NOVEMBER 8.2003 • Q-NOTES
National
11
Shepard 'monument' plan
thwarted in Casper
City council says Phelps anti-gay
monument will never be placed on
city property
by Ronald Neame
CASPER, Wyo. — Rabid, anti-gay minis
ter Fred Phelps’ plans to place a monument
here declaring that slain gay University of
Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is in hell
have been squashed by the city council.
Phelps had tried to take advantage of an
ongoing debate surrounding a Ten
Commandments monument that was origi
nally placed in a city park in Casper in 1965.
Shirley Phelps-Roper says the Westboro
Baptist Church will "explore our options"
in their continued efforts in Casper.
Based on an earlier ruling in a similar
case in Utah, the city of Casper would have
been required to allow Phelps to place his
monument in the park if they had left the Ten
Commandments monument in place.
That debate came to an end for the city
on Oct. 28. On a five to four vote the council
passed a motion to remove the Ten
Commandments monument from the city
park. The council also unanimously voted to
reject an offer from Phelps, of the Westboro
Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., to place his
monument anywhere on city property.
In a special session the council was pre
sented with three options for the Ten
Commandments monument: let the monu
ment remain; return it to the original donor; or
move it to an historical site on city property.
The majority agreed on the third option,
passing a motion to move the tablets to a sep
arate plaza with other historical monuments.
During the meeting Phelps and his follow
ers were denounced and Casper Mayor
Barbara Peryam said that she was “not afraid
to standup to what may lie ahead.
“If we are going to be taken to court for
this action, then so be it,” Peryam added.
“Bring it on because this is a battle I firmly
believe we can win.”
Spokespersons for both the Freedom From
Religion Foundation of Madison, Wis., and
the Westboro Baptist Church said the move is
nothing more than an attempt to circumvent
the law laid down by the lOth Circuit Court of
Appeals in 2002 when it ruled in the case of
Summan v. Ogden, which states a city that dis
plays a Ten Commandments monument must
also display monuments espousing more
unpopular beliefs.
“It looks like a ruse; it looks like a trick for
them to keep it,” said Dan Barker of the
Freedom From Religion Foundation, "It would
probably be unconstitutional because the
intention of the city is to maintain a religious
document. The reason they are doing that is
to keep the Ten Commandments.”
Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro
Baptist Church agreed with Barker.
"What they have done is a thinly veiled
attempt to do an end-run around the
Constitution,” she said. "What they did here
was try to create a way to avoid having to deal
with what the 10th Circuit said they must do.”
Barker was- unable to say what his orga
nization’s next move on the matter of
Casper’s Ten Commandments will be.
Phelps-Roper, however, said her church
will “explore our options.” Asked if those
options include litigation, her response was,
“Of course they do.”
After the city council approved moving
the Ten Commandments to the new plaza,
Casper Vice-Mayor Barbara Watters intro
duced a measure to give the monument
back to the original donors if a lawsuit is
filed against the city challenging the consti
tutionality of the historic plaza. The meas
ure failed.
City Manager Tom Forslund said the Ten
Commandments monument will probably be
removed from City Park and placed in tem
porary storage some time in the next month.
Flc was unsure, exactly when the move will
be done.
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