The County Commission is considering auctioning off three brass tablets of the Ten Commandments to pay a legal bill, but two commissioners decried the action.
Commissioner JoAnne Favors said, "Personally I don't feel comfortable selling off the Ten Commandments. It reminds me of Jesus going into the temple and overturning the tables of the money changers."
Commissioner William Cotton said, "I too feel uncomfortable as a Christian selling the Ten Commandments. We're committing a sin to start selling God's word."
But several commissioners said they saw nothing wrong with holding the auction to pay off the remainder of a $12,500 legal bill. The county incurred the bill after getting sued by the ACLU after the tablets were posted at the County Courthouse, Courts Building and Juvenile Court. The ACLU won and the tablets were taken down and have been in storage.
Commissioner Larry Henry, who is also a Baptist preacher, said, "Personally I do not have a problem declaring them surplus property and selling them. I don't think we should use county money to pay off this bill."
He added, "Not to give anybody a lesson in theology, but when the commandments were given, we were under the law. Thank goodness, we're under grace now."
The commission's finance committee at its Thursday agenda session decided to let the full commission settle the issue next Wednesday. It was noted that two leaders in putting up the Ten Commandments - Commissioners Bill Hullander and Curtis Adams were absent.
A private fundraising effort paid off $37,900 owed the ACLU lawyers. Local attorneys for the county charged $39,400. County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said $19,400 of that has been paid and $6,900 is in an account held by the Decosimo accounting firm.
Commissioners Fred Skillern and Charlotte Vandergriff said they did not have a problem auctioning the tablets. Commissioner Vandergriff said she did not think taxpayers should have to bear any part of the bill.
"We should go ahead and pay it," Commissioner Favors said, noting that there would be costs of having the auction, including time spent by county officials.
"We ought to be focusing our efforts on things like bioterrorism preparedness than on something like this," she said.