Tensions rose during the March 25th Odessa City Council meeting—the first true flashpoint since Mayor Cal Hendrick and new council members Eddie Mitchell and Craig Stoker were elected. The subject? A city-owned stage being used by Councilmember Chris Hanie for religious outreach at First Fridays without paying the required fees.

According to the Odessa American, Interim City Manager Richard Morton brought the matter forward after discovering Hanie had used the city’s portable stage seven times without paying the $1,000 deposit or $500 rental fee mandated by city ordinance. Hanie claimed prior authorization by the former council, but Morton anticipated this, and had already checked previous meeting minutes. He could find no evidence of such an authorization.

At the center of the issue is Hanie’s “faith-based ministry,” which he and Councilmember Greg Connell run with several local pastors. Their outreach has, according to Hanie, attracted about 200 people downtown. Hanie insisted that their efforts enhance First Fridays, saying, “We’re helping them go to restaurants… They’re asking us where to eat.”

Councilmember Steve Thompson pushed back, noting that the city’s name on the stage gives the impression that Odessa is endorsing a specific religion. “There’s a separation of church and state and I think you’re pushing people down there away a little bit,” he said, as quoted by the Odessa American. He added that he’d received complaints from residents who felt harassed by Hanie’s group. “It’s turning into something that could be ugly down the road.”

Thompson’s comments sparked a tense exchange with Hanie, who countered by bringing up the city’s sponsorship of Christmas events. “So I take it that we’re going to cancel Christmas this year?” he asked, sarcastically.

Connell, defending Hanie, noted that every city council meeting begins with an invocation. But Mitchell, frustrated with the direction of the conversation, interrupted: “The guidelines say rent the trailer. That’s what we need to do.”

Even as the council tentatively agreed that all groups should abide by city rental policies, the conversation veered further off course. Mayor Hendrick pivoted the discussion to the legality of owning chickens within city limits. Thompson remarked that with egg prices falling, there was no longer an “egg crisis” to justify this, and warned of health issues caused by “the gasses they emit.” While this is technically true, it doesn’t necessarily apply to backyard farms. The environmental impact of gas emissions by chickens is more pronounced in large industrial poultry farms due to the volume of manure produced.

Connell took the opportunity to spiral the meeting into a full doomsday prediction. “What’s the probability we’re gonna have World War III? It’s probably coming,” he said, before theorizing that the enemy would use “electromagnetic pulses” to “fry everything,” leaving Odessans without grocery stores.

Several countries (including the United States) have reported development of non-nuclear bombs capable of weaponized electromagnetic pulses, but the public’s wider knowledge of EMP weapons comes from it’s use in a variety of science fiction works. Popular media often depicts EMP effects incorrectly, causing misunderstandings among the public.

“If people had chickens, gardens, and fruit trees, maybe not so many Odessans would die,” Connell concluded.

Despite these apocalyptic digressions, no formal action was taken on the matter of the stage usage, and the question of whether Odessa is endorsing specific religious practices through city property ultimately remains unresolved.

It’s sometimes hard to feel like all members of the Odessa City Council take their citizen’s concerns seriously. I remember Councilmember Hanie calling me a “little girl” while I stood at the dais during public comment at the October 2024 meeting. This is the man who is saying his unpaid use of city property is to “help the drug addicts.” I’m not sure how happy those citizens would feel to know they were being spoken about like this.

The conversation around religious activities at city-sponsored events isn’t over. But one thing is clear: whether it’s Bibles or backyard chickens, Odessans want city council meetings to be about policy and governance, not political theatre.