$3 for plaintiffs in religious suit

BATAVIA, Ohio, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- An Ohio county library system has settled a lawsuit brought by a couple denied use of a meeting room for a financial planning seminar with religious overtones.

The Clermont County Public Library agreed to pay $2 to George and Cathy Vandergriff of Pierce and $1 to the Institute for Principled Policy, a religious think tank that joined them in the lawsuit, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Thursday. The plaintiffs' lawyers are to receive $10,000.

"We were never in it for the money," George Vandergriff said Wednesday. "We are Christians, we believe in the Bible -- that it's God's inerrant word -- and we believe that everyone could profit from studying it."

After the Vandergriffs sued, the library voted to stop allowing outside groups from using its meeting rooms. Under its previous policy, groups could hold meetings in the library as long as they were not political or religious.

"It's kind of a chicken way to do things," Vandergriff said of the policy change.