Local News in Brief : Minister Loses on Theater
A Glendale Baptist minister who says movies cause moral decadence has lost a yearlong battle to block construction of a multiscreen theater complex next to church property.
The City Council voted 4 to 1 to permit construction of a theater despite complaints from the minister and his parishioners that it will attract unsavory people to their neighborhood.
The Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher Jr., pastor of the First Baptist Church of Glendale, told council members that the movies he has seen on late-night television are “fraught with violence,” filled with “filthy language” and have “an emphasis on sex.”
City officials and developers said the cinema complex, which will have from six to eight theaters, will attract more customers to nearby shops and restaurants. Brougher said merchants do not need a theater to help them “sell their shoes and shirts.”
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