Never One to Learn a Lesson

On the heels of a spanking by the Kentucky Supreme Court Senate President David Williams is attempting an end run - yet another effort to funnel public tax dollars into private hands.

This from Bluegrass Politics:

Senate panel OKs amendment

to fund pharmacy scholarships at private schools

The state Senate voted unanimously to pass a revenue bill that included an amendment that would allow coal severance taxes to fund pharmacy scholarships at private and public schools.

A state Senate committee had approved some additional amendments to a revenue bill Friday afternoon, including the amendment that would allow using coal severance taxes to fund pharmacy scholarships at private and public schools.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, who introduced the amendment in the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee and later on the Senate floor, said the proposal would address concerns raised in a recent state Supreme Court decision that said state funds could not be used to build a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, which is in Williams’ district...

State Supreme Court strikes down aid to religious school

This from the Herald-Leader:

The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the legislature's 2006 attempt to give $11 million in state funds to a private religious university for a pharmacy program, but it did so without restricting other kinds of state aid that flow to religious colleges.

The court's decision focused on the Baptist-affiliated University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, which wanted $10 million to build a pharmacy school and $1 million to start a pharmacy scholarship program.

Kentucky's Constitution prohibits state money from going to a "church, sectarian or denominational school," the court said. The funding, backed by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, also violated the Constitution's rule against "special legislation" because it was intended exclusively for one small category of students, it said.

"If Kentucky needs to expand the opportunities for pharmacy school education within the commonwealth, the Kentucky General Assembly may most certainly address that pressing public need, but not by appropriating public funds to an educational institution that is religiously affiliated," Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson wrote for the majority, upholding a 2008 circuit court ruling that blocked the funding.

Williams, who previously argued that the funding was legal, declined to comment Thursday.

Having lost twice in court, the University of the Cumberlands will drop its pharmacy school plans, said its president, James Taylor....

KSN&C Backstory.

A lesson in love at University of the Cumberlands

This from David Hawpe at the Courier-Journal:

Well, the University of the Cumberlands is in the news again.

You know the place. It's where Senate President David Williams, in whose district the campus is located, tried to put $12 million in public money for a pharmacy school and scholarships.

It's where a sophomore from Lexington, Jason Johnson, was kicked out shortly before the end of the spring semester in 2006, for acknowledging his homosexuality on his MySpace.com Web page and for mentioning he had a boyfriend. Williams then rallied a campus crowd against the school's critics, promising, "These people that don't want this university to have values and principles will be defeated."

Actually it was the university that got beat — in court, when Special Judge Roger Crittenden ruled that using state money for the pharmacy project violated the Kentucky Constitution. Meanwhile, the Accreditation Agency for Pharmacy Education was committed to policy that "ensures nondiscrimination as defined by state and federal laws and regulations, such as on the basis of race, religion gender, lifestyle, sexual orientation, national origin or disability."

Now this same University of the Cumberlands is in the headlines again, after abruptly jerking an invitation to a youth group from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, which had planned to come build homes for the poor. And why the rebuff? Because the student-volunteers' church recently was kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention, for acting to "affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."

One wonders what values and principles Williams had in mind when he rushed to defend the university's orthodoxies....

Kids Pay for U Cumberlands Stance Against Gays

For Christ's sake...

This from the Herald-Leader:

Texas church choir 'uninvited' by Ky. university

WILLIAMSBURG — The Southern Baptist Convention cut ties last week with a Texas church that doesn't adhere to the denomination's stance on homosexuality, and now the church's youth choir has been told it is no longer welcome to participate in a Kentucky Baptist mission program.

The Broadway Baptist Church Chapel Choir, made up of high schoolers, was informed Monday that it was "uninvited" to participate in the University of the Cumberlands' Mountain Outreach program, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The Southern Baptist Convention voted during its national meeting in Louisville last week to sever ties with Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas, because it said the church did not adhere to the language in the denomination's constitution calling for churches not to "approve or endorse homosexual behavior."

The church drew criticism from some Southern Baptists after gay member couples asked that their portraits appear in a church directory. The church later published a directory without the family portraits.

University of the Cumberlands spokeswoman Daphne Baird said Thursday that officials at the school in Williamsburg declined to comment...

Supreme Court gets Baptist university case

[T]here is no question that the appropriation of $10 million ...

to the university to construct a pharmacy building

is a direct payment to a non-public religious school for educational purpose.

