OREM — Some students who met for a prayer meeting on the lawn of their apartment complex have decided to change the location of their weekly gathering after the building's owners said they couldn't use their property for such a purpose.
"We weren't trying to exclude anyone; we were just getting together to pray," said Melissa McAllister, who has lived at Pinnacle Canyon View apartments for five years.
McAllister has met on the complex's lawn for Sunday prayer with fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for years.
But on Aug. 29, while church members were gathered on the lawn, a maintenance worker approached the group and informed them that they needed to leave the property. The worker told them he had been instructed by the management of the complex to call the police and have the attendees arrested for disturbing the peace if they did not leave. He also told them to discontinue holding the prayer meeting at the complex.
"It seems like it shouldn't have come to this," McAllister said. "I wonder if it was just a group of us gathering on the lawn to talk if it would have gotten the same response."
While some of the church members wonder if they were asked to change locations because of anti-religious sentiment, the complex's management company maintains that the incident is a noise issue.
Management of the complex referred requests for comment to a corporate spokesperson. When contacted, he declined to respond directly to questions.
The company then issued a statement, saying that "any noise, regardless of the source, is not allowed."
Residents who live at the complex are required to sign a contract as part of their lease in which they agree to "not make or permit noises that will disturb the rights or comfort of neighbors and the community."
And because students are not the only ones who live at the apartment building, a quiet time beginning at 10 p.m. is also requested.
But Grant Richards, the leader of the LDS congregation, said he doesn't think the prayer meeting was disturbing the community or making too much noise.
When noise complaints were made in the past, he encouraged his congregation to be quieter. They also stopped singing hymns so they wouldn't make a lot of noise.
And to avoid future conflict, Richards has decided to move the meeting to the LDS Institute of Religion building at UVSC.
"If we can't do it (at the Pinnacle Canyon View complex) and have a pleasant time doing it, then we'll stay at the institute," Richards said.
E-mail: achoate@desnews.com