ACLU, Pucker Up!

You don’t have to be a fan of “Junior” Rodriguez, president of St. Bernard Parish, to like him today.

St. Bernard Parish was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. While New Orleans parish endured top sustained winds of 96 MPH (Category 1 strength), St. Bernard parish is further east and was directly hit by the Category 3 hurricane. Even more critical than the wind speed, however, was the storm surge. Every building in St. Bernard Parish flooded. Deaths totaled at 129. Rebuilding is slow. The population has been reduced from about 70,000 people to less than 7,000.

Some Parish officials thought it would be a good idea to put up a memorial.

A 13-foot high by 7-foot wide stainless steel lighted cross and a stone monument inscribed with the names of 129 St. Bernard Parish residents who died in Hurricane Katrina will be dedicated at Shell Beach on Aug. 29 as a memorial to victims as part of a day-long remembrance of the furious storm.

This has raised the ire of the ACLU, headed in Louisiana by Joe Cook.

In a July 28 letter to Rodriguez and other officials, Louisiana ACLU Executive Director Joe Cook said that the government promotion of a patently religious symbol on a public waterway is a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, which prohibits government from advancing a religion. (source)

Rodriguez’ response? “”They can kiss my ass.”

The cross and stone monument will overlook a public waterway, but they will be situated on private land. The public land adjacent to the public waterway has been eroded away. So a group of people, many of whom work for the Parish in some capacity, got together on their own time, raised private donations, and intend to put the cross and memorial on private land.

Many Louisianians are disgusted with the ACLU, and their attitudes may be summed up by this comment in the NOLA.com forums:

Good for you, Junior Rodriguez!

I believe in the Constitution as much as the next person, but the ACLU goes too far. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Joe Cook and the entire ACLU can just line up and pucker up.

Linked to Conservative Cat, Stuck on Stupid, Third World Country