CHURCH FOUNDER SUES CALAVERAS COUNTY

Northern Lights Alleges Civil Rights Violations

ANGELS CAMP -- The founder and head of a controversial Calaveras County
church claims the county violated his and his church's civil rights by
requiring him to obtain a business license laden with conditions --
including one that forbade him to hold services and another that precluded
him from erecting a cross.

The Rev. David A. Jack, founder and head of Northern Lights Church, filed a
lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Fresno. The lawsuit names the
county, members of the Board of Supervisors and a county planner as defendants.

The county had not responded to the lawsuit by Thursday. Neither County
Counsel Spencer Batchelder nor Lucy Thein, chairwoman of the Board of
Supervisors and one of the named defendants, would comment on the suit.

A scheduling conference has been set for 9 a.m. Feb. 5 before federal
Magistrate Dennis Beck.

The church has come under scrutiny since August 2000, when sheriff's
deputies raided the church's Burson location, from which it has since
moved, and found nearly 300 marijuana plants, growing equipment and other
items.

The church's religious beliefs include the use of cannabis as a sacrament.

Marijuana-cultivation charges were filed against the Rev. Ricky Dewayne
Garner, 43, and the Rev. Sue Melinda Garner, 40, who at the time were
Northern Lights Church ministers but no longer are affiliated with it. The
Garners said they were growing marijuana for their own medical use and for
a number of other medical-marijuana patients.

The Garners pleaded guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession and were
placed on two years' informal probation. Just last week, however, law
enforcement agents conducted a probation search and seized 67 plants.

District Attorney Jeffrey Tuttle said Thursday that he likely will seek to
revoke the Garners' probation but hasn't decided to file new cultivation
charges.

Jack and the Northern Lights Church, which is without a home base, are
seeking general, special and punitive damages as well as a judgment
declaring unconstitutional a county ordinance that requires churches to be
licensed.

Batchelder said he doesn't believe churches are required to obtain business
licenses. Yet a county ordinance states that nonprofit enterprises, which
include religious endeavors, are required to obtain business licenses but
are not required to pay fees.

Jack and the church also are seeking relief from what they call "unlawful
and discriminatory laws and ordinances."

According to the complaint, the county Planning Department placed several
conditions on Jack before he could obtain his business license, including
banning him from holding church services. Another condition precluded Jack
from altering the property in such a way that it would appear to be housing
a business. Jack said he was told he could not erect a cross, because it
would violate that condition.

John Anderson, a county planner named as a defendant, said Thursday that
conditions were placed on the license because the church was conducted its
business in a residential area. He said he did not recall church services
being discussed. "To have a church there, you would need a use permit under
the zoning laws," he said.

Anderson said Jack sought a business license to "sell religious items."

Eventually, Jack obtained the license but did not conduct services at the
church for fear of violating the county law. The license expired at the end
of last year, and Jack did not renew it.

Jack said in the complaint that members of other churches told him they
were not required to obtain business licenses and had not been subjected to
the restrictions and conditions placed upon Northern Lights.