I sent an email to Marci Hamiton, and she replied. I thought I would share it with you.
-----
Hello Ms. Hamilton,
I am hoping you have been made aware of the current struggle Rockaway Township is experiencing because of RLUIPA, and a mega-church that has a contract on a piece of land in our town.

The owner of the church (Rev. Ireland) has been pushing the limits of patience of many of the residents. He has a PR firm, and lawyers-we are at the planning board stages of our battle. Unfortunately, I and some other opponents of this church moving into our town have a fear that the town as we know it will have massive changes made to it, and can do nothing about it.

Our town has a population of approximately 22,000 residents. His churches website states "The congregation has enjoyed steady growth since our 1986 inception. We moved to our current Montclair location in 1994 with approximately 500 members. Today, we have a upwards of 5,000 active members." Very fast growth !!!! This from within 40,000 square feet of church and offices. His plans before our board presented 400,000 square feet. In a question and answer period, one resident asked "would you cap your growth...at 25,000 members?" His reply was "No".

We face the possibility of supporting a church that has the potential of out numbering our entire population!

I read your article... http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040129.html .

You addressed many of our concerns. What was omitted was the political elephant that entered the room of racial prejudice. Several times this issue has been raised like a trump card by Ireland. The facts are that Rockaway is predominately a white community, and Christ Church is a predominantly african-american group, and while Ireland has stated his dream of racial togetherness, ("Our message on promoting reconciliation and restoration among the races is very real to us. Acceptance of people is our calling and our passion."---Taken from his website) he is using that as a weapon to gain titilation points from the press and place undue pressure on the residents to defend themselves as not racially motivated in our fight. I believe this may also be a point of interest in your future editorials.

Ms. Hamilton....While I am not a spokesperson for anyone but myself, I can tell you that there are many people in the township that look at your as a crusader on our behalf, and someone who might be our silver bullet.

I am not familiar with protocol in your profession, but it would make us residents sleep a little better if at some point you hint to us of your monitoring our plight.

The opposors of this church have organized themselves due in part to a couple of families taking a leadership role, and those families are know as "VORT" --Voices of Rockaway Township.
Website is :http://www.voicesofrockawaytwp.org

And while many post topics wander off on tangents, absurd personal attacks and debates (like many unmoderated boards) we also have a bulletin board that many concerned residents monitor and discuss issue properly.
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=17042&subForumID=17134&sparkKey=fca30fedad4e35cb038653d40fb3e53cb0

There is a bulletin board that is sponsored by the newspapers here that for many months was boorishly moderated in a one sided pro-church fashion...many people believe was commandeered by church employees or their PR firm. Many people complained of the bias to the editor of the website and was rebutted...until I found out who his boss was and posted her name and direct phone line. Recently that board has seen a reduction in posts, mainly due to the disappearance of a couple of the posters who supported the church (strange coincidence). We as a group felt that this bias could have a negative impact on the public opinion of those opposed to RLUIPA and specifically this the case I am discussing.
The website:
http://www.nj.com/forums/rockaway/

Another bulletin board supported by church has recently popped up that we are monitoring:
http://www.calvarymontclair.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9

Anyway....Ms. Hamilton....I do hope that it does not come to a major legal battle...we all just want this to go away....unfortunatly, we are all very scared that we may have a huge proselytizing religious amusement park monolith to deal with.

Please...let me/us know that you are aware of this, and what we as a community might do to help you, or ourselves??

It seems like we have been pinning our hopes on a gray area angle our hired lawyer is working....were the people who drew up our ordinances aware of the phenomena known as a "mega-church" when they allowed a "church" in a zone ordinance?, and is a mega-church indeed a church???

Very shaky grounds as far as one who has his family saving and future, home and town in jeopardy of being greatly affected by one selfish man...

Thank you for your time Ms. Hamilton.
Respectfully,
Mark B.
---

She did reply to my e-mail:

Dear Mr. B: Thanks very much for your email. I did speak with the planning board's attorney several weeks ago, and expect to join the Rockaway legal team at some point in the near future. Best regards, Marci Hamilton
----

I asked her if I could let my friends know of this, she replied:
---

It was in the newspapers that we (Rockaway and I) were talking, so I see no need for you to keep it quiet. The field definitely needs to be leveled; using the race card is quite outrageous. Regards, MAH

------------------------------------------------

I thought by sharing this with all of you, it might put a smile on someones face, and maybe caue the "other side" a little angst.