JOHN MORGAN Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 12:00 am
For the second time since 2003, the city of Casper has rejected a Kansas preacher's request to erect a monument stating that a murdered Wyoming man is in hell.
"Casper's historic monument plaza is a collection of documents that are the underpinning and foundation of our law," Mayor Kate Sarosy wrote in a letter to Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church on Wednesday.
"Your monument is simply religious in character, based on your personal religious beliefs regarding Matthew Shepard, and bears no historical significance to the foundation of the law for our country. As such, the city cannot place your monument on city property without violating the establishment clause of the United States Constitution."
Casper's monument plaza, dedicated on Monday, contains large granite engravings of the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Ten Commandments and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
Phelps and members of his church have visited Casper several times since protesting Shepard's funeral in 1998 and they consider the town a "preaching opportunity," despite receiving a letter in 1999 from every preacher in Casper asking them to not come back.
"That's like putting a big, raw steak in front of a grizzly bear," said Shirley Phelps-Roper. "We knew we had to get back there. We're not going to give up on anybody or anything."
On Tuesday, Phelps said he thinks the city of Casper is irreversibly doomed for raising and supporting Shepard, who was gay. Phelps said he will be back in Casper on Oct. 16.
"The end is coming, and it will be cataclysmic," said Phelps, 77. "I don't expect to save Casper."
Reporter John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.