Story Archive

To Hell With the Children

Matthew 25 Ministries of West Palm Beach, Fla., wanted to be able to house 200 convicted sex offenders as part of its ministry program. To make room for them in the apartment complex they leased for the project, M25M, led by Pastor Dick Witherow, evicted all the families with children living there — just before Christmas in 2008. Witherow says sex offenders are too often “treated unfairly,” and that was the only place in the county he could find that was far enough from schools, parks, and other gathering places for children. Three of the families sued in state court, and “We made a token settlement to make it go away,” Witherow said. But seven other families sued in federal court, and U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas has ruled the evictions violated the federal Fair Housing Act. “We have no money and no insurance to settle this federal lawsuit,” Witherow says, “so we’ll just have to let the chips fall where they may.” (RC/Palm Beach Post) ...In other words his bankruptcy — financial and moral — is now complete.