Pizza king wants to build no-sin city
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Pizza king wants to build no-sin city
Domino's founder building community around Catholic university
NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.
The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.
The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.
The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.
During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.
Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan. "The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," he said. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."
Gov. Jeb Bush, at the site's groundbreaking earlier this month, lauded the development as a new kind of town where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.
"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.
Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, likened Monaghan's concept to Islamic fundamentalism.
"This is un-American," Kissling said. "I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens."
NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.
The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.
The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.
The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.
During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.
Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan. "The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," he said. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."
Gov. Jeb Bush, at the site's groundbreaking earlier this month, lauded the development as a new kind of town where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.
"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.
Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, likened Monaghan's concept to Islamic fundamentalism.
"This is un-American," Kissling said. "I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens."
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- HurryKane
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Interesting. I sure wouldn't want to live there. I wonder if they'll mandate how many times per week the residents have to attend Mass, if they have to have a certain number of crucifixes hanging in their homes, and what the homeowners must look like/wear....sounds like a homeowner association gone mad.
And, half the wives will absolutely be sneaking out to the next town to get some BC. I wonder too if they will restrict or monitor internet usage? stuff isn't only sold at brick and mortar stores, ya know.
And, half the wives will absolutely be sneaking out to the next town to get some BC. I wonder too if they will restrict or monitor internet usage? stuff isn't only sold at brick and mortar stores, ya know.

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- vbhoutex
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A very interesting concept. I figure if they want to do it then they should go ahead and try. but I do believe that as long as they use any federal or state monies in the development, then they probably will not be able to hold the concept to what they want. If it was totally done with private funds that would be another matter.
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- gtalum
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If the town finds a way to legally survive, I want to open a stuff and birth control store just outside of the town limits.
I doubt the town will be created exactly the way this article states. For one thing, they can't regulate cable tv because counties are the only entities in Florida with the authority to do that, and by state law no municipality or communtiy can ban satellite TV. They also can't tell pharmacies what they can and cannot stock because only the state (and feds, of course) can do that. These are just a couple of examples.

I doubt the town will be created exactly the way this article states. For one thing, they can't regulate cable tv because counties are the only entities in Florida with the authority to do that, and by state law no municipality or communtiy can ban satellite TV. They also can't tell pharmacies what they can and cannot stock because only the state (and feds, of course) can do that. These are just a couple of examples.
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- SouthFloridawx
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- gtalum
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From Naples Daily News:
Dang! So much for my birth control and stuff store idea.
Ave Maria officials have decided it’s time to set the record straight.
There’s not going to be a special cable provider that doesn’t carry X-rated channels.
The town isn’t going to be a Catholic utopia, where only practicing Catholics are welcome.
And no one is dictating what can or, in the case of Ave Maria, can’t be sold within the boundaries of the town.
“What we’re trying to do is build an open, inclusive community,” said Blake Gable, project manager for Barron Collier Cos. “Some (reports) would lead you to believe that this is going to be an exclusively Catholic community. I’m not Catholic, and I’ve been spending the past four years on this project. But it is a community based on family values.”
As first reported Thursday night on naplesnews.com and Bonitanews.com, there will not be any legal restrictions of contraceptives in the town of Ave Maria.
MORE...
Dang! So much for my birth control and stuff store idea.
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- cajungal
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There is a pharmacy near me there that does not sell any contraceptives. The pharmacist goes to my church and he even made New Orleans news. He says it is a sin to use birth control methods. He has 7 or 8 kids. People are just going to drive to the next town over to get birth control. It is not going to stop them.
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- george_r_1961
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