Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission

Antelope Valley Press – Thursday, January 28, 2010

Mayor’s address focuses on crime, culture, green energy

By GERRY PRICE
Valley Press City Editor/Assignments

LANCASTER — Mayor R. Parris sees his city as strongly Christian, and he’s proud of that.

“We’re growing a Christian community, and don’t let anybody shy away from that,” he told an audience of 160 people, mainly pastors and their spouses, during his State of the City address Tuesday at the John P. Eliopulos Hellenic Center.

He said he wants the community’s electorate to validate a Christian stance in the April municipal election, in which a ballot measure endorses prayers at city meetings, specifically with permission to invoke a specific deity, including Jesus.

While Parris, who is running for a second term as mayor in April, said he didn’t care which candidates the voters favored, “I do want them voting for that prayer amendment,” referring to a measure asking voters whether or not the City Council should seek religious guidance before its meetings.

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ACLU threat may also influence decision

By CRAIG CURRIER
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Mayor R. Rex Parris said his “heart will be broken” if residents do not support Measure I at the polls on April 13.

What else is riding on the vote about six weeks from now remains to be seen, though, as the practice of prayer at City Council meetings and threats of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union may also be influenced by the decision.

Measure I reads: “In response to a recent complaint, with respect to the invocations that contained reference to Jesus Christ, shall the City Council continue its invocation policy in randomly selecting local clergy of different faiths to deliver the invocation without restricting the content based on their beliefs, including references to Jesus Christ?”

Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, last week refused to say whether the people’s support of the measure would change the group’s strategy for a potential lawsuit, but during a November Antelope Valley Press interview he called the City Council’s practice “unconstitutional” and said, “the people can’t violate the establishment clause.”

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Antelope Valley Press – Sunday, February 21, 2010

Here are excerpts from e-mail exchanges between Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission chairman Darren Parker, task force vice chairman Bob Forshay, Lancaster City Manager Mark Bozigian, Lancaster Councilwoman Sherry Marquez and other officials. All the e-mails were sent to local news outlets including the Antelope Valley Press.

From Parris to Forshay, copied to Lancaster City Council members, and others, Saturday, Feb. 6, 7:54 a.m:

Mr. Forshay: It is unfortunate that you decided to ignore my request for the contact information of everyone on the “Commission.” Since you obviously have an e-mail distribution list that you used to send out the notice of the meeting, it seems that this is a simple task. Since the “Commission” is partially funded by the City of Lancaster, and I am the Mayor of Lancaster, there is no reason I can see why this request was not complied with in a timely fashion. In addition, Mr. Darren Parker advised me, after I was elected, that as Mayor, I automatically had a seat on the Board of the “Commission.” Shouldn’t board members have access to this information?

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Antelope Valley Press – Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lancaster to return donors’ funding

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Less than two weeks after the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission voted to send letters criticizing comments by Mayor R. Rex Parris and Councilwoman Sherry Marquez, city officials are moving to end a 14-year history of handling operational money contributed to the organization.

City administrators’ plan to return the task force’s funds to the group’s donors rather than transferring the funds to the task force. That has, in turn, generated a request by task force President Darren Parker for an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department to determine whether the city has legal authority to do anything with money contributed directly to the organization.

City Manager Mark Bozigian said the two events, the criticism of the mayor and councilwoman, and withdrawing aid to the human relations group are unrelated.

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This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Friday, May 2, 2008.

By NORMAN SHOAF
Valley Press Religion Editor

LANCASTER – “There is no faith unless it is interfaith,” Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak told a gathering of approximately 60 listeners Thursday evening at the Antelope Valley Interfaith Council National Day of Prayer Service at the Antelope Valley Church at the Center of Light .

By turns cordial and confrontational, keynote speaker Beliak praised Valley efforts at religious inclusion – and condemned what he called the hijacking of the National Day of Prayer by the Christian Right.

Beliak is a leader of the organization JewsOnFirst, whose proclaimed mission is to protect the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and lobby for an inclusive National Day of Prayer.

“How can National Day of Prayer leaders have their day year after year when they exclude all but fundamentalist Christians?” Beliak said. “God speaks in many languages, nationalities and cultures. This is a wonderful banquet.

“You’re not here to convert me, and I’m not here to convert you,” Beliak said of the multiple religions represented at the fifth annual event. “But are you an honest representation of God’s love.”

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Success, service focus of summit at Knight High

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Friday, March 14, 2008.

By JULIE DRAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE – Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns on Thursday urged about 400 students at Knight High School to define their own destiny.

Hearns was the keynote speaker at the school’s Teen Summit, themed “Knight Hawks Soaring Towards Success.”

The daylong conference was co-sponsored by the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission and Antelope Valley Union High School District.

Darren Parker, president of the task force, and Emmet Murrell, who is the executive director for Knight’s Violence-Free Zone, also spoke.

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Three face misdemeanors, felonies

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Wednesday, November 21, 2007.

By AMIRA SEYOUM
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Prosecutors filed criminal charges against three students arrested after a Sept. 18 scuffle with campus security guards at Knight Hill School over thrown cake, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Pleajhai Mervin was charged with misdemeanor battery on a school employee and misdemeanor assault on a school employee, Kenngela Lockett was charged with misdemeanor battery on a school employee, and Joshua Lockett, Kenngela’s brother, has been charged with threatening a public officer and making criminal threats, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor disturbing the peace.

The confrontation started with students throwing cake at a lunchtime birthday celebration, escalated to a broader conflict after a security guard told Mervin to pick up the cake and ended with the arrest of the three students and Mervin’s mother, Latrisha Majors. Prosecutors announced last week they would not file charges against Majors.

The charges against the girls carry a yearlong sentence, according to district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. She said she didn’t know the possible penalty for Joshua Lockett if he is convicted of all the charges filed against him.

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