Livingston Parish Council repeals soothsaying prohibition ordinance
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LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Parish Council smashed its crystal-ball ordinance Monday night.
A federal judge had ruled that the parish’s prohibition against soothsaying is unconstitutional. A Wiccan minister, Cliff Eakin, had sued the parish over the ordinance, asserting that inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan minister should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted to a congregation by a Christian minister.
Blayne Honeycutt, the council’s attorney, recommended that the council not appeal the ruling, but repeal the ordinance instead.
The council vote 7-1 Monday night to follow Honeycutt’s advice. Councilman Ronnie Sharp voted against the repeal. Councilman Thomas Watson was not present.
Eakin, who was in the audience Monday, did not speak publicly but smiled after the meeting ended. “It was in the stars,” he commented.
The Wiccan minister said he knows of at least 100 members of his faith residing in Livingston Parish.
In other business, the council agreed to ask for a state attorney general’s opinion on whether it can use money from its road tax to pave parking lots of schools and other public facilities. Expenditure of the parish road overlay funds has been a major issue among council members for months.
On a more mundane matter, Council Chairman Jimmie McCoy told fellow council members that the parish has finished its pickup of storm debris, except for stumps, which will begin this week.
That work has not been done because the Federal Emergency Management Agency makes an individual determination on the legality of paying for the removal of each stump, McCoy said.
“I’ve never been involved in anything as confusing as these regulations,” McCoy said.
Though other debris has been removed from the sides of parish roads, some still sits on the side of state roads in Livingston Parish awaiting state pickup, he said.
A federal judge had ruled that the parish’s prohibition against soothsaying is unconstitutional. A Wiccan minister, Cliff Eakin, had sued the parish over the ordinance, asserting that inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan minister should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted to a congregation by a Christian minister.
Blayne Honeycutt, the council’s attorney, recommended that the council not appeal the ruling, but repeal the ordinance instead.
The council vote 7-1 Monday night to follow Honeycutt’s advice. Councilman Ronnie Sharp voted against the repeal. Councilman Thomas Watson was not present.
Eakin, who was in the audience Monday, did not speak publicly but smiled after the meeting ended. “It was in the stars,” he commented.
The Wiccan minister said he knows of at least 100 members of his faith residing in Livingston Parish.
In other business, the council agreed to ask for a state attorney general’s opinion on whether it can use money from its road tax to pave parking lots of schools and other public facilities. Expenditure of the parish road overlay funds has been a major issue among council members for months.
On a more mundane matter, Council Chairman Jimmie McCoy told fellow council members that the parish has finished its pickup of storm debris, except for stumps, which will begin this week.
That work has not been done because the Federal Emergency Management Agency makes an individual determination on the legality of paying for the removal of each stump, McCoy said.
“I’ve never been involved in anything as confusing as these regulations,” McCoy said.
Though other debris has been removed from the sides of parish roads, some still sits on the side of state roads in Livingston Parish awaiting state pickup, he said.
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