Idaho Supreme Court hears appeal of Ten Commandments initiative

[Thom Little]

If citizens are allowed to vote on whether a Ten Commandments monument should be returned to a city park, then all administrative decisions by local governments - from replacing playground equipment to pruning park trees - could be subject to voter reversal, the Idaho Supreme Court was told Friday.

"This case won't just stand for this monument, it won't just stand for the Ten Commandments," said Valencia Bilyeu, who argued on behalf of the city of Boise to uphold a lower court ruling rejecting the voter initiative petitions by a group known as Keep the Commandments Coalition. "This case will stand for administrative decisions across the state."

Coalition members gathered more than 18,000 signatures in support of putting to a public vote the March 2004 decision by the Boise City Council to relocate a 40-year-old monument inscribed with the Biblical commandments from the city's Julia Davis Park to private property at an Episcopal church. But city officials refused to include the initiative on the November 2004 ballot, arguing that administrative decisions do not qualify as legislative actions subject to reversal through the initiative process. The coalition sued, and 4th District Judge Ronald Wilper sided with the city in October last year. The coalition appealed, asking the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the decision and allow the monument removal to be put to a vote.

Coalition attorney Christ Troupis told the court that the city's action qualified as legislative because the council had workers remove the monument without consulting the city's administrative body for regulating park monuments, the city parks commission. And, Troupis said, the city's stated reason for the removal was clearly a policy decision: To avoid a lawsuit from an anti-homosexual preacher who wanted a monument of his own placed in the park.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ID_TEN_COMMANDMENTS_IDOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-09-16-54-26

[NanceGreggs]

1. I actually wouldn't mind public displays ...

... of the Ten Commandments -- as long as they were flanked by giant signs describing all of the Commandments BUSH has broken, to whit:

"Thou shalt not LIE ... (lead-up to war statements)

"Thou shalt not STEAL ... (tax cuts for wealthy at expense of poor)

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ...
(The Swiftboat ads, etc.)

"Thou shalt not KILL ... (casualties in Iraq, torture)

"Thou shalt not worship other 'gods' before Me ... (love of power and the Almighty Buck)

[msongs]

2. "Coalition attorney Christ Troupis" look, christ HAS returned.... nt

[Dunvegan]

3. So this is what the...

"Christ Troup-is" up to these days, eh? :sarcasm: