Man permitted to keep lighted shrine in backyard (In Mass.)

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/01/06/man_permitted_to_keep_lighted_shrine_in_backyard/

Man permitted to keep lighted shrine in backyard
January 6, 2005

PEPPERELL, Mass. -- A judge has ruled that a man can keep the illuminated, three-story shrine in his backyard that he says he was instructed to build by the Virgin Mary.

Officials in this rural town on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border ordered Noel Dube, 85, to remove the shrine in 1999, saying he didn't have the proper permits. Neighbors had complained about its size and the thousands of visitors it attracted annually.

Instead, Dube expanded it, adding a 30-foot painting of Jesus and a 24-foot illuminated cross to an existing 20-foot mural of Our Lady of Fatima.

Last week, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman ruled that the shrine can stay.

Dube's lawyer, Edward McCormack, argued that the shrine was protected by the First Amendment, as well as a state law that prohibits zoning ordinances from regulating or restricting structures of religious purpose, as long as the dimensions are reasonable.<snip>