July 23, 2003

At first, it was all so simple: Buy a brick, put your message on it, raise money for a new playground.

Throw in Jesus Christ, determined parents, lawyers and the Chicago Park District, and it turns into a holy mess.

All Robert and Mildred Tong say they wanted to do was have a simple inscription to their children engraved on one of the commemorative bricks used to raise money for a children's playlot at Senn Park near their Edgewater home.

"Missy, EB & Baby: Jesus is the Cornerstone. Love, Mom & Dad."

Not so fast, the Chicago Park District says.

"If you allow everyone to do what they want across the board, you have a bulletin board for political, cultural and religious references," park district spokesman Julian Green says. "It was to highlight donors."

The park district asked the Tongs to change their message or they could get their $50 contribution back.

Instead, the Tongs filed suit Tuesday against the park district.

The Tongs want their brick and a nominal dollar in damages, plus legal fees for their attorneys.

"Why should someone tell me what to tell my children?" Mildred Tong asks. "It wasn't to the whole city of Chicago: You should believe in Jesus Christ.

"It's a public forum. We live in America. We don't live in a communist country."

The Tongs just wanted a brick with a nice message for their three children, who are 4 years old, 2 years old and 6 months.

Mildred Tong says the family has lived in Edgewater for five years and helped raise money for the new playground, well before the brick controversy.

"The kids were going to grow up and see this brick when they go to play," Mildred Tong explains.

Tong would have no problem if other parents, of other faiths, wanted to use the bricks in similar fashion, she says.

Other bricks, already in place, contain a multitude of messages, according to the lawsuit.

"Plenty of grace to this place, The Weyland Family."

"Immanuel Lutheran Church, Carl McKenzie Pastor."

"St. Gertrude Parish, Rev. William Kenneally, Pastor."

Green, the park district spokesman, says there's a difference between recognizing a donor, which happens to be a church or pastor, and actually noting a specific religious figure. Allow one religion and you must allow all.

"Government action cannot endorse a specific religion," Green says.