A number of organizations in Arizona are fighting to get the lights turned back on for a famous Christmas display.
For more than 30 years, Lee Sepanek and his wife, Patricia, have been doing an extensive light display at their home in Phoenix.
“If you’ve ever seen the movie Christmas Vacation, it’s Clark Griswold times 10,” explains Jon Riches, who serves as general counsel for the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute. “It’s become a real tradition for people in Phoenix to come by and enjoy the holiday display, and people throughout the state come from all corners to see it.”
In October, city officials met with Sepanek and placed what Riches calls a series of unattainable demands on him regarding the display.
“They also told him that he was not allowed to serve hot cocoa or cookies to visitors of the display,” Riches informed. “As a result, Lee got disheartened and canceled the display for this year, although assuming that the city does the right thing here, he intends to bring Christmas back in the years to come, so long as he is not facing enforcement action from Phoenix.”
The Goldwater Institute and Rose Law Group are working on behalf of Sepanek to resolve the matter with the City of Phoenix.
“We are in the process of talking with the city to make sure that we can get everything resolved so that Lee knows he can go forward with his display without any more threats from the city,” the legal expert assured.
The Phoenix City Manager did not respond to OneNewsNow’s request for comment.
—-
Copyright OneNewsNow.com. Reprinted with permission.
Join the discussion
Typical liberals, who want to suppress Christmas and destroy a persons freedom to express the Christmas Holiday. Not only that, Lee Sepanek and his family are obviously generous and good hearted people, serving cocoa and cookies and the liberals are suppressing the Sepanek’s good heartedness and they are suppressing the Sepanek’s freedom of expression. These liberals are nothing but communists, who want to take away the Christmas season and who want to destroy history!
If the city just added a Christmas Display tax they obviously would approve the display. It’s never really about the ideology, but always about the money. Christmas is the mass for Christ. Just how can they stop anyone’s way of expressing their religious beliefs on their own private property? I believe the Constitution guarantees that right.
wonder if this liberal group are FIRST ONES Out the door for CHRISTMAS VACATION. HUMMM. ARE WE NOT PROTECTED BY THE CONSTITUTION?DO WE
NO LONGER HAVE THE RIGHT TO CELEBRATE OUR CHOOSE religion?
Where are you AMERICA are we not the LaND of the free and the home ofw the BRAVE? why are we not standing up to these bullies. why did you give in.united we stand divided we fall so where are all those supporters. They should be standing with you…don’t give up. stand up. I’m not politically correct and have stopped bully idiots where I live. OMG get our country back!!!
In 2018, President Trump should call on Congress to pass a Bill LEGALIZING what Our Founders meant by Freedom to exercise our religious beliefs. This would put a stop to Liberals and Atheists redefining the 1st Amendment to prohibit Christianity in public, on public property, and on private property. This nonsense should stop now–WE ARE NOT EUROPE!! It is our right to have prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools and prayer wherever and whenever we choose to pray.
Mr. Sepanik describes it as his hobby, not a religious exercise. I think the problem was that the use of his property was attracting large crowds and creating difficulties in other people using theirs.
“The government” takes away one third of the money I have earned before I even see it, and that causes difficulties for me in the use of my “property”. To make things worse, they use my/our money to persecute me, my family, and my neighbors!
So what about all those neighbors of yours who have big ‘family parties’, and cause of the dozens of cars outside, PREVENT YOU from enjoying the use of your property (like i have had on some occasions NOT BEING able to get out of my own garage cause of other people’s vehicles parked in the bloody way, or on two occasions IN MY drive way)..
AMEN.
Hate using some language, but obviously these “officials” are just plain ! They need a comeuppance NOW. We are a Christian Republic, so like or not, he or anyone else should be allowed to set a Christmas light scene as long as he is paying the electric bill for it. Serving
guests is now a bad thing? Hope these idiots get immediately fired (they are employees you know) NOW for thinking they have the power to do this. If the people want it, you shut your foolish mouths up!
If you want it then give him money. It’s an attack on cookie sales, not religion.
Darby, where did you get that he was Selling cookies from? The article said he was SERVING them. 99% of the time that means he was handing them out.. not selling them.
Ituser, it’s odds on the officials are falling back on a bureaucratic catchall such as health department inspections, lack of sanitary conditions (did the family have hair nets on, and gloves while serving the cookies?) or similar tactics. Even if they had to make new rules.
“99% of the time that means he was handing them out”
Thanks for the tip. I’ll try that at the bar later tonight to the lady serving me drinks.
Stop being obtuse Darby. YES In places of business like restaurants etc, YOU PAY to ‘be served’. BUT every one i’ve known who had displays or other things where they had people like this show up, and they ‘served’ cookies and the like, THEY WERE handing them out..
They were selling hot cocoa to help pay for $6000 storage costs and electricity. They now have 2 GoFundMe accounts. 1 for 50,000 for legal and 1 for 10,000 to pay for display costs. They have 2865 so far for the cost of the display account. Anybody that feels strongly about this or enjoys these sorts of thing should contribute.
