Turns out the Black Jack ordinance that forbids more than three people from living together unless they’re related by blood, marriage or adoption doesn’t have anything to do with overcrowding after all, as Black Jack had claimed during its attempts to kick Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving out of town.
Mayor Norman McCourt has insisted the city ordinance is intended to prevent overcrowding.But in a November 1999 letter he wrote regarding a similar but unrelated case involving the unwed parents of triplets, McCourt makes specific comments about the city’s “morals and standards.”
Black Jack officials and residents “do not believe that an unmarried couple having children residing in our community is an appropriate standard that they wish to approve,” he wrote.
It’s presumptuous that the mayor of Black Jack would say that residents don’t want an unmarried couple with children living in their town. It’s offensive that the government would say what type of family arrangements are or are not acceptable. And it’s great that the mayor’s own words are now being used to show just how small-minded he and his cronies are.
