 April 14, 1999
National Notes
___ Domino's creator founds 'Catholic' law school. Tom Mona-ghan, who recently sold his stake in Domino's Pizza for a reported $1 billion, has announced he will spend $50 million to start a law school whose students will be trained to consider the moral conse-quences of the law from what he says is the Roman Catholic perspective. The new school--the Ave Maria School of Law--will open in 2000 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and have about 40 students.
___ Hill seeks presidency. E.V. Hill, a Los Angeles pastor and well-known black conservative, has announced he will run for president of the National Baptist Convention USA. Hill is one of nine men seeking the top post in the historically black denomination, and he is considered the likely winner.
___ Lyons gets five years. Henry Lyons, recently-resigned president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison March 31 on Florida convictions of grand theft and racketeering. Circuit Judge Susan Schaeffer sent Lyons, 57, immediately to prison, declining to permit him to remain free until his sentencing on related federal charges in June. He also was ordered to repay almost $2.5 million. In addition to the state charges, Lyons pleaded guilty March 17 to five federal charges of tax evasion and fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on June 18.
___ Mormons to rebuild Temple. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will rebuild its historic Nauvoo Temple, destroyed by fire in 1848 after members of the early Mormon church left Nauvoo, Ill., for eventual settlement in the Salt Lake Valley. The announcement was made Easter Sunday by Mormon President Gordon Hinckley.
___ Senate confirms Seiple. The U.S. Senate has confirmed former World Vision President Robert Seiple as ambassador-at-large of the State Department's Office on International Religious Freedom. Seiple was nominated to the post by President Clinton. The position was created by passage last year of the International Religious Freedom Act, which made religious liberty an official U.S. foreign policy concern.
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___ City may remove decorations. A Florida judge has ruled that Boca Raton, Fla., may remove religious decorations from grave sites in the city cemetery. The ruling is reportedly the first of its kind in the nation. Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said that families who decorate the graves of their loved ones with religious symbols--along with plants, stones and other items--will not have their rights under the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act trampled if the objects are removed. Boca Raton permits only a horizontal plaque at each grave in the city cemetery.
___ White woman births black, white twins. A white mother has given birth to twins--one black and one white--and intends to give the black infant to his genetic parents. The unprecedented births, on Dec. 29, occurred after a fertility doctor implanted embryos into a white woman and accidentally included embryos of a black couple in addition to those belonging to the woman. "This ... raises almost every tough issue that has arisen from the advances in reproductive medicine," said Glenn McGee, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "God help the judge that gets this case."
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