Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., announced plans Thursday to erect a monument in Casper's City Park.

The monument would be made of marble or granite, stand 5 to 6 feet in height, with a heavy bronze plaque bearing the face of slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard and an inscription reading "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22," a letter from the Westboro Baptist Church signed by Phelps sent to the city of Casper states.

The church plans to place the monument in City Park because the park is already home to a Ten Commandments monument donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1965.

On Monday, the Casper City Council discussed moving the Ten Commandments from the park because the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has threatened legal action if the city does not do so.

After a fiery debate, in which some council members mentioned the possibility of Phelps trying to erect a monument, the council decided to look into selling the land on which the Decalogue sits to a private party so that it can stay where it is.

According to the ruling made by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Summum v. City of Ogden, any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on public property must also allow monuments espousing the views of other religions or political groups on that same property.

Phelps plans on taking advantage of this ruling to put his monument next to the Ten Commandments, he said. The monument would be a first for the Westboro Baptist Church, Phelps said.

"That is exactly what I said would happen," said Councilwoman Barb Watters. "I'm like Carnac, I can see the future."

"When Phelps puts on one side his picture with the thing about killing all the gays, and they put on the other side of the thing a picture of Hitler that says 'Kill all the Jews.' That is what you are opening yourself up for," she added.

"It does not have anything to do with the message on the monument that is up there now," Watters said. "My thing is that it is not the Ten Commandments that hang over the Arc in the Temple. It is not my version of the Ten Commandments, but I can live with it being in the park. But I can't live with the idea of having to put up other people's crap because that is there. And that is what is going to happen.

"It is much easier to avoid all that by just moving it (the Ten Commandments monument)," Watters said. "It won't lose any of the meaning by moving it."

Councilwoman Renee Burgess, who supported selling the land on which the monument sits in hopes to keep the Decalogue where it is, said she too feared someone like Phelps would try to erect a monument in the park.

"This is exactly what I feared would happen. As soon as we opened this Pandora's box," Burgess said.

"I think it (the Ten Commandments monument) should be there, but I am voting to remove it if it has to be for this very reason, for the prevention of people like Phelps," she said.

Burgess added that she still hopes the city will be able to sell a piece of park in order to keep the monument where it is.

However, Councilman Paul Bertoglio said he will not be persuaded to support taking the monument out of the park by hate.

"It only strengthens my resolve that we are not going to accept being pushed or driven by fear of people whose message is hate," Bertoglio said.

"I am not going to be pushed by the fear of more hate language. I think the hate language will find a very cold reception in this community. I think this community's backbone is going to come up and say, 'We are not going to accept it,'" if Phelps erects his monument, Bertoglio said.

"From a pure fiscal standpoint, I don't know why anyone would want to spend that type of money on something that I don't believe would last a week before somebody in this community destroys it. And I don't think it is our responsibility to provide 24-7 security for this," he added.

According to City Manager Tom Forslund and Mayor Barb Peryam, Phelps will not be able to place his monument in the park until the city comes to a final decision on what to do with the Ten Commandments monument.

But even if the city decides to remove the Ten Commandments from the park, thereby making it impossible for the Westboro Baptist Church to put its monument up there, Phelps said he will look to place his message in stone somewhere else in the city.

"There may be nearby private property that we could buy," Phelps said in a phone interview Thursday. "I mean we have to see what turn this takes and how it develops."

Phelps said he wishes to erect his monument in Casper because it is Matthew Shepard's hometown, where he learned it is "OK to be gay."

"Nothing has so occupied and mysteriously seized the imagination of the world media to compare with Matt Shepard," Phelps said. "It is a phenomenon. It all comes back to Casper, Wyoming. That is his home, that is where he was born, where that church is, where those institutions … conspired in a confluence of evil resulting in a Zeitgeist that is extraordinarily evil.

"He (Shepard) was not a hero," Phelps added. "This is a great monster sin against God. It is not an innocent alternate lifestyle. And all that has come down in that one little evil town called Casper, Wyoming. And we can't ignore that."