Tuesday, January 9, 2007      

LATINO ADVOCACY GROUP WARNS TAXPAYERS THAT “INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION” WILL COST CITY OF EULESS MILLIONS TO DEFEND  

Consejo Offers to Organize Workshops for Police Officers and Government Officials on Religious Tolerance”  

EULESS, TX—Using information from a similar lawsuit from Florida, Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national non-profit organization that educates and assists Hispanics and others, warned the residents and taxpayers of the City of Euless today that the city would be faced with legal bills in the millions of dollars to defend an ordinance that the Consejo says advocates “intolerance and discrimination against religious minorities.”

“In 1993, the City of Hialeah in Florida lost a unanimous decision in the U.S. Supreme Court after spending over $2,000,000 defending an ordinance identical to the Euless ordinance that espoused religious hatred,” said K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo. “We appeal to the temperance and wisdom of government leaders to reverse course, mediate a compromise, and recognize the right of the freedom of religion.”

To help mediate the case, the Consejo offered to set up workshops in Euless to train police and law enforcement officers, area social workers, judicial and civic officers, and government officials about religious tolerance.

“Euless has a Red Lobster,” said Forbes. “Will they soon ban the restaurant from boiling live lobsters? Obviously not because the enforcement of the ordinance is solely to discriminate against religion, not restaurants.”

The Consejo, which has worked on issues such as police abuse, hospital price gouging, healthcare fraud, and religious travel fraud, was profiled on CBS’ 60 Minutes last March for its work against hospital abuses. The organization was founded in 2001.

For more information, visit www.consejohelp.org .