Sen. Rapert: Ten Commandments replica monument complete, ready for installation

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, said Tuesday (Oct. 24) that work on a new Ten Commandments monument is complete after the original memorial was smashed and destroyed only 24 hours after it was installed on State Capitol grounds earlier this summer.

All that must take place now is for the Secretary of State’s office to move forward with approving the re-installation of the new monument so that another dedication ceremony can be held for the controversial religious memorial to the 10 tablets of stone ascribed by God that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, Rapert said.

“Actually, the replacement monument is already finished, and we are just now at a point where they are finalizing if the pedestal needs any further repairs or in how to replace some security post barriers. Obviously now that it has happened, we don’t want to create a situation where that happens again,” Rapert told Talk Business & Politics.

Chris Powell, spokesman for the Secretary of State Mark Martin, said the new monument has not yet been re-installed. He said any new addition to the replica design must again get approval from the State Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to be installed.

On May 11, the Capitol Arts panel unanimously approved a proposal to place the first Ten Commandments monument on Capitol grounds in between the Arkansas Supreme Court and offices of the State Department of Education. The 6,000-pound monument is 44 inches wide and 78 inches tall, and is a replica of one erected in Texas, Oklahoma and other states.

“We are still waiting on the monument company at this time, so no timetable has been set just yet,” Powell said.

In late June, Michael Tate Reed of Van Buren ran over the newly erected Ten Commandments monument and was later arrested by Little Rock police and charged with defacing an object of public interest, criminal trespass and mischief. Reed had also posted a live Facebook video of the incident a day after the religious shrine was installed. In the video, Reed says, “Oh my goodness. Freedom!” before accelerating from zero to more than 20 miles an hour into the monument.

Pulaski County court records show that Reed has pled not guilty to all charges related to June 28 incident. He has been bound over to Pulaski County Circuit Court following a review hearing on Sept. 7, but no trial date has been set.

Rapert said the nonprofit American History & Heritage Foundation (AHHF), which is behind the fundraising effort to re-install the monument, said once the final design and construction of the security post barriers are approved by the Capitol grounds panel, then plans for another dedication will begin.

Earlier this summer, following the Reed incident, Rapert held a news conference to announce that AHHF had already made plans to re-install a new monument. Construction on the original memorial took nearly three weeks at a cost of more than $15,000, according to officials with the Secretary of State’s office. Rapert, who sits on the AHHF board, said the foundation has since received hundreds of donations that poured in from across Arkansas and rest of nation immediately after incident to help with the re-installation of the monument. One of those donations included a $25,000 donation from the executive producers of the “God’s Not Dead” film franchise, which recently held casting calls in Conway and Little Rock for the third edition of the popular faith-based move series.

This month, God’s Not Dead 3 film crew is filming several scenes in central Arkansas. God’s Not Dead 2 was also filmed largely in and around the Little Rock area, and is scheduled for release early next year.

“The response was very supporting and encouraging from people across the country,” Rapert said. “The bottom line is there was an overwhelming response, so the support not only from individuals across the country but the God’s Not Dead producers … toward the re-installation effort.”

Rapert said donations are still coming in from across the nation, although he would not divulge a total amount. Once approval from the Capitol grounds commission is received, Rapert said AHHF will pay for all installation and preparation costs for the new monument for a second time.

“It won’t be as much as the original, but you have to purchase a new monument. And the last time I saw that, it is going to be several thousand dollars,” he said. “Until we get a final on what the costs of the security barriers are, we don’t know where the bottom line is going to come in on that.”

SUPREME COURT ACTION
Rapert also told Talk Business & Politics he is not overly concerned about a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday that rejected an appeal from a New Mexico town to allow a Ten Commandments monument at its city hall when members of the Wicca faith protested.

Last summer, Bloomfield, N.M., officials and a religious freedom advocacy group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, asked the high court to accept its appeal in a case called City of Bloomfield v. Felix from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The debate in Bloomfield goes back to 2007, when a Bloomfield city council member championed the placement of a Ten Commandments monument in front of City Hall. After several years and several regulations, the privately funded monument was erected. In 2011, a disclaimer was placed next to the monument by the now-former councilman, identifying the space as a public forum and inviting petitions from the public for other historical monuments to be placed in the location.

Two members of the Wicca faith then sued the city, claiming the monument violated the First Amendment’s prohibition of a government endorsement of religion. Shortly before the lawsuit was filed, Bloomfield placed a Declaration of Independence monument in the same public forum.

In its petition to the Supreme Court, the Alliance Defending Freedom said it wanted the Supreme Court to settle two questions: the Establishment Clause standard applied to monuments and if someone can sue on First Amendment grounds if they are offended by a monument.

Rapert said Tuesday he is aware of the New Mexico case, and he has visited with legal experts and was assured it would not affect ongoing efforts to install the Ten Commandments moment on State Capitol grounds.

“It is a different set of facts,” Rapert replied in response to a Talk Business & Politics query concerning the Supreme Court decision. “Our case is a much clear case. The bottom line is that every time you see somebody bring a question up like that …, remember the Ten Commandments are etched on the bottom of the left and right doors of the Supreme Court chamber of the United States, and Moses is etched is above the head of the Supreme Court justices.

“There is no question that we have the ability to honor the historical, moral foundation law of this country. The Ten Commandments have been cited even by judges in their cases. It is part of the foundation of this country and shall remain so – frankly forever.”

Rapert, a Baptist minister, has also said he is fully prepared to fight and win any potential lawsuits brought against AHHF and the state of Arkansas by ACLU, the Satanic Temple, and other groups that say the Ten Commandments monument constitutes an unlawful establishment of religion by the Arkansas state government.