GARDEN OF LOVE CHAPEL FEUD: Chapel's woes are growing - News

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Oct. 18, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GARDEN OF LOVE CHAPEL FEUD: Chapel's woes are growing

Council takes closer look at several ceremonies

By ALAN CHOATE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Las Vegas Garden of Love owner Cheryl Luell appears before the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday. The wedding chapel is fighting to keep its business license.
Photos by Clint Karlsen.

Las Vegas Garden of Love wedding chapel is located at 1431 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Reports of threats and violence involving a wedding chapel got a public airing before the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday.

But anyone looking for closure to the city's long-brewing wedding chapel feud came away disappointed. In fact, the mess just got messier.

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Las Vegas Garden of Love is fighting to keep its business license against efforts by its competitors and some city staff to give the chapel the boot.

But a day of semi-judicial proceedings before the council about harassment, intimidation and assaults ended with a whimper when two ministers who had performed wedding ceremonies at the Garden of Love opted to lawyer up before answering the City Council's questions. Council members had wanted to know the specifics about 17 marriage certificates.

"Now we've got two pastors who need lawyers," said Mayor Oscar Goodman, who grew increasingly frustrated with the pace of testimony throughout the day. "This is great."

The council took no action, and the hearing will resume at 1 p.m. Monday.

Local chapel owners have complained for years about what they describe as overly aggressive tactics used by the Garden of Love. Most of the alleged incidents happened outside the downtown Las Vegas Marriage Bureau, where handbillers badger couples, tempt them with rock-bottom ceremony prices and steer them toward waiting limousines.

The allegations against Garden of Love employees and its owners, Cheryl and Craig Luell, include: employees threatening other handbillers with violence, shoving people to the ground, kicking a rival in the head and even stabbing a competitor in the hand.

Cheryl Luell was also accused of paying homeless people to hurl obscenities at employees of other chapels.

Those reports, combined with licensing and other administrative problems, led city officials to notify the Garden of Love last month that the chapel's business licenses wouldn't be renewed.

Cheryl Luell, meanwhile, painted herself as the victim, both of other chapel owners and of her own success. Her attorney, Stephen Stein, said other chapels want to eliminate Garden of Love as a competitor.

"I believe what I see here is a conspiracy," said Stein. "Because of her outstanding abilities, certain competitors of hers would like to put her out of business."

Some council members initially were skeptical of the case against the Garden of Love.

Goodman and Councilman Steve Wolfson -- both attorneys -- noted that many of the charges were contained in signed statements that weren't notarized and were delivered anonymously to the city's Finance and Business Services department. It also wasn't clear who had prepared them.

Though the allegations were serious, only a handful made it into official reports, and Wolfson wondered if the actions were the chapel's fault or if the employee alone was to blame.

And if problems existed before the Garden of Love received its current license in 2005, Goodman wondered, why was it licensed?

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said council members should avoid blaming "one rogue employee on one rogue day."

"If you're looking for a smoking gun here, you're not going to get it," he said. "I would urge you to look at the pattern."

What the council wants to look at now, though, are the circumstances surrounding 17 marriages performed at the Garden of Love on April 7.

Las Vegas police investigated a fight involving a Garden of Love employee on that day -- an employee who was fired in short order, Cheryl Luell told the council.

She was in Houston that day for an Ultimate Fighting Championship match, she said. But it's a contested assertion, since her name appears as a witness on those marriage certificates.

She blamed the ministers who performed the weddings -- Phillip Williams and Jesus Diaz -- for improperly using her name. The witness line doesn't require a signature. On these certificates, her name was either stamped or handwritten.

It sets up a dilemma for Luell: If she witnessed the weddings, then she lied to the police about being out of town. If she didn't, then false marriage documents were filed with Clark County.

The ministers are independent contractors, but the Garden of Love could still be on the hook, much the same as a gentleman's club could be liable for the actions of one of its "independent contractor" dancers.

"You're responsible," said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese to Luell. "It's your wedding chapel."

"How can I stop -- that would be like me being a minister and performing a wedding and saying Mayor Goodman was there," protested Luell.

"This is your chapel," reiterated Reese.

"I wasn't there!"

Luell did provide airplane and hotel documents to the council that she says will back up her story.

Goodman asked Las Vegas police to round up the two reverends. When they arrived, he advised them of their Miranda rights, noting they might end up being implicated in a criminal matter and that they couldn't be compelled to testify against themselves.

