FRANK BURGOS and CARLOS HARRISON Herald Staff Writers

Hialeah council members tonight plan to again tackle the issue of animal sacrifice at the city's only santeria church.

City residents and the council have opposed the Iglesia of Lukumi Babalu Aye and its sacrifice rituals almost from the start.

When residents brought a 5,000-signature petition against the church to the City Council, it passed two resolutions denouncing the practice.

The resolutions did not outlaw it. They did anger church leaders and supporters.

Jorge Duarte, attorney for the santeria church, challenged the council to pass an ordinance outlawing the practice.

"Stop hiding behind resolutions," he said during a heated council meeting last month. "Pass an ordinance."

Tonight, the council may do that.

Two weeks ago, it tentatively approved three ordinances that would make it illegal to perform animal sacrifices or slaughters in the city. One would outlaw animal sacrifice; another animal slaughter except at slaughter houses; the third prohibits possession of animals for sacrifice.

If passed again tonight and approved by Mayor Raul Martinez, they will become law. A person could be arrested, fined up to $500 or jailed for up to 60 days for the ritual slaughtering of a chicken or a goat.

The ordinances may spark an unprecedented church/state suit in the courts. According to some legal experts, U.S. federal courts have never decided on the constitutionality of religious animal sacrifice.

"We're obviously cutting into some new territory, there's no denying that," said Duarte.

Church leaders, supporters and religion experts say the practice is integral to the practice of santeria.

Followers of santeria "have a sincere belief that a human life is going to be saved by the offering of an animal to a deity," Duarte said. "Who are we to say that the right of the chicken is superior to that of the terminally ill patient who has no hope and is going to the santeria priest for healing."

Teresita Pedraza, a sociology and anthropology teacher at Florida International University and Miami-Dade Community
College, said santeria requires that an animal be killed during the ceremony used to initiate a priest. Usually, chickens are used.

Pedraza believes the religion is more prevalent in South Florida than most people think.

"Santeria has been here in Miami since the arrival of the very first Cubans," Pedraza said. "The practice has gone on quietly next door to you. Why is there suddenly this objection?

"Let's say they remove the church," Pedraza said. "The killing of the animals will continue. It seems to me that this is more a problem of prejudice than of religion."

Not so, say the council members and Hialeah residents behind the ordinances.

"Community standards are what we're talking about," said Alden Tarte, a lawyer whose office is a few doors from the santeria church at 173 W. Fifth St.

Tarte, who drafted two of the three ordinances the council will consider tonight, said animal sacrifices pose a health and moral danger to Hialeah.

"It's repulsive to the morals of a community and a violation of health codes," Tarte said. "What was all right 400 years ago doesn't make it all right now."

Tarte said he took care in writing the ordinances to insure they pass any constitutional test.

"I'm confident they will be upheld in court," he said. "They were not drafted with the idea they won't be upheld."

Legal experts are split on whether the ordinances are constitutional.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Jeremiah Gutman believes the ordinances won't survive a lawsuit. "I think it's absurd to say I can kill a chicken because I want to eat it but I can't perform the same act because my God requires it of me," Gutman said. "That's clearly a violation of First Amendment rights of free expression of religion."

Bruce Rogow, a professor at Nova University law center, said government has been fairly successful in limiting religious conduct. Mormons, for example, can't practice polygamy in the United States, even though their religion called for it.

"The key is conduct," Rogow said. "Once you get into conduct, the state can go into a more forceful role."

"The bottom line is there is no constitutional right to slaughter animals for religious purposes," said Laurence Tribe, constitutional law professor at Harvard University.

Tarte's ordinances were introduced by Councilman Julio Martinez, who has angrily debated santeria church leader Ernesto Pichardo on the radio.

"I personally do not want to go back in time," Martinez said. "These practices belong in the 14th or 15th century.

"Nighty-nine percent of the people in this city don't agree with sacrificing an animal to a god," he said. "I represent those people."

Martinez said he is not worried about the possibility the issue may go to court and possibly the Supreme Court.

"I believe whatever happens needs to happen," he said. "If this santeria starts here, the whole nation can be bothered by this issue. Let's stop it here."

"Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us. There's no need to sacrifice anything else," said Councilman Salvatore D'Angelo, sponsor of the third anti-animal sacrifice ordinance.

D'Angelo and Martinez said they expect the council to unanimously approve the ordinances.

Mayor Raul Martinez won't say if he will approve, veto or take no action. If he takes no action after two weeks, the ordinances go into effect. If he vetoes them, council members are certain they have enough votes to override the action.

Martinez said he will seek advice from his attorney on his legal liability if he were to approve the ordinances. "I don't want to see myself sued for violating someone's civil rights," he said. Almost everyone involved in this issue believes it will go to the courts.

"Somebody is going to have to balance the church's constitutional right against whatever the infringement the council decides to put on this particular religion," said santeria church attorney Duarte.