Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Suit Challenges Maryland County Ten Commandments Monument

In March, a lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Maryland challenging a Ten Commandments monument located on the courthouse lawn in Cumberland, Maryland.  The complaint (full text) in Davis v. Allegany County Commissioners, (D MD, filed 3/8/2016), recounts plaintiff's efforts since 2004 to have the monument removed.  Apparently defendants were not actually served in the case until sometime between April 29 and May 6.  The Cumberland Times-News last week reported on the reaction of county officials to the lawsuit. They complain that plaintiff is not even a resident of the county and are obtaining free legal assistance in defending against the suit. One county commissioner added:
These items were manufactured and put out by (filmmaker) Cecil B. DeMille.  They sent these things out as promotional items for the [Ten Commandments] movie. It was never in a church. It is an historic monument in an historic area.
[Thanks to Bob Ritter for the lead.]