With the threat of being dragged into court hanging over head, the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base has decided to reschedule its industry days for this year.
The planned annual event was scheduled to occur Sept. 25 to 27, which would have put it in conflict with the celebration of Yom Kippur, which also is known as the Day of Atonement, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog organization, was having none of that. The foundation was prepared to take the center to federal court to get an injunction to stop the event from being held during that time.
MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein received the news about the center’s change of heart directly from Executive Director Doug Loverro, a few hours after this post on Flightlines. We are still waiting on an official response from the center and can expect that response in about six days, according to a spokeswoman.
Here’s what Loverro told Weinstein in a statement:
Mr. Weinstein,Thank you for bringing to our attention the fact that we had unintentionally scheduled SMC Industry Days to begin on Yom Kippur. SMC prides itself on
its diverse workforce and industry partners, and assuring our actions take into consideration the needs of that multifaceted community. Therefore, we intend to change the dates for SMC Industry days to deconflict it with Yom Kippur. We have just begun the search for a new date and do not know at this point when it will be rescheduled. Once that is determined, we will announce it publicly as we have done in the past.Once again, thank you for alerting us to this issue.Sincerely,
Mr. Doug Loverro
Executive Director
While its a win for MRFF and the 27 clients, 16 of which are Jewish, Weinstein isn’t quick to give too much credit to the center for backing down and changing the dates. He said his clients attempted to bring the conflict to the attention of leadership weeks ago, and it was brought to the attention of the center again as late as last week, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.
“It took a Taser and a knife to the throat to get the change,” Weinstein said.
1 Comment
Winestein has been plagueing the AF for years. A former USAFA grad that went on the warpath against alledged Christian sympathizing in the late ’00s. Mikey, please go home and leave us all alone. Your static is negative and does not contribute to any progress for our service.