a pot of water on the stove, which caught fire to the stove and surrounding area. The resident forgot the candle was on the stove when he left the apartment.

No residents were in the building at the time.

An adjacent apartment complex was evacuated as a precaution. The passerby’s minor injuries were treated at the scene by paramedics.