AÂ Louisiana church is taking its legal battle of arbitrarily enforced noise ordinances to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Vintage Church of New Orleans has been fighting Jefferson Parish officials over two criminal summons issued to executive pastor Matthew Brichetto last September and October. Sunday services held in a tent as it renovates its main building drew complains from neighbors. Cops then warned the church that any services that exceeded 60 decibels, the equivalent of a normal conversation, would be in violation of the law. At one point, Brichetto was even fingerprinted in front of the parish.
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Judge Cornelius E. Regan of the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court denied the church's request for a preliminary injunction on Dec. 22, 2015. Liberty Institute and volunteer attorney Roy Bowes filed an appeal with the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal on behalf of the church on Friday.
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"It is discriminatory – as well as ridiculous – that Jefferson Parish is demanding that Vintage Church remain below 60 dB while power tools, construction noise, and demolition noise are permitted, even though they are much louder," Justin Butterfield, senior counsel for Liberty Institute, said in a statement released Friday. "We are confident that the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal will vindicate Vintage Church's rights under federal and state law."
Local tensions came to a head in early December as the Southern Baptist church continued construction on a permanent sanctuary for its congregation. Services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. EST. were too loud for neighbors Tammy Donovan and Lisa Caracci.
"My daughter's a nurse, works a 13-hour shift, and she couldn't get to sleep," Donovan told the Time-Picayunes on Dec. 15, 2015. "This has been going on for four months. It's frustrating."
"I'm not the only one complaining," Caracci said. "We all can hear it. [Other neighbors] are complaining, too."
A lawsuit filed by the church Dec. 10, 2015, against Jefferson Parish argues, "Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a facially neutral rule or a rule of general applicability, unless it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is both: (1) In furtherance of a compelling governmental interest. (2) The least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest."
Vintage Church's lawsuit says sound technicians were hired to make sure music and audio equipment stayed below 60 decibels, but pastors were still threatened with arrest on Nov. 12, 2015, by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Capt. Michael Kinler.