Believe this bull? I don't. They changed their tune due to bad press over the incident. Isn't cc ashamed of all the mistakes they've made?
No matter, bringing armed people into a public meeting is not acceptable, especially when the police are right there.

12/8/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
Church: Guard at hearing was a 'mistake'
BY ROB JENNINGS
DAILY RECORD

ROCKAWAY TWP. -- Christ Church today blamed its private security company for a "miscommunication" that resulted in a uniformed armed guard being sent to Monday's planning board hearing in the municipal building.

"It was a mistake and it will never happen again," church spokesman Marc Weinstein said.

Weinstein said that Christ Church told Randolph Services Inc. to send only guards wearing plainclothes and was surprised when one showed up in a uniform.

"Our directive to the security firm was all guards at the meeting must be in plainclothes," Weinstein said. "We were loud and clear."

Martin J. Okun, chief executive officer of Randolph Services Inc., declined comment today.

Mayor Louis Sceusi and planning board chairman Mort Dicker were miffed to see a uniformed guard at Monday's hearing -- and others considered it a slap at the township's police department, which sent a lieutenant to the hearing and is located in the same building.

"Certainly, it had an impact in the community. We did not wish to have that kind of impact. That's not what we're trying to do here," Weinstein said.

Weinstein didn't say whether any other Randolph Services Inc. guards were in attendance Monday. He said that at least one armed guard in plainclothes attended last month's hearing on the controversial mega-church building plan.

"We expected the same at the last meeting," Weinstein said.

Weinstein said Tuesday that Christ Church decided to hire private security because "chatter on the Internet" suggested a potential threat to church representatives, including Pastor David Ireland.

Weinstein said that hostile message board postings intensified after Christ Church acquired the 107-acre, former Agilent Technologies site on Green Pond Road in August.

Planning board hearings have been underway since Dec. 15, 2003 and a 24th is scheduled in January.

Weinstein said Christ Church decided to hire private security for board hearings ago after Rockaway Township, several months ago, stopped sending a police officer to every hearing.

"The church has nothing but the deepest respect and appreciation for the Rockaway Township police department," Weinstein said.

Asked whether private guards from Randolph Services Inc. would attend the next hearing, Weinstein said that "it's up to the church to make that decision."

Randolph Services Inc. was founded in 1952 by George Okun, the first police chief in Randolph. Martin Okun is his son.

Christ Church, which currently holds Sunday services in Montclair, wants to build a 2,512-seat sanctuary, private K-5 school and other facilities.

The proposal has drawn considerable opposition in Rockaway Township.

In April, Christ Church filed a federal lawsuit accusing the mayor, planning board, environmental commission and council of stalling and trying to undermine the building plan.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is investigating the township's handling of the mega-church application.