Never in human history has a society discarded its belief system more quickly than Europe, Canada And The US did in the 1960’s. The consequences of the new belief system of so-called unbiased State sanctioned secular humanism with its system of values are everywhere to be seen in the news media, entertainment, judiciary, federal Democrat – rino appointed bureaucracy and legislation , business , law, psychology, sociology , arts, and schools. Where common sense is against the law, then so-called unbiased secular humanism’s evil is normalized, by government legislation beginning with Kindergarteners.
We have forgotten Our Chief Counsel Robert H. Jackson’s argument which convicted the Nazis at The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. He said The Nazi Government and Supreme Court violated the inalienable God given right to life of the people they killed in the Holocaust. Today our law schools teach and normalize so-called unbiased secular humanist values, and would fail Robert H. Jackson.
That’s true; they can’t really claim there’s a ‘right to life’ while at the same time claiming some people have the ‘right’ to take that away from others if it’s convenient. Government is filled with hypocrites.
SO what exactly was the Phoenix City Manager’s complaint? That he was being TOO charitable?
This is pure BS! He isn’t charging admission, no fee for the refreshments, what the heck is their problem?
No common sense in our ever over regulating government entities. How is this for the people by the people? Could someone tell these over reaching public servants to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Since i feel those politicians down there are expatriated libtards from Commiefornia, they have no desire to follow the constitution and bill of rights..
I would guess that the reason the city of Phoenix is making it difficult for the display to go up is that it is a way to make money! That would be the case in California. Permits for this and that can ad up to some $$$’s for the city and allows them to dictate what can be on display. Cookies and hot chocolate – this is silly. It isn’t like this is the witches house in Hansel and Gretel! Again, it is the way a city can control an event that is appreciated by the citizens. But then I am a Californian who is sensitive to tax issues and personal property rights. The City Council should be working for a successful solution to the problem and not how to tax and control.
Since we are taking back America, the people in AZ need to stand up and take back AZ and kick butts out asap! These are mere elected nothings, so they can be removed! Wake up people, this is our Republic by, for and of the People as Government, and no some clowns who waste your money and then want to rob you for paltry garbage.
[Permits for this and that can ad up to some $$$’s for the city ]
It certainly seems more and more municipalities are going the route of nickle and diming us to death with permits for damn near everything..
I used to think of AZ as a sensible state to retire in, but after watching “the guardians of the people” institutionalize everything, I look around and wonder why we let other people tell us how to eat, breathe, recreate,live, walk, drive, wear apparel, and so on. What happened to the Land of the FREE?
Arizona used to be a “sensible” State for just about everything. So, too, did Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Colorado, with Idaho not far behind. This because liberals, like locusts, ruined the once-great State of California and then moved on to other places which they are in the process of likewise destroying.
And this is why the few NON libtard ruined states left need to STOP ACCEPTING bloody refugees ‘fleeing’ from commiefornia.. Because all they do when they get ‘welcomed in’ it seems, is to START instituting the same idiotic policies that ruined CA>>
You sure nailed that, liberals are locusts destroying all they touch
Maybe agent Smith, in the Matrix, was SPOT on with his statement to Morpheus “Humans are a virus”. BUT really meant liberals are!
>> What happened to the Land of the FREE? <<
Ran out of the brave, in government.
OK you cold-hearted government officials, not only will there a large hole in your Christmas stocking, eventually there will be a room waiting for you with no air-conditioning. And your sprig of mistletoe will wilt.
Bah humbug to the city council! I’d be willing to bet if he was handing out tacos and tequila they wouldn’t have said a thing because that would be racist!
Or fallaffels and hummus..
This is NOT an attack on Christmas. The city NEVER said he could not have his display up. The city had a meeting with him to discuss concerns his neighbors had about his hobby. When the city informed him that he would not be able to sell cookies and hot coco to help pay for it he had enough. The problem is over regulating cookies and hot cocoa, not Christmas.
He currently has a go fund me account set up to help fund his hobby for next year.
Every time I’ve contributed to a GoFundMe account it’s been voluntary, Darby. You probably should find something else to pick at.
Correct it is voluntary. Same with the cookie and hot cocoa purchase that help to pay for his electricity. Every body is so alarmed but can’t be bothered to find out how to help him. If I thought Christmas displays were so terrible, why would I point out that he has a GoFundMe account so he can have his display next year?
After reading other sources, it looks like this isn’t a simple attack on Christmas but several things including neighbor concerns. Outrage over overregulating cookie sales will make it easier to ignore outrage over big issues like forcing individuals participate in activities that are against their religious beliefs.
If he’s breaking a noise ordinance or any other law that pertains to everyone then the city should enforce it. They should not meet with individuals to intimidate them. Simply enforce the law in the manner prescribed by law. Do not make one law for heathens and another for Christians.
