Church, town force shop owner to ditch 'Geno is God' sign
By The Associated Press
10.26.02
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — There was only one problem with Ken Bernacky's "GENO IS GOD" sign. He put it up across the street from a church.
The church complained, and East Hartford officials demanded that Bernacky take down the sign he put up in his shop seven months ago in tribute to Geno Auriemma, the women's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut.
Bernacky complied with the order on Oct. 24, saying he could not afford the $25 per day in fines that would have been levied.
Bernacky owns the Stereo Surgeons repair shop on Main Street. He says the town's order is censorship and violates his right to adore the coach and the team that won the national championship this year.
"Maybe I do worship someone or something called Geno and he is my God," Bernacky told The Hartford Courant.
But members of St. John's Episcopal Church across the street saw the sign as blasphemy.
Town officials told Bernacky to remove the sign by the close of business on Oct. 24. They say it violated local zoning regulations because it celebrated an event that has passed more than 60 days ago — the national championship.
Auriemma told WTNH-TV that he wasn't what the sign said he was.
"I don't pay too much attention to that stuff," Auriemma said. "I know how they treat me at my house and trust me, I'm nowhere near anything anybody says."
Bernacky has posted the sign for the past several years during the NCAA tournament. He says he has usually taken it down in the summer, but he left it up longer this year because of the championship.
Shirley Finney, administrator at St. John's, told Bernacky last spring that she disapproved of his message.
"God is God," Finney said. "God is not Santa Claus and God is not Geno."
But Bernacky kept the sign up.
During Easter, several church members e-mailed the mayor's office saying the sign was blasphemous, Mayor Timothy Larson said.
But Bernacky kept the sign up.
This month, Larson said he paid a friendly visit to the store and suggested that the sign come down.
But Bernacky kept the sign up.
So last week a zoning inspector came to have a look and found that it violated town sign laws. The town sent Bernacky an official order to remove the sign or face a $25-per-day fine.
Bernacky says the enforcement is arbitrary, pointing out that an accompanying sign in his shop window that reads "We love UConn women basketball" is allowed to stay.
Teresa Younger, head of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, said the matter could be an infringement of Bernacky's First Amendment rights.
"It's something that could be debatable," she said.