'I'm ok with it," Mahoning Commissioner Righetti says of sponsoring religious event

YOUNGSTOWN

The resolution authorizing use of $2,500 in Mahoning County hotel bed-tax revenue to promote a women’s Christian conference this fall at the Covelli Centre will return to the county commissioners’ agenda for this week’s meeting, said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, chairwoman of the commissioners.

That resolution is returning to their 9 a.m. Thursday meeting agenda at the Mahoning County Extension Office in Canfield, after having been stricken at the last minute from their Aug. 18 agenda.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is crying foul, however.

“We think it puts them on constitutional thin ice. There’s no question that what the Bill of Rights requires from governments is neutrality” regarding religion, said Gary Daniels, a Youngstown native, chief lobbyist and spokesman for the ACLU of Ohio.

“Government can’t inhibit religion, and government can’t advance religion,” Daniels said from the organization’s Columbus office.

On Aug. 18, Rimedio-Righetti said Linda Macala, county convention and visitors’ bureau director, who had placed the proposed grant on the agenda, removed it to allow time for legal research on the matter by Gina Bricker, an assistant county prosecutor.

When a reporter presented the issue to Bricker on Aug. 17 as a question of church-state separation, Bricker’s initial response was “very interesting,” and she said she’d have to research the permissibility of using the bed-tax dollars to promote the Nov. 4 and 5 “Living Proof Live” conference sponsored by Lifeway Christian Resources.

The gathering will feature Beth Moore, a nationally known public speaker and author. Lifeway is a Nashville, Tenn.-based nonprofit organization, whose parent organization is the Southern Baptist Convention.

Rimedio-Righetti, however, said the gathering pertains not only to religion, but also to women’s rights and issues concerning children, marriage, relationships, single parenting and personal finance.

The event will generate heavy use of local hotels and restaurants, Rimedio-Righetti said.

“I’m OK with it,” she said of the promotional grant for the faith-based Covelli program.

Read more about the event and the issue in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.