10 commandments law suit? sell the land to "private sector"

Court OKs Wisconsin Ten Commandments Monument

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The city of La Crosse's decision to sell a Ten Commandments monument and the land around it to a private service group was constitutional and not made to advance religion, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that the city's sale of the statue and a surrounding 22-by-20-foot plot of land in a public park to the Fraternal Order of Eagles was proper.

The city sold the parcel to the Eagles after the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and two La Crosse residents sued in 2002 seeking the monument's removal, arguing the display violated the separation of church and state.

A federal judge in Madison ruled the sale was a sham and ordered the monument's removal.

But the appeals court ruled that sale to the Eagles made sense. The Grove City, Ohio-based international nonprofit service organization originally donated the monument to the city in 1965, and it sits across the street from the group's La Crosse office.

Both the Eagles and the city have erected fences around the monument to show it is on private property and that the city is not endorsing religion.

Annie Laurie Gaylor with the Freedom From Religion Foundation said the organization would likely ask the full panel from the 7th Circuit to review the decision.

2005-01-04 18:16:50 GMT