Winston-Salem official places Ten Commandments at city hall [Vernon Robinson - Black Conservative]

WCNC ^ | Jan. 19, 2004 | AP Presswire

[TaxRelief]

01/19/2004 Associated Press A city council member placed a granite block bearing the Ten Commandments on a walkway in front of a city hall deserted on Monday's Martin Luther King holiday.

Vernon Robinson, a black conservative who has been on the city council since 1998, said he and four helpers acted on the holiday because the barren adjoining parking lot allowed him to move in a truck and crane to position the one-ton block.

The monument — inscribed on one side with the Ten Commandments and on the other side with the Bill of Rights — was positioned on a landing of the stairway ascending to the 1930s city hall at dawn Monday, Robinson said.

Robinson said he had no permit or other authorization to place the monument on public property.

The $2,000 cost of buying and moving the four- tall, blue-granite block was entirely his own, said Robinson, who is running for a vacant U.S. House seat.

Mayor Allen Joines did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the city's response.

"This display is intended to acknowledge the undeniable role that the Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights have played in developing the American legal tradition," Robinson said in a telephone interview.

"These are the ideas on which society has been built and these works encapsulate the belief system on which the republic was founded."

Robinson said he was inspired to act by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who ordered a 2 1/2-ton Ten Commandments monument placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in 2001.

A federal judge found the monument to be an unconstitutional promotion of religion by government in 2002. Moore was removed from office last year for violating ethics rules by not obeying the federal court order to remove the monument.

Robinson said the monument was quarried and cut in Georgia and shipped from there.

[JohnnyZ]

I take it you'll be pulling for the Pats in the Super Bowl, right?

I know I am!

[TaxRelief]

Publicity is the key to succesful advocacy.

If you can't get the press to show up, then you cannot keep the cause in the forefront of people's minds.

That is why freedom of the press is so critical.

[4CJ]

Kudos to him. Of course, now a federal justice will rule that he is (1) the federal Congress, (2) that he created a law establishing religion. </sarcasm>

[Ethan_Allen]

This country is running a deficit in more ways than one because it has turned its back on God.

Mal 2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay [it] to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay [it] to heart. http://www.blueletterbible.org/tsk_b/Mal/2/2.html

Hag 1:9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, [it came] to little; and when ye brought [it] home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that [is] waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tsk_b/Hag/1/9.html



Mal 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept [them]. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Mal 3:9 Ye [are] cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, [even] this whole nation.

Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].

Mal 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mal 3:12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mal/Mal003.html#7

[Howlin]

But you have a reason!

[Howlin]

You're making my point for me.

[Hacksaw]

Is there somebody else playing the Panthers I don't know about?

I am, because they beat Phiily, and I can't stand Philly fans. They aren't classy like Pittsburgh fans are.

[TaxRelief]

A case in point is the Terri Schiavo situation.

If the press had not gotten involved, the bill preventing the euthanisation of Terri would not have been passed.

[Kuksool]

I seriously doubt Vernon the Man will go "Roy Moore" when the ACLU sues. He'll most likely remove the monument at the request of the city council. But, still it helps to show the folks of the NC-05 who the real Republican is.

[billbears]

What? Because I don't like tax sponsored sports? Am I getting paid if the Panthers win the Superbowl? The city of Charlotte, as well as many other cities, build these stadiums using, in many cases, tax dollars of the citizens.

But I digress and you try to change the subject on something I know to be untrue about myself. Do you agree or disagree with the stance of this gentlemen in standing for the Ten Commandments at the state level? Would you expect your current Senatorial representation to make such a bold move? After looking at both of their websites, it's quite clear there are more than a few differences. As I said I would support this man if he ran for Senate in 2006

[mykdsmom]

I hope if (when) a lawsuit is filed that he will remove it knowing that he got his money worth out of his 2K.

MKM

[Rebelbase]

I'm missing the parallel between the Shiavo case and this one.

Murder and Civil Disobedience are not related.

[RJCogburn]

I wonder what office he plans on running for?

He is running for Congress, demonstrating that Roy Moore is not the only person using the Commandments as a political prop.

[Rebelbase]

I agree, its a stunt that will generate 1000 times the publicty he could have purchased through "normal" means.

So long as he removes it before it costs the taxpayers money, I don't have a problem with it.

And, I would not be suprised to see the monument defaced before that happens. Its not in a secure location inside a building. Its sitting in an open yard between the building and the road, an open invitation for vandals in the middle of the night.

[azhenfud]

Man! All the good stuff happens up yonder. :-)

[sinkspur]

Whether you agree with public displays of the ten commandments or not, there is no doubt that this man has courage of conviction.

He's a showboater, just like Roy Moore.

[JohnnyZ]

As I said I would support this man if he ran for Senate in 2006

I doubt you'll get the chance, billbears. North Carolina doesn't have a senate contest in 2006 :)

[drjimmy]

And, I would not be suprised to see the monument defaced before that happens.
I wonder if anyone who vandalized it (or even brought their own crane in to haul it away) could be charged with a crime? It might well be considered abandoned property.

[billbears]

2008. It just seems like 4 years since Dole has been in office ;)

[TaxRelief]

You believe that generating publicity to make a point is wrong.

What would you do to try to generate public support for a fight to defend the Bill of Rights?