Information about The Display of The Ten Commandments
Barrow County picks attorney to defend Ten Commandments 

Roy Newman, treasurer of Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., makes a down-payment to help the Barrow County Commission fight a lawsuit against a Ten Commandments display in the county courthouse. The $50,000 will help pay legal bills. R.C. Rique/Staff

   WINDER - The Barrow County Commission voted unanimously Friday to hire Virginia attorney Herb Titus to defend the county in a highly publicized Ten Commandments lawsuit filed Sept. 17 by the American Civil Liberties Union.

   And at the meeting's close, a local group formed to raise money for the county's legal defense presented the commission with a $50,000 check - the price needed for Titus' legal retainer.

   Titus, who worked on the defense team of Alabama's now-former Chief Justice Roy Moore, will provide the county with a defense based on the constitutionality of a Ten Commandments display the commission has chosen to retain in a breezeway within the Barrow County Courthouse.

   The ACLU suit charges that the religion-tinged display violates the separation between church and state.

   Commissioners first met with Titus during a 90-minute executive session at the commission's regular meeting Tuesday night.

   Commission Chairman Eddie Elder noted that the county would be liable for Titus' payment if private fund-raising efforts did not garner the money needed for Titus' fee. For now, though, the county's covered - the check presented by Roy Newman, treasurer of Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., covers the lawyer's retainer fee.

   Before the meeting, Dr. Jody Hice, pastor of Bethlehem First Baptist Church and the driving force behind Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., said he remains confident that taxpayers will not need to shoulder the cost of Titus' fee.

   Elder said that the commission chose Titus in large part because of his constitutional law expertise.

   Elder said Barrow County citizens had been overwhelmingly supportive in the county's move toward different legal representation after it first considered the American Center for Law and Justice. However, the county chose not to accept an ACLJ offer for free legal services because ACLJ attorneys wanted to base the county's defense on the historical nature of the display. Commissioners feel a defense based on the constitutionality of the display would be more appropriate.

   Titus must file a response to the ACLU suit by mid-November, County Attorney Currie Mingledorff II said.

   Barrow County is only one of several Georgia counties currently embroiled in Ten Commandments battles. Most recently, a Cherokee County pastor initiated a move to place a Ten Commandments display in the courthouse in Canton. And Habersham County officials are fighting an ACLU-backed lawsuit filed by a local preacher who claims that the county's placement of the Ten Commandments in government buildings violates his right to be free from a state-sponsored religion.

   In addition, Jackson County, in a show of support for Barrow County officials, placed a Ten Commandments display in the county's administrative annex in a display that includes other historical documents.