Marker is dropped off at City Hall

The Winston-Salem Journal ^ | 1-20-03 | Victoria Cherrie and Theo Helm

[RepublicanLady]

Tuesday, January 20, 2004 Marker is dropped off at City Hall Robinson says he didn't know procedure to get a permit to put it there

By Victoria Cherrie and Theo Helm JOURNAL REPORTERS

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City Council Member Vernon Robinson told reporters that he bought the granite marker with his own money. A four-man crew placed it at City Hall about 7 a.m. (Journal Photo by Ted Richardson)

On a day when most of the city was celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, City Council Member Vernon Robinson was illegally putting up a 1-ton granite marker inscribed with the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights in front of City Hall.

"He doesn't have the right to put it there," City Attorney Ron Seeber said.

The appropriate process for anyone to put a permanent marker on city property is to petition the council for approval, he said.

"Obviously if you are going to do something like this, this is not the right way to do it," Mayor Allen Joines said. "We are working hard to bring the city together. Actions like this tend to push people apart."

Robinson - who was elected to the city council in 1997 and is running for the Republican nomination for the 5th Congressional District - said he didn't get permission to put up the 4-foot granite marker because he didn't know the procedure.

Although he admitted that he has had the idea since October, he said he couldn't find out what the procedure was because of "timing," declining to explain further.

Robinson also said that his announcement was not intended to clash with King Day celebrations. He defended his decision to act when city hall was closed, saying that he wanted the presentation to be a "surprise to the city and citizens of Winston-Salem."

Robinson said that his idea for the marker came from a conversation with Roy Moore, the former chief justice of Alabama. Moore was ousted as chief justice last November after repeatedly refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

Robinson had asked the city council in September to consider a resolution requesting that Mayor Allen Joines offer to have the Alabama monument shipped to Winston-Salem and displayed here at the expense of private donors.

No one on the council responded.

Robinson said he then decided to pay $2,000 for his own marker. David Maynard, a local Baptist preacher and monument dealer, arranged a contract for the marker, which was made in Georgia.

Maynard said that he and Robinson decided last week to put up the marker yesterday. It was unloaded about 7 a.m. by a four-man crew in order to avoid "all the hustle and bustle around city hall," he said. It also was easier to unload when the parking lot was empty, Maynard said.

The Ten Commandments are inscribed on the side facing Main Street. An abbreviated version of the Bill of Rights is inscribed on the side facing City Hall.

Below the Ten Commandments is an inscription that says: "A project of Councilman Vernon Robinson, January 2004."

Robinson said he believes that the marker is constitutional because it is not publicly funded or overtly religious.

"This monument is not an effort to proselytize; it is a history lesson," he said. "Atheists may complain about history, but the words are still history."

Others took a dim view.

"I'm afraid my colleague has neglected to read the Second Commandment," Council Member Dan Besse said. "He has made himself a graven image to political ambition."

Robinson is known for making flamboyant statements. He also has been criticized by other city-council members for using his seat as a campaign pulpit.

"A lot of people might think it's cute for him to voice his opinions," said Council Member Fred Terry. "But what he's doing is using the public's time to politic for his own views. The city is not the place to do that."

William Van Alstyne, a Duke University professor of constitutional law, said he didn't think that the marker would stand a constitutional test.

The first four commandments are "utterly religious," he said, and the fact that the marker is privately financed does not make it constitutional.

"It's merely meant to be provocative," Van Alstyne said. "I can't conceivably imagine it would be allowed to stand."

The city's staff will decide this morning whether it will take down the marker or whether Robinson will be asked to remove it, said Lee Garrity, the assistant city manager for public safety.

Robinson said in a statement that if the council voted to "make me take it away, then I'll do it."

[RepublicanLady]

This is a stunt that really makes me believe that Vernon Robinson is really in this race only for his own notoriety.

I have commented before that he is offensive in nature and presentation, but this is just a S-T-U-N-T. This was simply a publicity stunt to get press coverage.

Well, I for one read this story and lost a lot of respect for Vernon. I do admit that I really admire his conservative stances at times, but find him very brash and harsh.

I think that this was a very risky maneuver that shows that he is really only out for himself and to gain fame, or in this case, INFAMY.

[RJCogburn]

running for the Republican nomination for the 5th Congressional District

Demonstrating that Roy Moore is not the only person to use the Commandments as a political prop.

[jern]

I said something like that a couple months ago, and was slammed. People don't like you taking about about Vernon. remember, he is the black Jesse Helms. He has told us 50 times.

[Catspaw]

Although he admitted that he has had the idea since October, he said he couldn't find out what the procedure was because of "timing," declining to explain further.

I find this statement to be disingenuous. He's on the city council. If he doesn't know what the procedure is (and he should, given he's a council member), he can ask someone (city attorney, parliamentarian, etc.)

[southernnorthcarolina]

I agree. Robinson is a showboater, veering dangerously close to being an all-out doofus. Geeze, if you're going to do a publicity stunt like this, how 'bout a little originality?

Grandstanding like this detracts from his message, and that's too bad, because he is a conservative, and a fairly articulate and charismatic one at that. The 5th Congressional District is solidly Republican; the winner of the GOP Primary will go to Congress. We can do better than Mr. Robinson.

[Constitution Day]

Ping.

[connectthedots]

He did not need to do this to get elected. This is going to hurt his chances in the end.

[rrrod]

yes ma'am you are correct...vernon is too harsh and brash to be elected...although i agree with most of his stands..i have found him to be not to be a likable type....this is not to say he isnt a good guy..just a personality quirk...told him years ago to lighten up some...apparently he chose not to..all the best

[TaxRelief]

Ah! Posts from Winston's own liberal rag.

Guess we can believe anything in the W-S journal, even if the journal calls someone a "Jesse Helms".

[FirstPrinciple]

The Republican Party will never accept a conservative black man. Too much burden. You have to be somewhat wishy-washy and liberal, like Colin Powell and the Congressman from OK who just retired (I cannot recall his name), and will have to take cues from other wishy-washy big wigs in the party. Standards are different for whites for whom the party will tolerate independent conservatism, like Tancredo and Ron Paul.

[RepublicanLady]

You'll also find the story on Vernon's website. It is a fact that he did it. It's my opinion that it's a naive, publicity stunt.

[ConservativeGadfly]

Oh yeah. The one thing I know I look for in a Congressman is whether or not he is a nice guy. Personally, I want someone fearless which is what Vernon Robinson is. We have more than enough Congressmen who apparently have had spinectomies.

And Vernon has consistently brought attention to issues using guerilla marketing for his entire political career. It is nothing new. To say that it is just doesn't tell the story.

Frankly, I'd like to have someone in Congress who doesn't spew the same old boring talking points. Blah blah blah.

It's more than beyond time to shake things up in the Capitol and Vernon is the guy to do it.

[RepublicanLady]

The one thing this area doesn't need is a Congressman who stages publicity stunts claiming that he "didn't know the procedure" to see how to go about obtaining a permit.

If anything else, Vernon has tried to position himself as a knowledgable, articulate candidate who has all his facts straight. This is why this screams of publicity stunt.

He could easily have found out what it was that he needed to obtain a permit--he just wanted to make a news splash by copying a heavily publicized event in Alabama.

Besides, I thought that Vernon didn't have enough $ to fund his campaign, but he spends $2,000 on a monument (not including the fees that he'll suffer for breaking the law for putting it on public property without a permit).

It's not original, and therefore stinks of just wanting publicity rather than his true belief in the Commandments themselves.

[TaxRelief]

So you said.

Is there anything else about this that bothers you? Do you believe the first amendment says that there should be a seperation of government and religion? Or do you believe the first amendment only prevents the federal government from making laws concerning religion?

How do you feel about public prayer?

What is your position on kids wearing religious symbols to public schools?

[RepublicanLady]

My thoughts on this do not involve my personal religious beliefs. Mainly, I see this as Robinson wrongly using religion to gain publicity.

Look at the facts. He is merely copying someone else that gained a tremendous amount of national publicity for placing the Ten Commandments in a public forum in Alabama. Robinson is playing off of this using the Ten Commandments as a way to gain more publicity for his campaign.

TaxRelief, let me ask you this. Do you honestly believe that Vernon Robinson would have paid $2,000 to have this monument placed on City Hall grounds if he were not running for Congress? The extremely obvious nature of it all is what makes it seem so forced and contrived. That's my opinion.

[Sloth]

An abbreviated version of the Bill of Rights

That's the only version we have anymore.

[RepublicanLady]

I'll repeat my main point. I see Robinson as using religion as a publicity stunt. I definitely believe in every word of the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments. I never said that I didn't.

If there are those of you that believe that Robinson actually did this as a measure of support for the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments, then so be it. I can tell you now, that knowing his past displays, this was merely done for attention. You can have your opinions. This is mine.

I, like most of you, like what Vernon has to say. It is very apparent that this move was made on a POLITICAL AGENDA. It certainly wasn't made as a true stand on the Ten Commandments or the Bill of Rights for that matter.

[Sloth]

Oh, I don't disagree -- sounds like a publicity stunt to me. It just happens that those two decalogues -- the Commandments and the BOR -- both get mere lip service today. We waste time fighting over physical inscriptions of them when the reality of both is just a memory.