Nebraska city officials defend Ten Commandments display
By The Associated Press
06.30.01
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(A federal magistrate ruled July 16 that Nebraska's attorney general cannot intervene in a lawsuit challenging a Ten Commandments monument in a Plattsmouth city park. The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Magistrate David Piester found Don Stenberg had failed to show that the lawsuit created any real challenge to the state Capitol.)
PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. — City officials say the Ten Commandments monument that has stood in a city park for 36 years is not hurting anyone.
The monument also does not express solely religious ideas, attorneys for the city claim in their answer to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to have the marker removed.
City officials say the monument placed by the Fraternal Order of Eagles includes Jewish, Christian and American symbols in addition to the Ten Commandments.
The answer also says the city government's decision to not remove the marker is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom.
Meanwhile, Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg says that the architectural integrity of the state Capitol may be compromised if Plattsmouth is ordered to remove the commandments monument.
The ACLU lawsuit, filed in May in federal court in Lincoln, alleges that the Plattsmouth display violates the First Amendment and subsequent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on a separation of church and state.
Nebraska ACLU Executive Director Tim Butz said negotiations with the city failed, prompting the lawsuit.
The city's case is being handled by the American Center of Law and Justice, a conservative, Virginia-based group that has fought the ACLU on several similar cases.
About 60 Plattsmouth residents voiced their support for keeping the monument during a City Council meeting last year.
Butz has said the marker has no historical significance and should not be on public property. Similar monuments in Fremont, Hastings and Nebraska City also are under scrutiny by the ACLU.
Stenberg said yesterday that he would ask the federal court in Lincoln to allow the state to intervene in the Plattsmouth lawsuit to protect the Capitol.
"A rule of law which would require removal of the Ten Commandments from a city park in Plattsmouth in Nebraska would also likely require the removal of these similar religious depictions from the walls and halls of the state Capitol building," Stenberg said.
The ACLU's Butz said Stenberg was wrong.
"This is political grandstanding and plain silliness that is designed to get Don Stenberg's picture in the newspaper," Butz said. "Stenberg is a little boy crying wolf."
There are differences between the ACLU lawsuit in the Plattsmouth case and artwork in the Capitol, Butz said.
The monument in Plattsmouth is a stand-alone object with no historical significance, while sculptures showing religious depictions in the Capitol are integrated into the structure and historical in nature, Butz said.
People view the Capitol as a work of art, while residents of Plattsmouth tie religious significance to the monument, he said.
Butz said no challenge is planned of the religious items in the Nebraska state Capitol.
No trial date in the Plattsmouth case has been set.
Update
Federal judge sides with atheist in dispute over Ten Commandments
Court rejects Nebraska city's argument that monument in city park hasn't hurt anyone and should be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom.
02.20.02
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ACLU sues Nebraska city over Ten Commandments display
‘The city of Plattsmouth has no business telling its citizens that a certain set of religious tenets are preferred by the city government,’ says civil libertarian.
05.19.01
