Published: August 14, 2008 11:51 pm         

Council urges Indiana Legislature to pass hate crimes bill

TERRE HAUTE — The Terre Haute City Council voted 8-1 Thursday night in favor of a resolution urging the State of Indiana to adopt hate crimes legislation.

Councilman Turk Roman, D-2nd, was the lone “no” vote.

A large crowd filled the City Court room where the council meets to watch the vote and speak about the resolution.

“This is a very important resolution,” said state Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute, who spoke to the nine-member council before the vote. Indiana is one of five states not to have a hate crimes law on the books, he said. “We’re way behind the others,” he said.

Indiana’s proposed hate crimes law is House Bill 1076, said Rep. Vern Tincher, D-Riley, who also spoke to the councilmen. Such a law would allow judges to take an act of racial hatred or other hatred into account in sentencing, he said. “It is a first step,” he said.

Councilman Norm Loudermilk, D-3rd, moved that the council adopt the resolution. Councilman Jim Chalos seconded Loudermilk’s motion.

“Hate crimes are so difficult,” Roman said. Judges in Indiana already have the authority to impose tougher sentences if some sort of racial or other prejudice motivates a crime, he said, adding that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees equal protection of the law. “We already have all of the facets in place,” he said.

Several members of the public spoke in favor of passing the resolution. Theressa Bynum, president of the Greater Terre Haute NAACP, thanked the council for supporting the resolution.

One member of the public, Wendall Kirkman, pastor of Bible Holiness Church in Terre Haute, spoke out against the resolution. Kirkman said hate crimes laws have been used to silence people handing out religious literature at gay rights events. He urged the council to adopt a resolution calling on the state to mandate that marriages must be between a man and a woman. “I would be happy to see that,” he said.

The crowd applauded when the council passed the hate-crime resolution in a roll call vote.

Also at Thursday night’s meeting, the council voted 7-2 in favor of rezoning property on Hunt Road near Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field to allow for a proposed FedEx Ground facility. The two no votes came from council president Todd Nation and John Mullican, D-6th.

“I think they needed to do more work on it,” Nation said of the rezoning ordinance. Nation and Mullican each noted that the ordinance did not specify the type of “buffer zone” that would be required between the future FedEx facility and a neighboring residence.

The specifics of the buffer zone will be negotiated in the future, said Al Withrow, who lives next to the proposed FedEx location. Withrow and his wife, Elizabeth Art, already have been in discussions with the developer, Art told the council.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.