GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – Marshall County Sheriff Mac Holcomb has removed his personal letter from a county-sponsored website in which he condemns homosexuality as “an abomination.”

Holcomb, who had received a complaint from an Alabama native now living in California, said he is sticking to his beliefs and removed the letter for the overall good of the county. The letter was moved to his personal website.

“This will prevent the county from having to spend money unnecessarily in defending a frivolous lawsuit and… this action will make it clear that the views expressed are my personal views and do not represent official policy of the county or the sheriff’s department,” Holcomb said in a statement.

The 61-year-old sheriff, in the letter on the website, remembered the 1940s and 1950s fondly. “Men were men and women were women and there was no mistaking which was which… Homosexuality was very queer and a despicable act… an abomination,” he wrote.

Holcomb’s action comes after Anniston native Don Hunter, who is now a deputy administrator for Marin County, Calif., complained to the sheriff in a letter last month. Hunter said he came across Holcomb’s words while searching the county website for elderly assistance for his mother in Alabama.

“It was shocking to me because it was so hateful,” said Hunter, adding that he never received a response from Holcomb.

Hunter said that he too grew up in the 1950s. “I remember the good things from that time, but bad things too. There was racism and mistreatment of homosexuals,” he said.

In recent weeks, Hunter said he has received hate mail and phone calls about his stance against the sheriff. He said he felt discouraged about his move against the sheriff until hearing the news that the sheriff had removed the statement from the county website.

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, which lost members after the diocese elected an openly gay bishop, plans to close in the spring.

Parishioners met with Bishop Gene Robinson to make the closing official. The church has operated for more than 100 years.

“Perhaps it was time to rest,” Robinson said.

Parishioners made the decision, he added, with “much disappointment and sadness.”

The church will remain open until April. Its final service is set for Easter Sunday.

A group of 36 parishioners decided in June they couldn’t stay in the church after Robinson refused to grant complete pastoral supervision to a more orthodox bishop. Since then, only 12 to 14 parishioners have attended weekly Sunday service.

Parishioners voted 24-1 at an annual meeting to approve the closure. The sole dissenter voted no “because he finally found a church he loved and didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Robinson said.

Kevin Gorham, a parishioner for 18 years who helps run the church, said its congregation was too small even before the split over Robinson.

“It was an event that made us face the facts, but the facts have been here,” he said.

The diocese has given the church about $200,000 in support over roughly the last decade, officials said. Formally, the church is classified as a mission, which permits the support.

The church had survived a similar conflict in 1988. More than 100 parishioners left as the church’s rector installed female clergy and replaced the 1928 Book of Common Prayer with the 1979 version, as national Episcopal Church policy demanded. The splinter group became the Trinity Anglican Church, eventually building a new church.

The building’s fate after April hasn’t been decided, Robinson said. He predicted the church someday will rise again in a new form.

“God will reveal the new shape of ministry here,” he said.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A transgender Oklahoma City police officer has filed a civil rights complaint accusing the police department of trying to force her to quit.

Officer Paula Schonauer filed the complaint Jan. 14 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Police Chief Bill Citty was unaware of Schonauer’s latest complaint, said Sgt. Charles Phillips, assistant public information officer.

“The chief’s comment is that he has not been notified of the complaint at this point, and he wants to reiterate that Officer Schonauer is still an active employee of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and the department will respond as required to any complaints as we receive them,” Phillips said.

Schonauer first filed a complaint with the EEOC in March, accusing the department of creating a hostile work environment for her. She filed a second EEOC complaint in May, alleging she suffered retaliation for filing the first complaint.

The March and May complaints became the basis for separate lawsuits Schonauer filed against the city, one in September and another in December.

The lawsuits were filed to meet the statute of limitations – a legal time limit for filing certain kinds of cases – and were never served on the city, Schonauer’s lawyer, Doug Friesen, said at the time.

Schonauer returned to work recently, having been on paid administrative leave since September after being reassigned in May to a job taking police reports. She had been a street officer.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Four members of a conservative Christian group may resume picketing gay-themed events in Philadelphia after a judge lifted a restriction that kept them away.

Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe called the restriction an unreasonable restraint on free speech.

“We cannot restrict people’s right to speak or to be near those who might not wish to hear them into the future,” Dembe said.

Dembe overturned a ruling by Municipal Court Judge William A. Meehan against the demonstrators, who are affiliated with a local group called Repent America and who say their opposition to homosexuality is based on the Bible. Meehan had ordered the group to stay at least 100 feet away from any “homosexual event.”

