April 12, 2020, 12:51 PM
BamaJeepsterWelp...KY State Troopers carried out the orders.
https://www.courier-journal.co...te-order/5127260002/Kentucky police record license plates at in-person Easter church serviceHILLVIEW, Ky. — As Maryville Baptist Church moved forward with its in-person Easter service Sunday morning, Kentucky State Police troopers were recording the license plates and placing notices on the roughly 50 cars parked outside of the congregation.
The action related to license plates came as a result of an order that Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday as part of ongoing efforts to keep Kentuckians from further spreading COVID-19.
Following Beshear's license plate order, which applies anyone who attends an in-person church service or any mass gathering, police will refer those motorists to local health departments, which will then order 14-day quarantines – although several attendees told The Courier Journal they have no intention of following the order.
Sgt. Josh Lawson of KSP said most of the state’s 16 posts have responded to between two and five complaints about church services. But so they’ve found no violations of CDC guidelines and no in-person services, with Maryville apparently the exception. Most calls have been in reference to outdoor services, where people were in cars and not passing between cars. Those types of services “were specifically mentioned by the governor as being allowed,” he said.
“We’re responding to those calls as we would any other calls for service. As of now, we have not found anyone to be in violation when we responded to those calls. They are following the proper guidelines,” he said.
Maryville was the only place plates have been recorded and notices put on cars that he knew about. He couldn’t answer what exactly they will do with them, but noted the action was the directive of the governor.
Troopers have used community connections to speak with pastors to advise that “they can worship while doing so safely and within proper guidelines.” Lawson said it’s been “very non-confrontational.”
More than an hour before Maryville Baptist Church began worship, the Rev. Jack Roberts had to call for help to clean up piles of nails scattered at the entrances to the church parking lot.
The nails appeared to have been dumped at the entrances to block cars from entering the church that is in the Bullitt County community of Hillview, just south of the Jefferson County line.
Roberts had been determined to move forward with the 11 a.m. Easter service at Maryville Baptist Church despite repeated pleas from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to shift to virtual services and a March 19 executive order prohibiting faith-based mass gatherings amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this week, the Baptist congregation also received a state-backed order from the Bullitt County Health Department to cease in-person gatherings "immediately."
But the church has not backed down during this Holy Week, holding a Wednesday evening service that drew roughly 40 attendees.
Beshear's order for police to record license plates has drawn criticism from numerous Republicans who represent Kentucky at the state and federal level, including Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie as well as Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
Roberts has said he is "not interested in trying to defy the government," but believes his church has a constitutional right to continue to hold worship services inside his church.
"If you read the Constitution of the United States, if you read the constitution of the state of the Kentucky, they both say that (Beshear) is infringing on the church's rights," Roberts said earlier this week.
On Sunday, Roberts said he would not encourage or discourage compliance with any quarantine orders. The pastor did cover the license plate on his own vehicle.
Just after 10 a.m., when Sunday school was beginning, no law enforcement could be spotted outside of the church.
Five or so cars were initially parked in the church's lot, with a few more lined up on the outskirts. Several vehicles had covered up their license plates. A KSP official at the church said officers recorded VIN numbers of cars that had their plates covered.
Beshear has mentioned in recent weeks how numerous churches have held mass gatherings in defiance of his order that is aimed at limiting the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
On the eve of Easter Sunday, Beshear said he knew of only seven mass gatherings planned for the weekend.
"To our knowledge, 99.89% of all churches and all synagogues and all mosques in Kentucky have chosen to do the right thing," Beshear said during his Saturday briefing. "I'm just doing my best to save lives. And there aren't easy answers."
The governor added that the state is not going to "padlock doors or arrest pastors."
Recording license plate numbers, he said, is an effort to "say that if you’re going to make the decision to go to a mass gathering during this pandemic, it shouldn’t affect other people."
In Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer reiterated Saturday that he was "strongly suggesting" churches don't host in-person or drive-in services this Easter weekend.
Fischer had said Friday that Louisville Metro Police officers would record the license plate numbers of those who attend church services and the local health department would use that information to contact attendees, should any later fall ill with COVID-19.
The mayor pointed to photos published in The Courier Journal of a March 29 service at On Fire Christian Church, 5627 New Cut Road, that show some individuals within 6 feet of each other.
Although Fischer did not issue an order banning drive-in services, one Louisville church sued the mayor and city on Friday, arguing Fischer's recommendations on drive-in religious services violated constitutional rights and their religious freedoms.
U.S. District Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed to the Western District of Kentucky bench last year with Sen. Mitch McConnell's recommendation, sided with On Fire Christian Church in a Saturday ruling, calling Fischer's move overly broad and unconstitutional.
"On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter," Walker wrote in a temporary restraining order he issued, which bans the city from "enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services at On Fire."
In response to Walker's order, Fischer repeated that hasn't directed law enforcement to shut down drive-in worship services.
The mayor also said the city tried to present evidence to Walker in defense of its position but was unsuccessful.
On Sunday morning, On Fire Christian Church pastor Chuck Salvo stood on a podium above 100 or so cars in the parking lot, starting the Easter morning service by singing “God Bless the U.S.A.” and waving the red, white and blue flag to a chorus of honks from churchgoers.
Before getting into his resurrection sermon, Salvo said he recognized that government officials “are up against a tremendous challenge” and led the congregation in a prayer.
He then recited the CDC guidelines for drive-in services.
In Eastern Kentucky, Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley said Sunday morning that Kentucky State Police had met with pastors, several of whom opted for drive-in instead of in-person services.
Mosley had said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was aware of 10 churches in his county that were planning in-person Easter services.
The Harlan County official noted how a church revival across the state in Hopkins County as well a church gathering in Pulaski County have led to outbreaks of COVID-19 cases.
To the churches that were still planning in-person gatherings, Mosley said "just know you are putting your members in harm’s way unlike the hundreds of churches in our county that are doing it the right way and having virtual or drive-up services."
