THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007
Court Ruling Brings Cemetery Closer To Takeover
By TOM ROBB
Journal Reporter
Opponents of O'Hare Airport's expansion plans say they are not discouraged by a court decision last week that cleared another legal hurdle for the City of Chicago. Instead, opponents are vowing to take their fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The subject centers on a move by Chicago to take over the St. Johannes Cemetery in an unincorporated area off Irving Park Road near Bensenville and O'Hare.
The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last week refused a petition to re-hear a case brought by St. John's United Church of Christ, owner the cemetery.
Airport critics took the loss in stride and said there is another case centered on funding and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act winding its way through the courts that could halt the local project.
Bob Sell, spokesman for St. John's, who has family members buried in the cemetery, said his group is challenging the expansion on constitutional grounds and is not surprised by the court's ruling.
Sell's argument is that destroying the cemetery would violate the Church's First Amendment right of freedom of religion.
"You get into some very interesting and unresolved questions," said Sell. "Does a place have such religious significance that in destroying it you are infringing on religious freedom or religious exercise?"
"We want our family members to rest where they chose to rest," he continued.
"The 7th Circuit got it completely wrong. Once you get out of Chicago people will look at it in an unattached way," said Sell.
Sell accused Judge Diane Wood, who wrote for the majority, of looking at the case in a political way.
"Wood's opinion did things that were a little bit shocking. In her opinion she said cemeteries don't have particular religious significance. We disagree. It is church property and has been for 150 years," said Sell.
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, a long time critic of the expansion plan, was also not surprised by the ruling.
"I've said for 13 or 14 years that the Supreme Court will make the decision," said Johnson.
Johnson said another case in the courts challenges the expansion and movement of the cemetery at the federal level under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He explained that whether the issue was federal was unclear until last September when the federal government came through with $1.3 billion for the project.
Johnson said if the second case proves that moving the cemetery violates that act, the federal money will not be able to be used for the project.
Sell said all he is asking is that the runway be moved a short distance from what is planned and said a similar accommodation was made when Atlanta expanded its runways a few years ago.
The Journal & topics Newspapers was not able to immediately reach a spokesman for the O'Hare expansion project prior to its deadline.
Chicago's $15 billion expansion project calls for re-configuring O'Hare runways to provide for more east-west aircraft flow. It also calls for expansion of some of the facility's boundaries and eventually a western access near Thorndale and York roads.