The city gave the impression that it was a pre-emptive meeting to try to resolve neighbor issues like blocked driveways. I have kids that need frequent rides to activities and friends and family that visit. I could understand irritation at the neighborhood being jammed with traffic and my driveway blocked for several hours everyday for a month. Since he is trying to raise money for the display next year, it would seem the only major issue was money.
Funny darby. From my reading of this article, i see NO MENTION where this was done to stop him selling anything, OR cause of concerns from fellow neighbors.. ALL IT WAS was them dictating to him unreasonable demands if he wanted to continue..
Azcentral was one place. There were a few other stories from the web. Wondered why the only quotes for this story was from Mr. Seponek side of the story. Other sources bothered to report statements from the city.
I’m not anti Christmas lights, I’ve taken my own children to see them in my area. I also remember looking at all the people and traffic and being glad I didn’t live there. This guy has tour busses showing up! He can do what he wants on his private property, but what he is doing is putting lots of people in the street and that is worrisome to at least a couple neighbors. Would you want your city to ignore you if you complained about your neighbors?
No i wouldn’t. BUT what if like i said, those in those neighborhoods that get put out cause of all those tournaments that get held? Or parades often with NO INPUT from them about when or where they get held? Why can’t THEY complain and the city step in to say “Sorry tournament guys, but you have to jump through these unreasonable demanding hoops if you wish to continue?”..
OH that’s right the Tournament brings in money to the city, that guy probably doesn’t.. SO HE’s borked.
Additionally, there’s been times cause of HOW MANY Family members one (or multiple) neighbors of mine had over for certain holiday festivities, I couldnt get MY CAR OUT of my own garage to drive it off to the store, cause of all the vehicles blocking me in.. Should i be allowed to complain to the city to force those families to NOT hold their parties and invite so many family over??
If i decide to have my own back yard party, do i need to get permission from my neighbors, to ensure my smells, noise etc doesn’t offend them??
If a car is blocked in a driveway, the person that needs to get out would call the police and have the car ticketed and towed. Examples of rude behavior shouldn’t be a reason to accept it everywhere, and you having patience with it doesn’t mean everyone has as much patience as you.
If it is something that happens every year, why wouldn’t you expect the city to do its job and try to get some of the issues worked out before the problems get bigger? Not saying the city is perfect, just that there is a whole lot more to the story than what you read here.
They still can’t take away our Faith and salvation. It saddens me that when our elected leaders choose to represent death and destruction over Faith, hope and love. Merry Christmas to all. Thank you to” The Lord Jesus Christ ” for always being there for us, common sinners for our undeserving grace.
There are Mr. Sepaniks all over the nation, in every state.
I had one in my Ohio neighborhood growing up. The story should have described
what exactly the city’s arguments were against the display. Merry Christmas!!
Hell, ABC even made a Network show based on it.. THe great Xmas light fight.. I wonder if cause of idiots like this mayor, that show is now in jeopardy cause others will get scared that THEY WILL be next in the headlights to get intimidated by government bullies?
I have seen these large, and beautiful Christmas displays in many cities. There are several here in Florida, and everyone looks forward to seeing them every year. So the traffic is bad for about a month, so what ! The pleasure these displays give, far outweighs a little inconvenience for the neighbors with noise, and traffic ! As far as the Government is concerned, just stay out of it !
Plus some of my gaming buddies live near neighborhoods that border golf courses, who often see WORSE traffic when ever tournaments are in town..
Bah! HUMBUG!!
This isn’t just an attack against Christmas but also an attack against exceptionalism. They don’t like it when Trump goes to Chicago and builds Trump Tower (one of the tallest buildings in the country). It makes people like Obama look stupid when they say, “You didn’t build this.”
Obama IS stupid, and wrong, but the Libs hate when it’s so obvious. It makes it obvious that their entire belief system is built upon the shifting sand.
Libs want 99% of the people to be drab brown lifeless husks, with only the elite living it up. Think Soviet Union. Man they sure cried when the good ol’ USSR fell. That’s their ideal.
And of course each Lib thinks of themselves as the “elite” and deserving of the good life. But they just aren’t willing to work for it. They want it for free because they’re so “deserving”.
Don’t get your briefs in a bunch over this thing. What does his display have to do with Christmas besides the time of year and those silly flying reindeer, that whole story being a mockery of St. Nichols’ kindness.
I could not discern a single thing that indicated Christ is the reason for the season. He could put that garish display up any old time – Halloween, Martin Luther King Day, Ground Hog Day, Flag Day, etc. etc. since it seems to have nothing to do with Christmas.
Personally, I prefer to see a humble creche to mark the occasion, and then only for the 12 Days of Christmas.
I think it is time for Christians to rethink Thanksgiving weekend (without Scrooge Friday) and Christmas without the crass materialism. I am sure Christ is appalled at what he sees, His people acting more pagan than the pagans.
Judiciary and government do not have the courage to keep radical muslims out of this country in order to Keep Americans Safe, but they line up to suppress Christmas and coddle the #PROTECTED CLASS. This is just another example of how seriously failed our various governments have become.