A few weeks back we took note of the on-going the controversy in King, North Carolina over the presence of a Christian flag that had been flying at a veteran’s memorial in the city’s Central Park.
City officials removed the flag as they tried to work out a constitutionally acceptable policy with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund. The proposed solution that they hit upon is to create a lottery through which residents can request to fly any flag approved by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs at one week intervals.
But, of course, the idea of allowing a non-Christian flag to fly at the memorial is simply unacceptable to some:
Carlton McKinney, a Vietnam veteran who lives just outside of King, asked whether people who bought tiles to help pay for the Veteran’s Memorial can pull up those tiles if a religious flag is flown at the memorial that they object to.
“I don’t feel right having a brick there representing me and having another flag that’s not a Christian flag,” McKinney said.
Local residents clearly are not happy wtih the proposal and Joe Infranco, the ADF attorney assisting the town, responded by blaming the entire thing on the ACLU and Americans United:
“It is certain that not everyone will be happy about this,” Infranco said. “But the policy complies with the legal guidelines and will not assist your enemies if they filed a lawsuit.”
…
“I understand how angry you are,” Infranco said last night. “I think it is important that your anger be focused in the right direction.”
He repeatedly said that if city officials allowed the Christian flag to remain at the monument, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State would sue the city and could probably win the lawsuit.
Then those groups would collect attorney fees from the city taxpayers, Infranco said.
Of course, those groups would win the lawsuit and collect fees because they are right and the current policy is unconstitutional.
But instead of simply informing the residents of King of that, Infranco tried to place the blame for the situation entirely on the ACLU and AU.
