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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

HOLIDAY BLUES
Nativity display erected on public land by church
County attorney says once placed, may be unconstitutional to remove

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Posted: December 18, 2004
7:05 p.m. Eastern

After months of official wrangling over Christmas decorations by Polk County, Florida, commissioners, 35 members of a local Baptist church decided to resolve the debate by erecting a nativity scene in front of the county administration building in the dead of night – and the state of controversy over such displays being what it is, the creche might stay.

The "vigilante" action occurred following the recent midweek prayer meeting at the Bartow First Baptist Church. Morning saw a nativity scene, a snowman and a disclaimer notice saying the county commissioners who had voted against the display were not responsible for its sudden appearance. According to Barbara Pittman, a Sunday School director at the church, the display is a "gift to Polk County."


"Needless to say, not all see it that way.

In the contentious debates that began in October, the specter of lawsuits against the county was raised if commissioners approved a nativity display.

Commissioner Randy Wilkinson, the official behind the nativity effort, proposed adorning the historic courthouse with multicultural holiday decorations representing multiple religions. Resistance to that solution came from another commissioner who said the citizens of Polk County shouldn't have to tolerate "symbols of people who hate," in reference to Islamic decorations.

"When people blow up our buildings, I ain't putting those symbols up on there," he concluded. Consequently, the multicultural option failed.

According to County Attorney Joe Jarret, who sympathizes with the church members, the nativity scene isn't unconstitutional but their actions constituted a trespass on public property. The county has to regulate displays on public property, he told Polk County's News Chief, otherwise they "would soon turn into forums for various groups, many of whom [possess] agendas contrary to prevailing community mores, morals and attitudes."

Even so, the display might stay.

"It's an unresolved issue at this point," Jarret says. "The Supreme Court has essentially said that once it becomes a public forum, it's a public forum. So it could prove to be difficult to restrain or otherwise regulate content."

In short, Jarret is unsure the county can take the display down without violating the constitutional rights of the church members who placed it there. And with no further commission business scheduled for the remainder of the year, any action would require a special board meeting.

Even commission chairman Jack Myers, an opponent of holiday decorations at the courthouse, is satisfied to leave the rogue nativity scene in place as long as it continues to bear the disclaimer that the county bears no responsibility for its placement. "I called the county attorney," Myers says. "It meets the legal test."

We want our grandchildren to grow up in a town where the birth of Jesus can be celebrated in public," nativity plotter Pittman said. "Bartow, to us, is Hometown, USA. And if we, as Christians, cannot openly display Christian symbols, where in this whole world can we do so?"



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