27 JULY 2019, A LETTER TO THIS EDITOR

The fallout of the Betterments hearing continues. On yesterday, I posted a letter to the editor concerning the hearing. I continue to receive comments about the session. Here is another letter to this editor that expresses the frustration that so many people feel nowadays in the wake of the betterments hearing:

Letter to the editor:

I for one would love to "not do my job for 18 months!" I wonder how long I would be paid?

Apparently he [Judge Dickson] is NEVER going to do his job.

Mediation has already been tried.

I wonder if money has changed hands.

The SCSC stated he is to move expeditiously; well that hasn't happened.

Again, my opinion, we have spent too much money on attorneys, tried mediation one time, and it deadlocked. It's a vicious cycle.

What has happened to the federal cases?

Can the TEC issue eviction notices for THEIR property to the priests? All they have to do is show SCSC results.

I am a frustrated cradle Episcopalian, and my patience is running out.

Like you, I'm not a lawyer. Why can't that result be all it is? Why get the circuit court involved?

Sincerely yours,

Mary R. Murray,

Charleston

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Thank you, Mary Murray for sharing this with us. Bewilderment and fatigue are common on both sides of this long legal war. You are voicing the feelings of a lot of innocent victims caught in this seemingly interminable conflict.

If I may offer a few comments in response to your letter:

---no one knows why Judge Dickson has done nothing for a year and a half. His job is to implement the SCSC decision. The Church lawyers tried to get the state supreme court to intervene and expedite the matter, but the justices refused to step in. Now, there is nothing to do but wait on the judge to act in his own time. 

---judging from what has happened in this long war, it is highly unlikely that mediation will work. The DSC side is still intransigent, even after they suffered a crushing defeat in the state supreme court.

---if (or when) mediation fails, the matter goes back to Judge Dickson. I say the sooner the better, in hopes he will make a decision (or decisions). This or these are bound to be appealed to the state Court of Appeals by the losing party. In all probability that will be the end of this long string of state court actions.

---As for the federal case, to my knowledge, absolutely nothing has happened there in the last six months. As with Dickson, no one knows why Judge Gergel is marking time.

---You raised the eviction idea. Many people have asked about this. Why cannot the Church diocese get the sheriff to evict the occupants from the properties that belong to the Episcopal Church? On this, I cannot say. We would have to get a lawyer to explain this to us. I do know the Church lawyers are trying to get Judge Dickson to implement the SCSC decision. This would actually carry out the physical repossession of the 29 parishes by the Church. But, as we know, nothing is happening on that front.

What are your thoughts about any or all of this? Let us hear from you. Send emails to the address above.