San Bernardino pastor expects big response to city's ultimatum

Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO - The pastor of a church presented with a demand to ban sex offenders or lose "rent" from a city youth center expects vocal support at Monday's City Council meeting.

Pastor David Rhone of First Church of the Nazarene said Friday that 60 local ministers are set to ask congregates to support his church when the council considers rescinding the ultimatum.

"Several of us will be speaking," Rhone said. First Church of the Nazarene, which hosts San Bernardino's central Operation Phoenix youth center and other children's facilities, is at the center of a controversy involving matters of religious freedom and government's duty to protect its youngest citizens.

The dispute also fuels election season antagonism between City Attorney James F. Penman - who is running for mayor - and incumbent Pat Morris.

The Morris Administration calls its anti-crime programs Operation Phoenix. New youth centers are one of the higher profile efforts.

Penman views plans to rally church members as a "media event" staged by clergy who support Morris' re-election effort.

"The congregation members don't know that they're being used for a political event," Penman said.

The council made the ultimatum Sept. 21 with a 5-0 vote. Councilman Rikke Van Johnson, who wants to retract the demand, was not present for that meeting.

The body delivered its ultimatum the night council members learned through a leaked memo that a sex offender had performed work at the church.

The memo, signed by Police Chief Keith Kilmer and labeled confidential, reported to City Manager Charles McNeely's office that police checked out the reported presence of a registered sex offender near the Operation Phoenix center.

Kilmer's memo concluded the offender's presence was not a crime nor an immediate threat to children. Penman disagreed and sent his own investigators to the church with flyers warning of a sex offender's presence.

He said the day marked the third time his office had notified the public regarding a sex offender and was the first time he took this action during election season.

Rhone has said the man had since moved away from San Bernardino and no longer worked nor attending religious services at the church. The pastor also said his church has a right to reach out to anyone.

"No government agency is going to tell me to whom I can minister," he said. "If that means no Operation Phoenix, then `see ya."'

But Rhone doesn't want to send away the Operation Phoenix center and feels an obligation to the program. The nonprofit Operation Phoenix Foundation, he said, provided more than $200,000 in private donations to convert an old parish hall into a gym.

He said the city does not actually pay rent but chips in 30 percent of utilities costs to cover the youth center's usage.

Rhone said the center has already generated its share of heartburn for the church. The center's former manager, Mike Miller, was arrested in July 2008 on suspicion of child molestation. He has pleaded not guilty.

City police are investigating how the memo got leaked. Morris referred questions on new developments to Kilmer, who confirmed that police are investigating a report that the document was stolen at City Hall.

Kilmer would not comment on details. Penman said his own office's investigation concluded no actual theft took place.

"Somebody left it (the memo) where they shouldn't have left it and it was a very public place," he said.

Penman's office generated the warning flyers while the Sept. 21 meeting was in progress.

He would not say Friday if his staffers had the memo before it was distributed to the council, but predicted more political fallout at City Hall.

"I have no comment on that right now. I'll wait until the PD finishes its investigation, then we'll let all the embarrassing details come," he said.