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Ten Commandments removed in 3 counties
Officials reluctantly yield to federal judge's order
By JOSEPH GERTH, The Courier-Journal
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McCreary County Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene and members of the American
Legion prayed after the Ten Commandments were removed.
AP PHOTO
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The Ten Commandments came off the walls of two Southeastern Kentucky courthouses and one mountain school district yesterday as local officials complied with a court order.
After 1 1/2 weeks of resisting U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman's May 5 order, officials in McCreary and Pulaski counties and the Harlan County school system removed the Ten Commandments and other documents that refer to God and religion rather than risk being held in contempt of court.
In McCreary County -- where the judge executive had declared he would never take down the Ten Commandments -- the job was done by members of the local American Legion post. They took the framed documents to the post headquarters in Stearns, where they will remain unless a court allows them back in the courthouse.
McCreary County Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene said he kept his word that he would resign or go to jail before taking the Ten Commandments off his courthouse wall.
"Jimmie Greene didn't take them down," Greene said. "The American Legion didn't want me to go to jail and they didn't want me to resign."
In Pulaski, the Ten Commandments were removed from the courthouse with little fanfare.
And in Harlan County, they were removed but empty frames will be hung on the wall to represent the religious and historical documents that Coffman said appeared to violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on state-sponsored religion.
Coffman ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky is likely to win its cases against officials in Harlan, McCreary and Pulaski and ordered the Ten Commandments and other documents removed immediately while the case moves through the court system.
SHE REFUSED last week to rescind the order and allow the Ten Commandments to be posted while the counties appeal her original order. Coffman has not issued a final ruling on whether the displays are constitutional.
Officials in the three counties chose to comply with the order after hiring new lawyers earlier this week.
The Liberty Counsel, a conservative group in Orlando, Fla., decided that it would withdraw an appeal of Coffman's order before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and go a different route to defend the Ten Commandments, said Erik Stanley, a lawyer with the group.
Three lawyers who had been representing the two counties and the Harlan schools have not been fired but the Liberty Counsel is being substituted as the lead legal team because it has expertise in such cases, said Pulaski County Judge-Executive Darrell Beshears.
The Liberty Counsel is battling the ACLU in a school prayer case in West Monroe, La.
In all three counties, officials said they were saddened that the Ten Commandments came down.
In Harlan County, Superintendent Don Musselman wasn't there when school officials reluctantly removed them late yesterday.
"He himself does not have the heart," said Harlan County School Safety Director Robert Hansel, who was drafted to do the job. "We're actually removing them just to protect him from going to jail."
Beshears said he wants to comply with Coffman's order but believes he and the county eventually will win the right to display the commandments. Meanwhile, "I believe in obeying the rules," he said.
STANLEY SAID the Liberty Counsel thinks its chances of winning an appeal of Coffman's order at this point are "pretty bleak" although he believes the non-profit organization can win the case eventually.
He said lawyers will ask Coffman to clarify her ruling in an effort to find a compromise that would allow the schools and courthouses to post the Ten Commandments and still comply with her order.
David Friedman, a lawyer for the ACLU, said yesterday that he was pleased the commandments were removed from courthouses and classrooms.
"We're pleased to see that the defendants have complied with the court's order and it will not be necessary for us to take further litigation to ensure that they comply."
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