The defendants’ attorney, C. Scott Shields, told Dembe that Meehan’s order had effectively “muzzled” his clients, “and that’s unconstitutional as a prior restraint.”

The activists still face a variety of charges, including felonies, in connection with their protest last fall at Outfest, a street festival for gays and lesbians in downtown Philadelphia.

However, after viewing a 22-minute videotape of the events leading to the defendants’ arrest, Dembe indicated she might dismiss the entire case.

“It all amounted to annoyance on both sides, but it did not amount to criminal behavior that I can see,” Dembe said.

Cathie Abookire, a spokesperson for District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, said the prosecution would proceed with the case. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled, at which Dembe is to hear arguments on dismissing the charges.

The activists, led by Repent America founder Michael Marcavage of Lansdowne, say they are being prosecuted for voicing their religious belief that homosexuality is a sin.

Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich said the criminal charges were based on the defendants’ conduct, not what they said.

“Mr. Marcavage’s conduct is to try to incite a crowd to cause a public disturbance… whether it’s from the Bible or somewhere else,” Ehrlich said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch was arraigned in federal court on charges that he never paid taxes on the $1 million he won on the hit CBS reality show.

Hatch did not enter a plea, but told U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond that he understood the charges, and waived his right to a grand jury. Almond released Hatch on a $50,000 bond, which the reality TV star posted immediately following the hearing.

A plea hearing will be scheduled at a later date with U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres. Prosecutors said they expected Hatch to eventually plead guilty as part of an agreement in which they would recommend leniency when Hatch is sentenced.

Federal prosecutors charged that Hatch, 43, filed false 2000 and 2001 tax returns, omitting his income from the CBS show, as well as another $321,000 he was paid by a Boston radio station.

Hatch, who lives in Newport, faces a maximum five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge.

In deciding to release Hatch, Almond found that he was not a flight risk, given his strong ties to the state. Almond ordered Hatch, who has been traveling as a motivational speaker and has made numerous television appearances since his 2000 “Survivor” win, to surrender his passport. He prohibited Hatch from leaving Rhode Island without the court’s permission.

Hatch was also ordered to submit to periodic drug and alcohol tests.

As part of the plea agreement, Hatch said he would pay the taxes he owes, which the government said are between $200,000 and $400,000. The agreement does not shield him from any penalties the Internal Revenue Service might impose.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Survivor Entertainment Group paid Hatch $10,000 in August 2000 for appearing on the final episode of the reality show and $1 million for being declared the show’s winner. Prosecutors allege that in November 2002, Hatch filed a false personal income tax return for the 2000 tax year by failing to report the $1.01 million.

Prosecutors also said that Hatch failed to report income he earned working as on-air co-host and on-air personality for “The Wilde Show” on WQSX-FM in Boston between January and December 2001.

On “Survivor”, Hatch stood out because of his penchant for nudity and as the only openly gay contestant. Dave Letterman dubbed him the “fat naked guy.”

Since the television show, Hatch has weathered a series of legal battles.

He was arrested in April 2000 on a charge of abusing his then 9-year-old son. That charge was later dropped.

In 2002, in a ruling that overturned a conviction from several months earlier, Hatch was found innocent of assaulting his ex-boyfriend.

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) – An openly gay high school student was sent home to change after he wore a shirt that said “Too Gay To Function” during homecoming week.

Billy Zepeda, a senior at R.A. Long High School, decorated the lime green shirt with marker-drawn rainbows and wrote the phrase from the teen movie Mean Girls on the front. He wore it during the school’s make-your-own-shirt day.

A teacher told him the shirt was inappropriate and offensive to gays and lesbians, said Zepeda, 17.

School officials said students weren’t given specific rules for their designs, and shirts were deemed inappropriate on a case-by-case basis. Two other students were sent home to change, one with a cut-off shirt that exposed his stomach, and another that had an inappropriate comment, said Ty Morris, assistant principal.

“If a faculty member feels it offends them or is inappropriate… then they send them home to change,” Morris said. “You can’t micromanage it.”

Zepeda said the shirt wasn’t meant to offend.

“It’s quite aggravating,” he said. “I can’t wear my shirt because it’s discriminating against gays. … Why would I discriminate against myself?”

Other students wore shirts with gangster themes, made of bubble-wrap or duct-tape. Zepeda said one student had a shirt “talking about his gender area.”