Commandments marker could have neighbor

FARGO (AP) - A group that unsuccessfully sued to have a Ten Commandments monument removed from public property near City Hall is seeking permission for another monument.

The Red River Freethinkers wants to erect a monument on the mall that will "have a different message, saying, 'You are free to worship as you please,'" said former mayor Jon Lindgren, the group's interim president.

"The Ten Commandments has a religious directive on it, which is to believe in this God and only this God, and it sits on public property, so it kind of implies that our government is telling you to believe in God," Lindgren said.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson disagreed with that view in dismissing the lawsuit brought against the city in 2002 by Lindgren and four other Freethinkers members. Erickson ruled in September 2005 that the monument celebrates both religious and secular ideals and therefore does not violate the Constitution.

Erickson's ruling also stated that "this Court is convinced that the public would perceive this mall as a public forum."

"So, we took that as an invitation to extend the debate and put up a monument with a different point of view on it," Lindgren said.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles donated the 6-by-3-foot Ten Commandments monument to the city in 1958 to commemorate a recently completed urban renewal project. Lindgren said the Freethinkers' monument would be about the same size, and the group would pay for it and its installation.

The monument would refer to a 1796 peace treaty between the United States and Tripoli, which states in part, "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."

Mayor Dennis Walaker said the city is bound to provide equal space for different ideas, as long as the monument is not offensive. City Commissioner Linda Coates also said she was fine with the idea. Commissioner Brad Wimmer opposes it.

"I'm not in favor of putting any more monuments on city property," he said.

Fargo leaders agree meeting was illegal

FARGO (AP) - Three city commissioners acknowledge they violated North Dakota's open meetings law when they met with North Dakota State University officials about possible venues for Bison basketball.

Mayor Dennis Walaker and Commissioners Linda Coates and Brad Wimmer said they did not expect to see two of their fellow commissioners when they arrived at the Nov. 21 meeting in NDSU President Joseph Chapman's office, creating a quorum.