Editorial: Zoning at center of dispute

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

At first glance, it seemed law enforcement agencies were harsh last week when they arrested Rabbi Moshe Omer. During a prayer group meeting for adherents of Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism, Omer was led away in handcuffs for allegedly violating zoning laws. Aggravating matters was that the action happened on Saturday, the holy Sabbath day for Jews. Not only did a Las Vegas city code enforcement officer want Omer to sign a citation that he would appear in court, but Metro Police also drove him in a police car to the Clark County Detention Center -- Orthodox Jews are forbidden by their beliefs to either write or ride in a car on the Sabbath.

Making Omer violate his religious beliefs in such a way, over a nonviolent offense that hardly registers as a danger to the community, showed insensitivity and a lack of judgment. At the same time, however, it also shouldn't escape attention that the Kabbalah Centre's next-door neighbor, Anthony Bock, had complained for months about all of the congregation's cars parked in the cul-de-sac where he lives. At times, Bock said, the cars were even parked in front of his driveway and on Bock's property itself.

City zoning officials had warned Omer, leader of the Kabbalah Centre, six times since March that conducting religious services in a four-bedroom home, which is located in a residential area, violated city ordinances. While Omer said at a news conference on Wednesday that he hadn't been cited since May 2, the Sun's Stacy J. Willis reported Thursday that city records show that officers tried to cite Omer on June 2, a Friday, but he "refused to provide positive identification or to sign the citation ... (he) stepped back into the structure, shut the front door and refused to re-open it ..." So it's not as if last Saturday was the first time that the city had tried to get Omer to comply with the city code.

Although government should not restrict religious freedom, parking cars in front of a neighbor's driveway and on his property hardly constitute a religious practice. This dispute revolves around reasonable zoning laws that are supposed to protect the integrity of neighborhoods. Indeed, this confrontation may never have happened if the Kabbalah Centre's congregation had acted more neighborly to Bock in the first place and adhered to the zoning laws that other groups are required to follow.