Mid-Hudson News NetwoSunday
Augut 21, 2011 rk, a division of Statewide News Network, Inc.
Dissidents' respond to court effort to dismiss their lawsuit to disband Village of KJ
WHITE PLAINS – Village officials in Kiryas Joel are seeking to have a lawsuit filed by a number of so-called dissident residents thrown out of federal court, but the dissidents say their case should be heard.
The plaintiffs contend that the leadership secular and religious – are running the village as a theocracy, not a democracy, and they want the court to dissolve the municipality.
The village officials maintain the case should be tossed, claiming the dissidents and their religious congregation presented a ''patchwork quilt'' complaint.
But, the dissidents maintain that patchwork quilt ''is not loosely woven, but tightly stitched in much the same manner that church and state are so tightly intertwined in the village,'' according to legal papers filed by their attorney, Michael Sussman.
The group claims the village, under orders of the Grand Rebbe, has been engaging in a concerted serious of actions to religiously oppress them, shun them from the community and adversely treats
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