Warren ― A church in Warren and its pastor are suing the city of Warren and Mayor Lori Stone, alleging “harassment” by the city.
Harvest Time Christian Fellowship, a nondenominational church on 9 Mile Road, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the city and the mayor on May 19.
The city has issued citations against the church, which operates a food pantry, and its pastor for alleged zoning and ordinance violations, according to the lawsuit. The suit said the city has confiscated bikes, lawnmowers, BBQ pits, dumpsters and other items from the church’s property.
Senior Pastor Curtiss Ostosh said the church, which was started nearly 35 years ago, doesn’t want to “be bothered with continuous harassment.”
“The city sends inspectors out almost daily, if not daily,” he told The News. “They take pictures. They take video. They issue tickets. We’ve had thousands and thousands of dollars worth of tickets issued to our church for ordinance violations and zoning violations.”
The city of Warren’s legal department said in a statement that the city has not yet been served with a lawsuit.
“Given the ongoing legal matters involving many of the same parties and issues, the City will not comment on these allegations and will address any legal matters through the appropriate legal process,” the statement said.
Harvest Time’s attorney, David C. Peters II, said in the lawsuit that the ministry of the church has “filled a critical need to feed the poor and hungry” in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties and to “share the Gospel and hold religious services.” The church and Ostosh were given a service award by Mayor Jim Fouts’ administration in August 2023.
The election of a new mayor, Mayor Lori Stone, in November 2023 “heralded a major shift” in the city’s approach, Peters II said in the lawsuit.
“Under the new Mayor, the CITY chose to ignore federal law, the history of good works by the CHURCH, and the Michigan and federal constitutions, and began a targeted campaign of harassment and government overreach against the CHURCH and Pastor OSTOSH,” the lawsuit said.
In addition to suing the city and Stone, the church is also suing Jane Does and John Does because it doesn’t know the names of other individuals who are responsible for “some of the problems” it is facing, Ostosh said. The church expects those names to become known during discovery.
On March 4, 2025, the city of Warren sued Harvest Time in the Macomb County Circuit Court, alleging fraud in the acquisition of a house and demanding that the house be returned to the city. The Fouts administration gave a blighted property to Harvest Time, and the church improved the property, Ostosh said.
‘Anonymous complaints’ followed pastor’s Facebook post, lawsuit says
The lawsuit said just before the city began “the biased enforcement” against Harvest Time, Ostosh shared a post on Facebook that said “the people that won’t call this a baby want you to call that a woman,” according to an image of the post in the lawsuit. The text was accompanied by a photo of a fetus and a photo of Dr. Rachel Levine, who served as President Joe Biden’s assistant secretary for health and was the highest-ranking openly transgender federal official in U.S. history.
Immediately after the Facebook post, unnamed individuals started parking on the street outside Harvest Time and were observed watching the church parking lot and taking notes in their vehicles, the lawsuit said. The church’s attorney said “anonymous complaints” about Harvest Time suddenly began to be made to the city and other government entities.
“Under the acquiescence and direction of Mayor LORI STONE, one or more LGBT groups, allied with her office, conspired to make false claims about the CHURCH to the CITY, and other Government Entities,” the lawsuit said.
The suit noted that the city commenced a “focused and obviously targeting operation” against Harvest Time and began citing it and its pastor for city code violations.
“The code violations were essentially all the same and included allegations that the CHURCH was leaving out uncovered food, plastic debris, cardboard, and other ‘rodent harborage,'” Peters II wrote in the lawsuit.
He said city inspectors were “sent out week after week” on Wednesday and other days to take pictures and “find evidence of improper food storage.”
“On Wednesdays, a food truck comes to fill the pantry of the CHURCH and food distribution center for that week, and this is the precise date and time that CITY inspectors repeatedly chose to take pictures of the unloading operations,” according to the lawsuit.
Ostosh said he and the church had to appear before a District Court magistrate many times over zoning or blight violations, and each time, the magistrate sided with the city.
City officials removed equipment from church grounds, pastor says
Ostosh said the city has “taken it upon themselves” to seize and remove equipment from the church property, including a refrigerated truck, a “huge trailer,” lawnmowers, dumpsters and other items.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development routinely inspects Harvest Time’s food pantry, and it has never been issued a violation, he said. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Ostosh said city officials have claimed that Harvest Time is passing out “rotten food,” which he said is false.
“It’s just harassment,” he said of the city’s behavior.
Violation of rights
The lawsuit argued that the city’s actions violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and provisions of the Michigan Constitution dealing with freedom of worship and freedom of speech.
“The enforcement actions followed Pastor OSTOSH’S public religious and political expression, including his pro-life views, defense of Biblical marriage, and opposition to certain social policies by the Mayor of Warren all took place in response to the Plaintiff’s exercise of Free Speech and the Practice of Religion,” the lawsuit said.
Harvest Time’s attorney argued that the city isn’t permitted to target a church for enforcement unless it demonstrates a compelling state interest, neutrality and “that there are no less restrictive means of achieving their goals.”
“The CITY has targeted the CHURCH and is not neutral, does not have a compelling State interest, and even if they did it has not employed the least restrictive means to achieve their interest,” the lawsuit said.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Warren church sues city in federal court over political ‘harassment’
Reporting by Anne Snabes, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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