Thu, Dec 21, 2000 (10:56 a.m.)

New Clark County regulations aimed at keeping the lucrative Las Vegas marriage industry on the up-and-up are drawing both praise as being long overdue and criticism as being unconstitutional.

Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre announced Wednesday the new regulations requiring ministers who perform marriages to have police background checks and have their permits to perform marriages renewed every five years.

Parraguirre said these are the first county regulations addressing certification for the area's more than 1,500 ministers.

The estimated 800 ministers who have held their licenses for more than five years will have to have their certificates renewed by April 1, but background checks will be required only of ministers seeking new licenses. The regulations are effective Jan. 1.

"I think it is a wonderful idea," said Charlotte Richards, owner of three wedding chapels, including A Little White Chapel, and a minister who has performed thousands of marriages during her 40-plus-year career in Southern Nevada.

"I believe it is important that people know they are being married by reputable people who have good backgrounds."

A longstanding state law prohibits ex-felons from performing marriages for 10 years after their convictions. The local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union says that the new regulation adds teeth to that law that long has been overlooked.

"There are serious First Amendment issues here," Alan Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU, said. "Religious leaders performing marriages is a time-honored tradition. It is really not the government's business to perform police background checks on them. There is no sensible reason for it."

Because he has not yet spoken to his board about the matter, Lichtenstein could not comment on whether the ACLU will take the matter to court.

The Rev. Jerry Blankinship, a member of the executive board of the Clark County Ministerial Association and a minister for 43 years, said he has mixed feelings about the new rules.

"In some ways it is good but in some ways it violates constitutional rights," he said. "Background checks should be left up to the endorsing faith body for ordinations. The bigger ones, like the United Methodists, of which I am a member, do such background checks before recommending a person be ordained.

"Also, St. Paul was imprisoned. Does that mean he would not be able to perform marriages in Las Vegas? I'd have real trouble with that. Many states, like California, don't require the licensing of ministers to perform marriages. Nevada does, but that's not typical of most of the country."

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