Boone County commissioners vote to replace Desert Storm memorial

Boone County commissioners voted to replace a controversial Desert Storm memorial on the Boone County Courthouse plaza.County commissioners voted Tuesday morning to replace the memorial with a new statue that does not include a Christian symbol. The old memorial with the Christian symbol will be moved to the Columbia Cemetery.

This comes nearlyafter residents expressed their feelingsabout the commissioners covering the Christian fish on the Desert Storm memorial.

It was covered up earlier this year after a group called Americans United for Separation of Church and State claimed it was unconstitutional.

The county took legal advice from the Brown Willbrand, P.C. law firm in Columbia.

In a 45 page draft order, attorneys with the firm said keeping the memorial where it is with the “ichthys” or Christian fish symbol could “reasonably be construed by citizens who view the Memorial as being a governmental endorsement of the Christian faith, as opposed to other religious faiths or as opposed to those who have ‘no faith at all.'”

“The Memorial, in its current form, would be found by such court to violate the requirement of religious neutrality as imposed by federal courts,” the report says.

The report goes on to say “There is no historical basis for associating this Christian symbol with Operation Desert Storm or the Gulf War.”

It also says, “The language on the Memorial which appears above the name of the two men who lost their lives, when coupled with the ichthys symbol, seems to clearly indicate, or strongly imply, that men and women who served but whose lives were not lost were all somehow Christian.”

In the conclusion summary, the law firm said the symbol on the memorial could be seen to some as preference of Boone County for the Christian faith over non-Christian faiths.

The Commission held a first read of the proposed order last Thursday. Tuesday morning, The Commission adopted thepolicy relating to the acceptance of monuments and displays for the Boone County Courthouse plaza.