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Watchdog group prompts Belle Plaine to remove cross from veterans memorial

Star Tribune - 1/19/2017

Jan. 19--A recently installed cross has been removed from a war veterans memorial on city land in Belle Plaine in response to a complaint from a national watchdog group.

The cross came off Tuesday from the memorial, located just west of Hwy. 169, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, with the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

"It's important for any memorial on government property to be inclusive and not exclusive," said Gaylor, whose group is based in Madison, Wis. "There are many atheists in foxholes. We're not a Christian country, and Belle Plaine is not a Christian city."

Messages were left with Mayor Chris Meyer and other city officials seeking comment on the decision to remove the cross, which sat next to a silhouette artwork of a kneeling soldier and a stone monument listing the city's fallen soldiers in many of the nation's military conflicts.

In response to Gaylor's group raising its objection in October on constitutional grounds to the cross being in a public park, City Attorney Robert Vose replied in a letter that the soldier and cross were not installed by or approved by the city, but rather "constitutes speech or expression by the Belle Plaine Veterans Club," which initiated the park's use as a memorial site at least 15 years ago.

Vose on Thursday declined to comment about the cross coming down.

"I wish it would have stayed," said Albert Koepp, treasurer of the veterans club. "I guess it was a mutual agreement so the city wouldn't get sued over it."

Koepp said feedback from residents has been decidedly one-sided.

"A lot of people aren't happy about it," he said. "They want it put back up."

The focal point of the park is a retired Army helicopter brought from Fort Rucker, Ala. There also is a display atop a small hill with the flags of the United States, the state of Minnesota, the city of Belle Plaine, a POW/MIA flag, and one for each of the armed services.

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