This type of direct expenditure is not permitted

by the Constitution of Kentucky,"

-- Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden

This from the Herald-Leader:

The Kentucky Supreme Court will decide whether a Baptist university can use $11 million awarded by state lawmakers three years ago to open a pharmacy school.

Lawyers are working under a June deadline to file written arguments. Justices could decide the case by the end of the year.

The case, which involves the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, is being watched closely by advocates for other church-affiliated schools that have largely been excluded in the past from state funding for construction projects.

A trial judge ruled last year that the appropriation to the Baptist university violates the state constitution. The university's attorneys appealed directly to the Supreme Court, skipping the Court of Appeals, in hopes of expediting a decision.

Lawmakers had appropriated $10 million in 2006 to build a pharmacy school on the southeastern Kentucky campus and an additional $1 million for scholarships for pharmacy students...

The lawmakers in question included Senate President David Williams and Senators Vernie McGaha, Russell Springs; Gary Tapp, Waddy; Jack Westwood, Crescent Springs; Carroll Gibson, Leitchfield; Damon Thayer, Georgetown; Ernie Harris, Crestwood; and Dick Roeding, Lakeside Park; and Reps. Danny Ford, Mount Vernon; Joe Fischer, Fort Thomas; Mike Harmon, Junction City; Tom Kerr, Taylor Mill; Marie Rader, McKee; and Addia Wuchner, Burlington.

University of the Cumberlands student faces child porn charges

Homosexuality is grounds for dismissal from the University of the Cumberlands which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

So is having sex outside of marriage.

So when one overly vigilant student, Sungkook Kim, took it upon himself to capture another student's login information from a university computer, where he discovered a decidedly heterosexual encounter on video, he apparently thought it was his duty to "to teach the victim a lesson."

He wrote several emails threatening exposure if she didn't send him more provocative material to add to his collection which included, images of child pornography, including a girl as young as 3 performing oral sex on a male and a 28-minute video of men having sex with girls.

The lesson she learned, was how to handle extortion. Kim threatened the female star of the film with distribution of the video. The student went to the Williamsburg police who enlisted the help of the Cyber Crime Unit at the Kentucky attorney general's office.

Kim is now facing child pornography charges.

Cumberlands President James H. Taylor declined to specify the status of either student - or his thoughts about heterosexual wrongdoings.

This is a departure from his unabashed comments following the expulsion of a homosexual student in 2006. At that time Taylor stated, "We tell prospective students about our high standards before they come. We are different by design and are non-apologetic about our Christian beliefs." He also told WLEX TV, "There are places students with predispositions can go such as San Francisco and the left coast or to many of the state schools."

This from C-J:

A student at a private, church-affiliated college in southeastern Kentucky is facing a federal child pornography charge after police began investigating him in an alleged sexual extortion plot.

Sungkook Kim, 23, a student at University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, was to appear in U.S. District Court in London yesterday on the charge that carries up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Lexington...

David Williams: Wrong on State Funds for Religious School

Judge: No funds for religious school

STATE MONEY FOR CUMBERLANDS

PROJECT UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The General Assembly violated the state Constitution when it appropriated $10 million to the University of the Cumberlands for a pharmacy building and $1 million for scholarships in 2006, a judge ruled Thursday.

In an 11-page order that can be appealed, retired Franklin County Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden ruled in a summary judgment that "there is no question that the appropriation of $10 million (of) tax dollars to the university to construct a pharmacy building is a direct payment to a non-public religious school for educational purpose."

"This type of direct expenditure is not permitted by the Constitution of Kentucky," he wrote. Concerning money for the pharmacy scholarship program, Crittenden said the legislature violated a section of the Constitution when it used the budget bill to enact a permanent program.

This from the Herald-Leader:

David Williams, R-Burkesville, called the judge's ruling "wrong."
Photo by Ed Reinke
Read the judge's order
Expelled student now at EKU 'without regrets' Comments

Others who were wrong include: Senators Vernie McGaha, Russell Springs; Gary Tapp, Waddy; Jack Westwood, Crescent Springs; Carroll Gibson, Leitchfield; Damon Thayer, Georgetown; Ernie Harris, Crestwood; and Dick Roeding, Lakeside Park; and Reps. Danny Ford, Mount Vernon; Joe Fischer, Fort Thomas; Mike Harmon, Junction City; Tom Kerr, Taylor Mill; Marie Rader, McKee; and Addia Wuchner, Burlington.