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USA May 23, 1999 VNN3933 Comment on this story Lawsuit Puts Strain On Efland's Hare Krishna Community FROM THE NEWS AND OBSERVER (RALEIGH, NC) USA, May 23 (VNN) — Copyright 1999 The News and Observer The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) May 19, 1999 Wednesday, ORANGE EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. B3 HEADLINE: Lawsuit puts strain on Efland's Hare Krishna community BYLINE: DAVID SCHULMAN, THE CHAPEL HILL NEWS EFLAND -- The Hare Krishnas of Efland have taken their dispute to a higher authority: Orange County Superior Court. In a karmic bummer for the dwindling and divided Krishna community of Efland, follower Nico Kuyt has sued his neighbor, local Hare Krishna leader James LaTorre, alleging discrimination under the state's Fair Housing Act. According to a lawsuit filed this month by a Hare Krishna group he leads, Kuyt has been seeking for more than a year to sell the 12 acres he owns next to LaTorre's Krishna enclave in Efland. But Kuyt - who goes by the spiritual name Nityananda das - alleges that LaTorre engaged in an illegal campaign "with the intention of deterring buyers who were not members of the Hare Krishna faith." "Welcome to Village of Surhabi Kunj, Chant Hare Krishna Hare Rama and be happy," read one large sign, once prominent at the entrance to the Timberwood Farms subdivision in Efland, according to the suit. Another sign, erected on LaTorre's property, promised a soon-to-be-built "Center for Vaisnava History." LaTorre could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in testimony to the Orange County Human Relations Commission, which investigated the dispute before it reached the courts, LaTorre said the signs were an exercise in free speech and did not interfere with Kuyt's efforts to sell his land. The county's civil rights investigators, however, found no evidence of plans for the cultural center and said signs were put up to coincide with a Dec. 5 house auction. In March, the agency found "reasonable cause" to think LaTorre had engaged in discriminatory housing practices on the basis of religion - a finding that allowed Kuyt to pursue his case in court. "There is witness testimony that Respondent LaTorre has made statements regarding his intention to keep the subdivision a spiritual community and deter people of other faiths from purchasing there," county Human Relations Director Annette Moore wrote in her decision. The Hare Krishna faith teaches compassion, love and nonviolence, outwardly expressed through such practices as chanting and vegetarianism. But 12 years after the group came to Efland, a schism has divided and scattered the small Hare Krishna community there. The bad karma first reached the courts in late 1998, when LaTorre sued Kuyt for failing to live up to restrictive covenants on his property, saying that those covenants must be fulfilled before the land can be sold. The covenants in question called for Kuyt to build a temple. In an April 3 open letter that appeared in an online newsletter for Hare Krishna devotees, Kuyt said he has given up the hopes he once had for Hare Krishna schools and a permanent temple in Efland and is considering a move to Prabhupada Village in Sandy Ridge. Kuyt expressed optimism the lawsuit would be resolved amicably. "We're suing to have Mr. LaTorre cease and desist," Kuyt said. "He's a renegade. This is his dream. This is his personal trip." Kuyt's attorney is pursuing a lengthy mantra of remedies from the courts: a temporary restraining order, a permanent injunction, punitive damages and compensatory damages for deprivation of civil rights, loss of income and out-of-pocket expenses. Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
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