Land for Katrina Cross - Public or Private?

The conservative American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), headed by Jay Sekulow, reported last week (8-30-06) on its activities to counter the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)'s objection to placing a cross on a certain piece of land in St. Bernard's parish, Louisiana, as a Hurricane Katrina memorial.

The ACLJ frames its argument in a way that impugns the ACLU for attempting to prohibit this activity from taking place on private property, calling the ACLU's actions "censorship" and suggesting a violation of the First Amendment. However, I was able to find a copy of the ACLU's open letter to St. Bernard Parish clearly expresses a concern ONLY that the land in question is actually public property.

This is a matter that could be easily solved by securing a survey of the parcel of land in question.

The ACLU's letter is polite and conciliatory, expressing the ACLU's desire to sit down with the parish officials to determine the status of the land in question.

On the other hand, Sekulow's ACLJ has sent the Parish a legal analysis, giving them guidance on how to defend themselves against the ACLU. Isn't this a little premature? I don't think it has yet been satisfactorily determined as of this date whether the land is public or private.

If the property is indeed private, I agree that the ACLU should back off (and I actually don't believe they'd have pursued the issue if the land had been private--and their letter supports my perception). However, if the land is public, Sekulow's ACLJ should back off.

Also problematic is that the ACLJ's news bulletin about this item contains statement I believe to be a lie: "Once again, the ACLU is attempting to sanitize America by embracing a perspective designed to intimidate local government officials into removing all [emphasis mine] religious symbols...."

Well, that's funny. Not funny "amusing"--funny "weird." To the best of my knowledge, the ACLU's goal is not to eliminate *all* religious symbols--only to have government remain neutral on the matter of religion. And again, the ACLU's open letter to St. Bernard Parish supports their righteousness concerning the matter.

As much as I dislike fundamentalist Christians, I do think they should be able to have their symbols on private property. And from what I can tell, the ACLU does, too. So basically, the ACLJ is getting their panties in a wad for nothing. Just trying to rile people up for their own benefit.

(I found this item on the St. Bernard's parish website, where they have gone ahead and put up the cross. I'm still looking for a news item or other verification stating the status of the land. In this picture, dated 8/29, the cross is covered with a blue tarp.)