THE BATTALION Page 7
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1979
No room at city hall for nativity
United Press International
DENVER — A federal judge
ordered the mayor to get the man
ger, Mary, Joseph and Jesus out of
City Hall. The mayor said he’d
appeal. Clergymen said they were
appalled.
U.S. District Judge Richard P.
Matsch made his ruling Monday in a
suit filed by the Colorado chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union
on behalf of Citizens Concerned for
Separation of Church and State. The
suit said the use of taxpayer dollars
for the religious display violated the
Constitution.
Matsch agreed and gave the city
48 hours to remove the Nativity
scene, which made the Rev. Charles
B. Woodrich wonder how many
Christmas cards the American Civil
Liberties Union gets.
“Christ may have lost in the cour
troom, but he hasn’t lost in the hearts
of men and women, ’’ said Woodrich,
pastor of the Holy Ghost Church and
editor of the Denver Catholic Reg
ister.
Woodrich, whose downtown
church is a few blocks from the elabo
rate decorations at the City Hall, said
he was sad about the suit, but was
optimistic people would retain
Christ in their hearts.
“I think we have to pray for those
who spend that much money to take
God off the city steps when people
are hungry and dying. But what we
really have to worry about is keeping
Christ on our own front steps, not
the city’s,” he said.
In addition to ordering removal of
the creche scene, Matsch ordered
the city to pay all costs arid fees in
curred by the plaintiffs in filing the
suit. Mayor William McNichols said
the city was to appeal the order on
Tuesday.
“It (the Nativity scene) has be
come a part of the city’s tradition,”
he said. “I can’t conceive of anyone
being of the opinion that it consti
tutes a place of worship. It’s been
part of the decorations of this city for
many, rpany years.”
The Nativity scene includes a
manger, Mary and Joseph, several
wise men and shepherds, but is a
small part of the city’s display. Mul
ticolored lights outline the building
while numerous Santa Claus, rein
deer, elves and stars grace the lawn.
Clergymen of several denomina
tions expressed a uniform dis
appointment in the court ruling and
questioned whether the decision
marked another step away from
America’s religious heritage.
“Christmas has become totally
commercial and this says it better
than anything I have seen. Accord
ing to our culture, the holiday is not
the birth of Christ, but a way for the
merchants to make money,” said the
Rev. J. Langston Boyd Jr. of the
Shorter AME Church.
“It really makes me wonder how
much of a Christian country we
have,” said Father Kent Boman of
the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.
“This country was founded so we
could practice religious freedom.
By contrast, ACLU attorney
Jonathon Chase said he was “ex
tremely pleased” with the decision
and expected it would be upheld by
the appeals court.
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United Press International
CHICAGO — All of a sudden,
Chicago has become the city that
isn t working anymore.
The buses, the subways, and the el
trains are not running because tran
sit workers went on strike Monday.
At least a million people are left in
the lurch.
The schools may close any day
now. As of now, the school board
cannot say how it will meet a $41.5
million payroll Friday.
The city firemen say they are
ready to strike if they do not get a
contract. The cab drivers say they
may go out.
Teamster tanker-truck drivers
have been on strike against major
gasoline distributors for a week now,
causing shortages and lines at the
pumps.
The city’s credit rating, once peg
ged triple A and one of the proudest
in the nation among municipalities.
Latest OPEC price increase
reflected in gas price hikes
all recomm
ake lega/jd
inctions to
the pyres
tion is
r, creosotea
ntered in
:rous to b
id Moncfc
ent
indy city struck by many strikes
is slipping.
New York, Cleveland and Detroit
might flirt with bankruptcy. Other
big cities might be stymied by decay
and stagnation. Chicago, under the
rule of a seemingly benign political
machine, appeared to proceed un
perturbed, building and bragging.
Until now.
Some Chicagoans are directing
blame at their city’s new mayor, Jane
M. Byrne.
The city’s mounting troubles have
fallen upon her shoulders since she
toppled Daley’s old machine in last
February’s pivotal Democratic
primary.
She promised confidently to settle
the Chicago Transit Authority dis
pute, much as Daley, her political
tutor, used to do. The difference is
that Daley almost always delivered.
Byrne did not.
Such considerations mean little to
Chicago working people trying to get
to their jobs or to mothers wondering
where or whether the kids will go to
school again.
They just want to get Chicago
working again.
VjnVteA "Press International
WASHINGTON — tbcwwv, Abe
nation’s biggest oil company, Tues
day boosted its wholesale gaSpHhe
^ttefe by S cents a gallon to reflect the
latest round of OPEC crude oil price
increases.
“The reason is the recent crude oil
ijttce increase by several OPEC sup
pliers retroactive to Nov. 1,” said an
Exxon spokesman in Houston.
Exxon, which buys much of its
crude from Saudi Arabia, also said it
was immediately raising its whole
sale price of home heating oil, diesel
and kerosene by 3 cents a gallon.
Chevron, another one of Saudi
Arabia’s four American partners in
the Arabian American Oil Co.,
boosted its wholesale gasoline prices
by 6 cents a gallon on Saturday.
The other two Aramco partners,
Mobil and Texaco, hiked their prices
by 3 c^nts a gallop last yveek.
Amoco also announced a 2- to 3-
cent a gallon average price increase
for gasoline and a 3-cent hike in heat
ing oil prices last Saturday. And Gulf
raised prices by 1.5 cents for its un
leaded gasoline and 2.5 cents for
other brands on Dep. 11.
Retail gasoline dealers can pass
th e increased wholesale costs
through to customers, along with a
seven-tenths of a cent raise in their
dealer margin permitted by the
Energy Department, beginning last
Saturday.
“The sad thing,” said Frank Brad
ley, Chevron vice president, “is that
it looks like there’s more to come. ”
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CHRISTMAS
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