Lawsuit seeks removal of crosses from Las Cruces city logo

ap/new mexican ^ | 9-24-05 | ap

[Rakkasan1]

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - The city of Las Cruces' official emblem has three crosses that a federal lawsuit alleges are unconstitutional religious symbols on public property.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 16 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, seeks the removal of the crosses.

"The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens," said the lawsuit filed by Paul F. Weinbaum, who lives in the Las Cruces area, and Martin J. Boyd of Las Cruces.

Defendants include city officials, city councilors, Mayor Bill Mattiace, District Attorney Susana Martinez, state Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Gov. Bill Richardson.

"We have had to defend ourselves before and we're ready to do it again," Mattiace said.

[savedbygrace]

"The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens," said the lawsuit filed by Paul F. Weinbaum, who lives in the Las Cruces area, and Martin J. Boyd of Las Cruces.

No logo in any city or town anywhere serves any governmental purpose. If that's the basis for the suit, it should be thrown out, with extreme prejudice. The blood-sucking attorneys who filed it should be disbarred and run out of town on rails.

[Verginius Rufus]

They've got it exactly backwards. The standard is not serving a government purpose. The government is supposed to exist to serve the people.

"...to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Amendments IX and X to the U.S. Constitution are also relevant.

[little jeremiah]

Moral Absolutes Ping.

What are they going to do about the name?

It's long past time to shut the ACLU down.

Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.

[hispanarepublicana]

uh, "las cruces" means "the crosses", does it not?

[hispanarepublicana]

Wait'll they hear about what Corpus Christi is in English!

[Nowhere Man]

This crap has got to stop. We need to bring RICO charges against the ACLU.

[Zechariah_8_13]

"The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens,"

What if your city has a bear on its seal? Has it alienated all non-bear citizens?

How can this ludicrous claim possibly hold up in court? How can anyone prove they've been harmed by an image of a cross? I guess Satan's bothered by it: it's the symbol of his defeat.

I've gotta stop reading this stuff, it makes me too irritated.

[An.American.Expatriate]

in Los Angeles the new mayor is replacing religious names of saints from city maps.

uhhh, I guess the need to change the name of the city as well!! Sin City??

[MoS]

are you serious about LA or are you joking? and if not joking can you give a link please.

[MarkL]

Maybe they can force the city to change it's name while they're at it too!

After all, doesn't "Las Curces" mean "Those Crosses?" (or something like that?)

Mark