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May 2007 Dawn Stone resigns as High Priestess January 2005 FDCoW is a sponser of the first annual Intercommunity Beltane Family Camp-out! To make reservations, CLICK HERE. Contact Rev. Edward if you'd like more information! July 2004 FDCoW is an official Amazon associate! Use the following link to purchase books from Amazon and a portion of your purchase will come back to FDCoW! April 27th, 2004 FDCoW is now an Aquarian Tabernacle Church! Look for changes coming soon! March 31st, 2004 FDCoW is now an affiliate with Azure Green! Click the banner below to raise money for FDCoW by shopping! March 26th, 2004 Save Tara Hill! "The Hill of Tara constitutes the heart and Soul of Ireland. Its very name invokes the spirit and mystique of our people and is instantly recognisable worldwide. The plan approved recently by An Bord Pleanála for the M3 motorway to dissect the Tara-Skryne valley, Ireland's premier national monument, spells out a massive national and international tragedy that must be averted." - Excerpt from a letter to the press February 18th, 2004 Broadcast on WEAR TV Local ABC channel WEAR attended FDCoW's Imbolc ritual in early February. The resulting story was broken up and broadcast across two days, Feb. 17th and 18th. Here are links to the story: January 5th, 2004 Santa Rosa County Commission Meeting We won! The Commissioners agreed that since FDCoW was not constructing or maintaining a building on the property there was no need for zoning regulation. Read more about it at our local news sites: Appeal to the County Commissioners The Church's appeal to the County Commission will be heard January 5th. Zoning laws were researched, as well as Santa Rosa County's definition of "place of worship." According to article 6 of the County's Land Development Code: Rev. Livingston sent a letter to the County Commission offering a suggestion to end the controversy, noting that the property the Church meets on his his OWN. They meet outside, therefore no building is required, much less maintainence of said building. Fire Dance Church does not meet the their definition of "place of worship" and as such, a Conditional Use permit is moot. November 7, 2003 Santa Rosa County Zoning Board Meeting On October 23rd a large yellow Conditional Use sign was posted in Rev. Livingston's front yard to notify the public of the pending hearing. Rev. Livingston notified the Church's mailing list on Nov 3rd that the ACLU was sending a representative to the hearing, and the rest is history: Click the link below to read and/or view the local news broadcast concerning the meeting. Click the link below to read the local paper's article. Rev. Livingston described it this way: Tonight 20 or more pagans from FDCoW stood before the Board of Adjustments for Santa Rosa County to ask for a Conditional Use permit to meet as a Church at my home. Tonight 100+ Christians stood against us; my own sister stood against me and my Church, as did my neighbors. We truly legally meet the requirements for a Church in a residential area, but the 5 member panel sided with the opposition and voted 5-0 against our request. The Milton Press Gazette picked up the story and has published several articles pertaining to this situation. Those articles will be posted here soon! Background The members of Fire Dance Church have been meeting for rituals in the Chancellor's backyard since it was founded in May of 2002. The major pagan holidays were celebrated for just over a year, with an average attendance of about 20 church members each time. This was never planned to be a permanant meeting place, but was convenient to most church members while they looked for property to purchase. A notice was put on Rev. Livingston's door during the summer of 2003 notifying him that in order for the church to continue meeting there he would have to obtain a Conditional Use Permit and go before the Santa Rosa County Zoning Board to plead their case. The Conditional Use Permit cost $160, non-refundable reagardless of the outcome of the Zoning Board meeting. Church fundraisers provided the required money, and Rev. Livingston filed for the Conditional Use Permit on September 30th where he was told to report to the November 6th Zoning Board meeting. He was told that should the Board of Adjustments deny the request it would then go before the Board of County Commissioners, a step nobody expected to have to take given the approvals of other churches in the area. Related Zoning Issues Research into zoning issues turned up the following information concerning unconstitutional application of zoning laws concerning churches:
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