Clarendon council votes ‘no’ to sanctuary ordinance

The Clarendon City Council voted against a proposed “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinance last Thursday, May 9, with aldermen saying the bill would come close to overstepping city authority and cause division in the community.

The vote was 3-0 with Aldermen Eulaine McIntosh, Tommy Hill, and Terri Floyd all voting against the proposed ordinance. Alderman John Lockhart was absent from Thursday’s meeting due to a work conflict, but he voiced his opposition to the ordinance when it was first presented last month.

The regular meeting, which was held at the Mulkey Theatre, was attended by about 80 people, many of whom were from out of town. Public comments lasted over an hour with 18 people speaking for the ordinance and 13 against it. Those in attendance were given the opportunity to register their opinion on the issue when they arrived with 39 in favor and 31 opposed.

Arena of Life Cowboy Church Pastor Bunk Skelton was among those in favor of the ordinance and said the issue was about life and the will of God and said he approached the subject from his role as the father of an aborted child.

Also speaking in favor was Mark Lee Dickson, the political activist who first sent the ordinance to the city. He said the ordinance would close loopholes in the Texas Heartbeat Act. He said the Odessa and Lubbock mayors support it and said Attorney General Ken Paxton approves of it and said those who reject the ordinance reject the Heartbeat Act.

Rev. Ken McIntosh of the First Christian Church was among those speaking against the sanctuary ordinance. McIntosh first spoke out against the measure at the city’s April meeting and said he was more opposed now. In a prepared statement given ahead of time to the city and the Enterprise, McIntosh wrote, “Passing the ordinance only further divides and damages our community.” He also wrote, “Most of what the ordinance contains is already Texas law.”

Sara SoRelle also spoke against the measure. “We live in a community where differences exist. This ordinance would split Clarendon in two.”

Once the item came up on the business agenda, Alderman Eulaine McIntosh spoke first and discussed the research that she and other city officials had done to learn more about the proposal.

“When we do this job we want to be fair and make informed decisions,” McIntosh said. “We know we won’t make everyone happy. This ordinance comes very close to overstepping the city’s authority. I think our best course would be to vote no.”

Alderman Tommy Hill said he has a job and his employers are the citizens and taxpayers of Clarendon.

“I am pro-life,” Hill said. “State law is already in place that makes abortion illegal in Texas. We have church people that can come together and help these young mothers. We don’t need an ordinance to tell us to do that. We were based on Christianity. I don’t think we need to adopt this ordinance.”

Alderman Terri Floyd said the last month had been really hard for her.

“When you first hear about it, you think, ‘Oh, yes. We need to protect the unborn,’ especially if you’re pro-life which I feel that I am,” Floyd said. “But the more you listen to both sides of the story, there’s more to it. I don’t like the idea of someone turning in their neighbor for driving their daughter across the state line. I prayed hard about it, and I had a lot of people pray with me, and I just feel in my soul that this is not the job of the city council. Maybe there’s a different option we can take that we don’t have to be so harsh about it.”

Following the public comments, Sheriff Butch Blackburn praised those in attendance for their behavior at the meeting.

“Everyone has been civil and respectful,” Blackburn said. “This is why we’re called Saints’ Roost.”

The council then proceeded through its regular agenda with most of the crowd leaving the theatre after the sanctuary bill was voted down on agenda item five.