[Medianews] Unwed couple sues town over housing flap

[George Antunes]

[File this under "strange." Since when did Americans need an "occupancy 
permit" to live quietly in a house that they own?]

Unwed couple sues town over housing flap

Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:30 AM ET

By Carey Gillam
Reuters

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-08-11T122956Z_01_N10171145_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-MARRIAGE.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-R1-MostViewed-3


KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - A Missouri couple who must get married, 
or move, in order to comply with a housing ordinance in Black Jack, 
Missouri, sued the town on Thursday, claiming rules prohibiting the 
unmarried couple and their children from living together are unconstitutional.

The petition, filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, challenges a 
Black Jack city ordinance that prohibits more than three people from living 
together in the same house if they are unrelated by blood, marriage or 
adoption.

Plaintiffs Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving and their children moved 
from Minnesota to Missouri earlier this year, buying a five-bedroom home in 
the tiny community outside St. Louis.

Shelltrack and Loving have lived together about 13 years and have two 
children together, along with a 15-year-old daughter of Shelltrack's from a 
previous relationship.

Black Jack, a town of about 7,000 that prides itself on a city Web site for 
its "character and stability," refused to grant the couple and their 
children an occupancy permit for their home because they do not meet the 
definition of "family" as set forth by the city, the complaint alleges.

The city has threatened to begin fining the couple as much as $500 a day, 
said Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of 
Eastern Missouri, which is helping represent the family in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names the city and several city officials, including city 
councilmen and the city housing director as defendants.

"The city of Black Jack's behavior is both pompous and unconstitutional," 
Brenda Jones, executive director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, said in a 
statement. "Black Jack's attempt to criminals people's choice to live 
together as a family has earned international ridicule for Missouri."

Black Jack city attorney Sheldon Stock said case law backed up the city's 
stance, which was based on preserving "neighborhood character."

"It all goes to the definition of family," Stock said. "These laws are all 
over the country. These laws are trying to preserve neighborhood character."

The lawsuit in Missouri comes after a North Carolina judge ruled last month 
that a 201-year-old law there barring unmarried couples from living 
together was unconstitutional.


================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923  Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu



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