Will the town of Ave Maria have its own fire department, police force, water and sewage system? If not, what are the implications of non-strict Catholic money contributing to the town?

Frankly the whole town makes me very uneasy and I don't see how it will even work.

...the notion of a religiously-governed community in a sea of secular culture is a very American idea. In fact, that was characteristic of the original colonies: here was a place where Catholics, Puritans, various German Anabaptist sects (including the Amish), and others could go and set up their own communities and run them according to their religious principles, without interference from their persecutors overseas. Or in other states, as in the case of the Mormons. I'm all for these folks moving into their own little fiefdom where they can be free from non-procreative sex and leaving the rest of us the hell alone.

The question is whether, unlike the largely self-sufficient Amish, the Pizza Pope plans for his settlement to benefit from state school taxes and public services, so that non-paleo-Catholic Floridians have to foot the bill for his little experiment in civil-rights-free living, and whether he intends to exert enormous pressure on surrounding communities to stop providing contraception and abortion services. That's the problem with fundamentalists and why they need to be stopped that my liberal Protestant brethren have been so slow, historically to grasp. They're not merely interested in living and letting live in their own little enclaves: they want us to live like them so that their weak moral constitutions never have to come in contact with the seductions of secularism.

Let's see, a village built around a big Catholic church that literally -- and figuratively -- dominates the town? Where have we seen that before? I mean, I know religious conservatives of all stripes want to go back to the good old days, before the Enlightenment fucked up God's plan by telling people they could reason for themselves. But I guess it's not enough to think and act like you're back in the middle ages -- now you've got to live in an environment that looks like it, too.

Still, as creepy and as cheezy (no pun intended) as this place is, I suppose it's still better than the alternative -- a megachurch surrounded by big box retailers, mcmansions, and mcmansion-wannabes. (Oops, I just described 95% of the rest of the greater Naples region.)

In my property class, we just read a case very akin to this, about a company town in the South in the 1930's, i think. The whole town was on privately owned land run by a corporation, like Ford or something. They had their own post office, police fire, but all paid for by the company, so it was all privately owned.

Then someone wanted to leaflet on a streetcorner in this town.

Well, the court ruled, that since the private town had completedly replaced and simulated a public forum/town square, the corporation could not restrict people's free speech rights in the town, even though it was their private property. Moreover, there's a line of similar cases regarding leafletting at malls-- the supreme court has held that malls can prohibit leafletters, even if the mall has replaced the town square, but in some states, the state supreme courts (most notably, New Jersey) have forced malls to provide free speech protection to people because the malls have replaced the town square.

In short, Pizza Man can think whatever he wants, and maybe he'll hire some clever lawyers, but there's very little chance that he'll be able to make his dream come true.

Personally, i think, if he does, fine. It's a free country, you don't have to live there. Why do we liberals think we have some sort of superiority and can tell people what to do in their private towns? Jsut like we may want to set up Northhamptons, MA everywhere, and force employers to not discriminate against gays, so too other groups want to set up their own havens. Live and let live.

Being from Ann Arbor, MI, where Tom's former empire is based (he no longer owns Dominos) this isn't very strange. He wanted to put a 200+ foot tall crucifix up at Dominos Farms, a large office complex which is at the intersection of US-23 and M-14. Fortunately, he was not allowed to.

He's a nut, and most of us ignore him.

There already is an Ave Maria college, but it's a law school. I know the one being proposed is more comprehensive, but Tom has already created one college, and it ain't based on secular principles.

http://www.avemarialaw.edu/home.cfm

I suggest that the LW who opined that the Amish are "largely self-sufficient" do some research. They are NOT self-sufficient, nor do they contribute anything to the greater good. I am a physician who has practiced in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all areas that have an Amish population nearby. They will come to free clinics and accept charity, but they help no one but their own.

Their children do not serve in our military, or work in our hospitals, or care for the indigent. They do NOTHING to make the world better. They'll take anything you'll give them, but they will NEVER put themselves out for anyone but their own. Plain people, my ass.

They also have an extraordinary high rate of sexual abuse of children. (Don't take my word for it. Type into yahoo: amish sexual abuse. Be prepared for lots of ugly, well-documented cases.) The Amish have powerful friends, like Rick Santorium, who protect them from the consequence of their sick, twisted practices. Please. Don't buy the propaganda that the Amish are self sufficient. They are drags on the common good.

I predict that less than 6 months after this place opens, someone opens an adult bookstore right past the city limits on the largest major road to Ave Maria, and that someone else opens a condom emporium across the street. Further, both owners will retire very wealthy people.

Without active govt. protection of individual rights the majority of people will not have them. It's the fundamental problem of freedom of the press for everyone who owns one. If the owners of property or businesses can require people to sign away their civil rights in exchange for a job or a place to live and have the govt. support this and enforce this as a "freely agreed to" contract then the govt. is in fact depriving everyone but the rich of their civil rights on behalf of the rich, whatever the constitution says. This is the "freedom" that conservatives are so nostalgic for.