Homewood blowing out the candles

In nearby Homewood the fire chief said that if you want your church to hold a candlelight service on Christmas Eve you have to get a permit and pay four off duty firefighters $100 each to stand guard.

That's $400 that could be going to help feed the poor on Christmas day, or buy blankets for the homeless.

The law has been on the books for over 10 years, and in the past Dawson Memorial Baptist (for which $400 is a drop in the bucket) has been paying for the permit and the firefighters.

But smaller churches like Edgewood Presbyterian are just learning of the law, and to them $400 is a lot of money.

All Saints Episcopal Church holds a candlelight service where the candles are lit for about a minute and a half while the people sing "Silent Night," Rev. Glenda Curry said.

Trinity United Methodist pastor Andrew Wolfe said, "The church has been doing this hundreds of years. I can't imagine that all of a sudden we're not able to do a candlelight service."

The law requires the churches to hire firefighters from Homewood, so there may not be enough off duty firefighters to go around, and the city says they will deny the permits in that case.

Here's a suggestion. Hire these guys and let them work for tips.


Surely attendance would increase if these firefighters were there to monitor the situation.


Instead of paying them directly, pass the plate around and let the firefighters split the take.

Seriously, this is about the stupidest law I've ever heard of. The Homewood city council should hold an emergency session next week and repeal this law.