Both men decided to get lawyers.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Monica J wrote on October 06, 2008 04:13 PM: I really hope Cheryl was smart enough to start over somewhere else. When I had meet her, she was very helpful in the events that were going on there at the chapel. I was not married there but can vouch that I had been there for many weddings and I can vouch that people dont understand that you get exactly what you paid for. Garden of Love was not the fairy tale version of any weddings. But Cheryl always went above and beyond helping these women and men get married. I can only hope the women and men whom have posted any comment on this or any other comment page realize that Cheryl even though you might not have delt with her, she is a very intelligent and was very successful in all that she did. You most likely recieved all that you paid for. In most cases. you must have recieved more than what was actually paid for. So why complain. Any chapel in Las Vegas honestly have had the same if not worse dealing with wedding that have conspired. The reason she lost her license is…She was the best. And there were alot of chapels that were threatned by her chapel. Look even now that she is gone. The Harrassment continues down where you get your license. Just last Thurs i was downtown. And I couldn’t count the number of various chapels that pushed there brochure in my hands. Offering discounts, limos, free flowers, free chapel use. The City when taking Cheryl’s license away said that when ‘The Garden Of Love goes away all this chaos would leave’. Guess what City of Las Vegas….It’s still there. Cheryl Luell didn’t deserve this. The City only made an example of her. terry wrote on October 18, 2007 07:16 PM: So Stacy, I take it your daughter is sexually active. I mean, she must be if you are worried about it. If she isnt, will she want to be? Be a parent, talk to your kid, sit with them, spend time with her. Then you wont have to worry. Other than that being said, Post appropriatly please, people here have very little tolerance for a change in subject. Heath McClain wrote on October 18, 2007 05:23 PM: On 7-7-07, the big wedding day in Las Vegas, my bride and I waited for a limo from the Garden Of Love Wedding Chapel to pick us up. It never arrived. We took a taxi to the chapel. When we arrived hundreds of people, dozens of couples, were crying and mad for their plans to marry were ruined. The problem? The Garden Of Love overbooked for the big day. We are from out of state and booked the chapel four months ahead of time. They took advantage of us not knowing the city or their reputation. They normally do about 120 weddings a day. They booked over 400 for 7-7-07. Many paid in advance. So, they got their money. I had to work my way past the bodyguard at the door to talk to Cheryl Luell. I suggested a mass wedding for the dozens of couples waiting to marry. She agreed. I organized eight other couples in the parking lot and they finally sent us a minister. So much for the chapel, flowers, pictures, DVD, and limo ride that we paid for. It was a mess. Many other couples did not marry on the big day. Family and friends who flew and booked expensive hotel rooms lost their money. Not to mention paying for a make up wedding some place else. To see the video of us marrying in the parking lot of Garden Of Love to go YouTube. Search the words (wedding, las vegas, 7-7-07, garden, love, heath). j wrote on October 18, 2007 02:27 PM: Stacey, grow up and us this blog feature as it intended - not for your personal diatribe against reality. Stacey wrote on October 18, 2007 01:21 PM: Why is this the top story, tisis pathetic. How about talking about school systems wanting to give me 13 year old daughter birth control pills so she can have "sexual relations"(bill clinton speech) which is why we're in this mess. I am pulling my daughter out of public school and home schooling her. This nations public school system is garbage, this is one of the reasons why our nation is the lowest in the world for educated kids, 1st world nation with 3rd world education system, sad, very sad. God Is Dead wrote on October 18, 2007 11:45 AM: LET IT RIDE! GOD wrote on October 18, 2007 11:09 AM: SHUT IT DOWN! douglas wrote on October 18, 2007 10:49 AM: these lice are no different than the aclu endorsed: smut/hooker outcall service handbillers on the strip legions of illegal/infiltrators loitering outside of plant nurseries/home improvement centers the apparently unemployed riff raff impeding customer ingress outside of some walmarts delray wrote on October 18, 2007 07:26 AM: simple: keep these goons 1000 feet from the courthouse. they are disgusting smelly people who hand out there. New city code: 1000 feet from license office. It is a no brainer, wake up city. better yet consolidate the county with city and let the county government handle this. malcolm wrote on October 18, 2007 03:18 AM: I loved the fact that the very aragont ross stuck his foot in his mouth and apologized i feel sorry for any one in ward 6 having this guy representing you