wfn.org | Back Bay Mission to move

[powellb@ucc.org]

Oct. 1, 1996
Office of Communication, United Church of Christ
Nancy M. Erikson
(216) 736-2200

Back Bay Mission
The Rev. David Stephens or the Rev. Bruno Schroeder
(601) 432-0301

UCC on the World Wide Web:
http://www.ucc.org

Property battle with casino ends;
Mississippi church mission to move

      BILOXI, Miss. --  After 74 years of ministry, United
Church of Christ-related Back Bay Mission is packing its bags
to make way for a $120-million casino complex on what used to
be the mission's property.
      After selling its land to a Nevada company for $2.2
million, the mission has until Oct. 20 to move to 1012
Division Street, Biloxi, about 10 blocks from its current site
at 868 Bayview Avenue.  The new address is Back Bay Mission,
P.O. Box 509, Biloxi, MS 39533.  The new offices should open
by Oct. 15.  
      Back Bay Mission struggled for more than three years to
stay at its current location despite attempts by two casino
companies to acquire the property.  In December 1995, the City
of Biloxi seized some of Back Bay's land under eminent domain,
demolishing four buildings and part of a church building to
make way for wider roads to accommodate casino traffic.  Back
Bay officials decided at that point not to accept a casino?s
initial lower offer for the remaining acres.
      Back Bay's long, hard legal fight to keep the property
went all the way to the Mississippi Supreme Court over the
issue of how "church" is defined.  A lower court ruled that a
"church" is a building where people worship each Sunday.  The
mission argued that "church" is defined by the actions people
of faith take in their community, therefore making Back Bay a
church that deserved protection from eminent domain land
seizure.  However, Back Bay dropped its appeal in August 1996,
when it agreed with the city to sell the land rather than
continue the court fight.
      The $2.2-million sale was negotiated through the Biloxi
Port Commission as part of a plan to open a 200-slip marina
north of the Imperial Palace Casino parking garage and the
mission property.  Until Back Bay representatives arrived at
the closing, they assumed that the Biloxi Port Commission
would take title to the property and later sell or lease
property to Imperial Palace.  However, DRM, Inc., of Nevada
took title.
      In addition, the mission was awarded $514,000 last year
for land taken by eminent domain and $25,000 for dropping its
appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.  The mission already
had spent substantial sums on attorney fees and on repairing
damaged buildings in order to continue operating at the
Bayview Avenue site while awaiting a satisfactory offer for
the balance of the property. 
      The Rev. David Stephens, Back Bay's executive director,
said the goal now is to move mission offices to the new site,
purchase or build additional space for the other mission
programs and use the remaining funds to create an endowment to
help underwrite the mission's operating budget.
      "We are grateful to reach a settlement which permits us
to return to our primary task of working for the poor, the
weak, the sick and the dispossessed," Stephens said.  "It's a
good location and we look forward to getting a new start."
      Founded in 1922, Back Bay Mission provides emergency
assistance of food and prescriptions to more than 5,000 people
a year.  Its thrift shop provides low-cost and free clothing
and household goods to low-income people on the Gulf Coast. 
Back Bay also operates an extensive work-camp program for
United Church of Christ young people and adults.  The
mission's staff spends about half its time organizing and
helping to operate new service agencies such as Coastal Family
Health Center, the South Mississippi AIDS Task Force and the
Loaves and Fishes feeding program.
      The United Church of Christ, with national offices in
Cleveland, has 1.5 million members in more than 6,100 local
churches in the United States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed
by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian Churches and
the Evangelical and Reformed Church.  Back Bay Mission is one
of 306 United Church-related health and welfare organizations
that belong to the UCC's Council for Health and Human Service
Ministries.

#  #  #