This morning, the city of Casper will dedicate a new historic monument plaza made up of six large, granite monuments that include the Ten Commandments.

In 2003, the Ten Commandments were put into storage after an out-of-state group threatened to sue the city for displaying a religious monument on public property.

Rick Potter with the Casper Monument Company carved five of the six monuments that line a shaded walkway next to the Nicolaysen Art Museum near the corner of Second and Beech streets.

On Friday, Potter was admiring his work in the new plaza. He said he's been carving monuments, tombstones and decorative rocks for 32 years and has monuments all over the state.

He said he designed the five monuments to match the style of the Ten Commandments using the same kind of rock: North Dakota mahogany granite.

"It's not the most user-friendly granite, but it sure does look nice when it's done," Potter said. "Most likely, it will outlast the human race."

He said the Casper Monument Company gave the city a huge discount on the project and he used his background as a shipbuilder to make sure an etching of the Mayflower was accurate. Each of the five monoliths took about five days to complete, he said.

A turbulent history

Casper's monument to the Ten Commandments was donated to the city in 1965 by the local Fraternal Order of Eagles as part of a nationwide effort to combat juvenile delinquency. For decades, the Decalogue sat largely unnoticed in a city park until about four years ago.

In September 2003, a Wisconsin group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened a number of lawsuits against cities around the country that displayed the Ten Commandments, calling the displays a violation of the First Amendment.

The group threatened legal action against the city if the Decalogue was not removed. Adding to the controversy, the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., offered to place a monument anywhere on city property declaring that slain gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is in hell.

The council rejected Phelps' offer and looked at the historic plaza idea after Grand Junction, Colo., won a lawsuit against the American Civil Liberties Union. That ruling found that a Ten Commandments monument could be allowed if it were displayed in a context that played up its historical merit, instead of its religious attributes, so that a reasonable person would not think the government was endorsing a particular religion.

Several heated discussions over what to do with the Decalogue divided the city council and the community, generating dozens of letters to the editor and even a prayer session next to the monument to ask God for guidance.

The Ten Commandments were moved into storage by the city on Nov. 14, 2003, away from public display.

Foundations of law

Like the Grand Junction plaza, the Casper historic plaza contains monuments honoring the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Mayflower Compact, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta, the 13th-century law edict that restricted the powers of England's monarchs. The 1,800-pound monuments were paid for by five sponsors at a cost of $2,500 each. The donations didn't quite cover the full cost, so the city will pay the remaining $1,650, according to Peter Meyers, an administrative analyst for the city.

A marker at the entrance to the plaza refers to all six monuments as essential elements in the foundation of law in this country.

"All great ideas evolve, and these principles are no exception," the marker states.

Most of the documents refer to God, but only the Ten Commandments are considered to be the word of God. A marker next to the Decalogue refers to them as a "starting point of law."

Linda Burt, executive director of the Wyoming America Civil Liberties Union, said she thinks the plaza is just an excuse to put the Ten Commandments back on public property.

"Building a plaza designed specifically to enable the city to display the Ten Commandments is not neutrality," Burt said. "There is not a secular purpose, but there is a religious purpose. I'm surprised the city decided to go ahead with this."

Burt did not say whether the ACLU would file a lawsuit against the city.

In the June 2005 case Van Orden v. Perry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Ten Commandments can have a dual meaning, both as a religious and as a historical document, depending on the context. The Supreme Court was divided on the ruling, calling it a "borderline case."

"In our opinion, this meets all the requirements of the current status of constitutional law," said City Attorney Bill Luben. He said Casper's plaza displays the Ten Commandments in the context of a historic document.

Mayor Kate Sarosy, who was not part of the council in 2003, will dedicate the historic plaza today at 10 a.m.

Reporter John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.