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BACKUS - Cass County commissioners Tuesday reaffirmed their policy to permit people to demonstrate in behalf of a cause on the courthouse lawn as long as demonstrators do not interfere with people doing business at the courthouse or become unruly.

Demonstrators also are not permitted to pound stakes in the lawn, post free-standing signs or drive vehicles or trailers on the lawn. No alcohol is allowed.

To date the only people who have asked to use the courthouse lawn have been vendors during Walker's Ethnic Fest and 40 Days for Life, a group that since 2008 has received board permission to set a small tent on the lawn without signage inside which people conduct a prayer vigil and pray to end abortion.

Supporters of 40 Days for Life occupy the tent for 40 days from September to November each fall and inform anyone who enters the tent about their purpose for being there.

In October, Mary Ackerman appeared before the board, objecting to the board permitting what she sees as a religious group using the courthouse lawn to inform the public about its cause.

While she said she supports freedom of speech, she also said she thought the county could legally limit demonstrations to causes involving county or state issues.

Betty Hackett at the same meeting suggested the county should limit demonstrations to fewer than 40 days.

This month, County Attorney Christopher Strandlie received a letter from attorney Patrick Elliott in behalf of Freedom from Religion Foundation asking the county to "disallow all unattended private displays and structures on the courthouse lawn."

"It is regrettable that the courthouse lawn has been used for a religious and political agenda for several years. Understandably, citizens will have differing views on such matters and they do not want their government facilities to serve as the center of debates about religion and abortion," Elliott continues after citing several case law cases from other parts of the country.

Like Ackerman and Hackett, Elliott suggests church or private property would be more appropriate properties for 40 Days for Life's demonstration.

He concludes by saying Freedom from Religion Foundation will place its own display on the courthouse lawn during the time of 40 Days for Life's display if it returns in 2015.

Tuesday, the board instructed Strandlie to respond by letter to Elliott, informing him that the county does not object to people demonstrating in behalf of causes on the courthouse lawn. Further, Strandlie's letter will explain that the county has not in the past and does not intend in the future to permit unattended displays.

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