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Associated Press, October 20, 2003
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/10/20/build/wyoming/60-commandments.inc Council to decide monument's fate CASPER, Wyo. - The City Council has scheduled a special meeting to decide the fate of a Ten Commandments monument in City Park. The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 28. Last year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on city property must also allow monuments espousing the views of other religious or political groups. The matter was further complicated when the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., informed the city of plans to erect a monument in City Park declaring that slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is in hell because he was gay. Two options to be discussed are to either give the monument back to the Eagles and refuse Phelps' request, or keep the monument in the park and refuse Phelps' request. The first option is unpopular with a large segment of the population and the second would almost certainly lead to litigation. Under a third option, the city would remove the monument from the park and place it in a new plaza that would include a number of historical documents. |
