NAPLES, Fla. - If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.
The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."
The Dondon009 Bull Shit Meter!
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.
The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.
The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.
During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.
Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer
3 comments:
back in college i rmember making a stink about not buying dominos pizza b/c they were anti-abortion. i even posted something somewhere because they got huge business on campus.
it must have done something b/c the owner of the store posted replies in all the dorms saying they were an independant chain and didn't necessarily agree with the founder of the dominoes and to please consider using his business.
i often wondered if the owner was offended that someone thought he agreed with the founder of dominoes or if he had lost business and needed to do something about it.
how bizarre...i read this over at huffpo...all i've got to say is whatEVAH!!...i for one will not ever be driving thru domino city...
and how i love the dondon009 bullshit meter =)!!
peace...
Ewwwwwww....and in *FLORIDA*, yet!
Monaghan's retired, but he's still staying rich off Domino's profits. Definitely worth avoiding, thankee.
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