KING
An Afghanistan war veteran who complained about the Christian flag being flown at a Veteran’s Memorial also wants the city of King to remove a cross from a smaller monument showing a soldier kneeling next to a grave.
The veteran, who lives in King and whose name has not been made public, complained about the cross Friday in a phone call to the city, Council Member Charles Allen said. The veteran’s second complaint is the latest salvo in the controversy over what can be displayed on public property.
City officials have received dozens of phone calls and e-mails from residents who are upset about a decision by the King City Council last week to remove the flag from the memorial at Central Park. More than 200 people attended a protest rally at the memorial on Monday night to urge the council to reconsider its vote.
Another rally is being planned for next month.
The council took the Christian flag down on the advice of City Attorney Walter W. Pitt Jr., who said it violated the First Amendment. The city had received letters from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, urging the council to take down the flag.
The veteran is the person who called City Manager John Cater earlier in the summer to complain about the Christian flag at the memorial, Allen said. On Aug. 2, the council voted 3-0 to keep the flag in place before later deciding to remove it.
The veteran told FOX8/WGHP he complained about the flag “to bring attention to the fact that regardless of the form of government, it had no right to impose any type of religious belief upon its population.”
He said he didn’t want to give his full name, saying he wants to protect his family and business.
The council “is studying the situation and looking at what we are going to do,” Allen said about the request about the smaller monument.
Jim Rasmond, a member of American Legion Post 290, said that his organization would not remove the cross from the monument.
“We aren’t going to lay down for this,” Rasmond said. “I don’t believe in one person telling all of us what to do.”
The American Legion Post put the monument next to the memorial two years ago. Both are on city-owned land.
The Veteran’s Memorial was built in 2004 at a cost of about $300,000. The American Legion in King raised the money in private donations, and the city allowed the organization to use land at Central Park for the site, said Bobby “Crow” McGee, a member of the American Legion.
McGee led a five-person memorial committee that discussed flying a Christian flag at the memorial in June 2004. The committee decided without any legal advice to fly the flag because private money would be used to build the memorial, McGee said.
“We didn’t have one complaint about it until this summer,” McGee said.
After the city took the down the flag last week, Donna Moorefield put up two Christian flags at her business, King’s Cabin Salon and Day Spa on East King Street.
“(The city) told us we couldn’t have it in a public place,” Moorefield said. “Here it is private property. I’m a Christian. I can fly the flag of my choice on any given day.”
At the King Drug Co. on South Main Street, Arlene Austin said she wants the city to reconsider its position on the flag and fly it at the memorial.
“They (the city council) made a big mistake,” Austin said.
If the council decides to fly the flag again at the memorial, the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State will consider filing a lawsuit against King, said Barry W. Lynn, the organization’s executive director.
“They have done the right thing,” Lynn said. “It would be very unfortunate if they reversed their decision.”
Katherine Parker, the legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, declined to comment on what action her organization might take if the city reverses its decision.
The council’s action “protects the rights of all individuals,” Parker said. “When government sponsors one religion over another, it compromises the rights of all to practice religion.”
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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