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6 | MAY 14, 2014 NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
The Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals is
reviewing the objec-
tions over a statue at READER
Whiteish Mountain
Resort.
POLL
BEACON FILE PHOTO
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Should There be Congressio-
nal Hearings on Benghazi?
50% YES 50% NO
TOTAL VOTES: 246
Do You Agree That the
Montana GOP Has Become
Too Moderate?
Attorney General Speaks Up for Big Mountain Jesus
Tim Fox iled brief asking tutionally sanctioning and promoting a re- however, the government agency with-
ligious statue. But Fox thinks otherwise.
drew its decision and announced it would
the Ninth Circuit Court “Judge Christensen got it right in his renew the permit for 10 years. Soon after,
ruling: the statue is the private speech of the Wisconsin group said it was iling a
of Appeals to uphold
its private owners,” Fox said. “That speech lawsuit against the Forest Service.
a ruling keeping satue is protected by the U.S. Constitution, and In June 2013, Judge Christensen de-
31% YES 69% NO the federal government forcibly remov- cided the statue would stay in place and
in place at Whiteish
TOTAL VOTES: 189
ing the statue would amount to a violation argued that the memorial was one of the
Mountain Resort
of the rights that the soldiers of the Tenth last remaining remnants of the original
Mountain Division fought and died to pro- Big Mountain Ski Resort. Some locals say
tect.”
it relects the transition from old timber
Do You Traditionally Vote in By BEACON STAFF
The Jesus statue was installed by a lo- town to tourist hotspot.
Primary Elections?
cal chapter of the Knights of Columbus in “The statue’s secular and irreverent
Montana’s attorney general has come
1955 after the group’s members applied for uses far outweigh the few religious uses it
out in support of the Jesus statue perched a special-use permit. The Knights of Co- has served. The statue is most frequently
atop Big Mountain in Whiteish. On May lumbus Council No. 1328, whose members used as a meeting point for skiers or hikers
5, Tim Fox iled a friend of the court brief, maintain the statue and lease the site, say and a site for photo opportunities, rather
or amicus curiae, asking the Ninth Circuit the Jesus statue honors local veterans who than a solemn place for religious relec-
Court of Appeals to uphold a 2013 decision served in World War II. When the troops tion,” the judge wrote. “Typical observers
by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Chris- returned to Northwest Montana, they told of the statue are more interested in giving
tensen that allowed the memorial at the stories about religious shrines they en- it a high ive or adorning it in ski gear than
82YES 18NO top of Whiteish Mountain Resort’s Chair countered in the mountains abroad, and sitting before it in prayer.”
% %
TOTAL VOTES: 136
2 to remain in place.
some of the veterans were instrumental in Earlier this year, the Freedom From
The Wisconsin-based Freedom From developing the ski resort on Big Mountain.
Religion Foundation asked the Ninth Cir-
Religion Foundation has argued that In 2011 the Forest Service decided cuit Court of Appeals to overturn Chris-
the U.S. Forest Service, which leases Big not to renew the special use permit for tensen’s decision.
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
Mountain to the ski resort, was unconsti-
the statue. After hundreds of complaints,
[email protected]
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