Published: March 28, 2008 11:54 am      

Crosses not allowed at courthouse

KEYSER - There were no crosses on the lawn of the Mineral County Courthouse over Easter weekend.

Although the Mineral County Commission gave permission to the Keyser Presbyterian Church on March 11 to erect an Easter display for approximately three days on the courthouse lawn, President Janice LaRue was forced to rescind that permission just two days later when a complaint was filed with Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In a March 13 letter to Melvin Evans, who had appeared before the commission on Feb. 13 to seek permission for the display, LaRue said a county resident had filed a complaint against the commissioners in regard to their decision.

The commissioners in turn contacted Chris Winberg, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice, who advised the officials that "the proposed display could not be successfully defended in a court action."

LaRue said if the complaining resident had chosen to take the county to court over the display, "it would be likely that opposing counsel would prevail and the county would likely be required by the court to pay legal fees for all parties.

"Given this information, we cannot place this potential liability on county residents," she said.

LaRue did not name the resident who filed the complaint.

Original plans for the Easter display called for a single seven-foot-tall cross to be erected near the West Street/Armstrong Street corner of the lawn.

After County Coordinator Mike Bland said "it probably wouldn't be a bad idea" to ask Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Nelson to review the request, Nelson suggested the addition of a plaque identifying the Keyser Presbyterian Church as the sponsor of the display.

Americans Untied for the Separation of Church and State is a national advocacy group which promotes religious freedom in the United States.

According to the America United Web site, www.au.org, the group "is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans."

Contact Liz Beavers at lbeavers@times-news.com.