Ten Commandments fight goes on in Fla.

CROSS CITY, Fla.

- The folks who live in this sparsely populated rural region along Florida's upper west coast don't like outsiders butting in, especially when it comes to their religious beliefs.

They're miffed, to put it politely, and appealing a federal judge's order to remove by tomorrow a 5-foot-high granite monument that prominently displays the Ten Commandments in front of the Dixie County courthouse by tomorrow.

It's the latest skirmish in a long conflict across the United States between state and local officials who have wanted to honor the laws that help define their faith and those who argue such displays should stay out of any public forum under a constitution that bars the establishment of religion.

It has been almost eight years since former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office and gained national attention for refusing to move another huge granite monument to the commandments from the court's lobby. But similar disputes continue to trickle through the courts in towns and counties nationwide.

Dixie County officials and residents say support for their monument is unanimous, and they accuse outsiders of trampling on their way of life.

"We have not had one negative comment from the community," said county manager Mike Cassidy, 48, a fourth-generation Floridian who grew up in Cross City. "No one in this county has come forward and said, 'This should be removed.' It has been totally unanimous."

The 6-ton, $20,000 monument still sits on the courthouse steps. Beneath the commandments, the monument reads in large capital letters, "Love God and keep His commandments."

Residents here have long had a reputation for their independence and don't take kindly to outsider interference, even if it's a constitutional issue.

"There will be people standing around it to protect it when they come to remove it," said Donald Eady, 38, a mechanic who lives in neighboring Old Town, a short jaunt south down four-lane U.S. Highway 19. "The people here enjoy it. We should have that freedom, but they're taking our freedom away daily."

U.S. District Judge Maurice Paul ruled on July 15 in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which sued Dixie County to remove the monument from the front of the courthouse building in Cross City. The monument was bought by a local businessman, who pays for its maintenance as well.

The Florida ACLU argued that an official government display of a religious monument violates a clause in the First Amendment that prohibits the government from promoting religious messages. The county argued that a private citizen owns the monument.

"The actual ownership of the monument, the location and permanent nature of the display make it clear to all reasonable observers that Dixie County chooses to be associated with the message being conveyed," Paul said in his ruling.

Attorneys for Dixie County filed notice July 26 at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to defend the county's policy allowing private displays of law and history. The status of that appeal is pending.

Disputes in Kentucky, Virginia, Utah, New Mexico and other states have continued to bounce through lower courts since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in 2005 that displaying the Ten Commandments could be constitutional if its main purpose is to honor the nation's legal traditions, rather than religious traditions.

Some governments have tried to follow that ruling by displaying the commandments with other legal documents, like the Magna Carta and Hammurabi's Code. But conflicting opinions have since been issued in appeals courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the issue again in February, when it refused to consider a dispute about displays banned from two Kentucky courthouses.

The Dixie County monuments were paid for by Joe Anderson Jr., the president of Lake City-based Anderson Columbia, which has grown in its 53-year history into one of the largest highway-construction and -paving firms in the Southeast. He is listed on the back as its owner. He has also paid for three identical monuments in neighboring counties.