By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The granite marker with the Ten Commandments engraved on it at Peebles Jr. Sr. High School. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

Constitutional battles over the separation of church and state are played out first in ornate courtrooms in marble buildings by black-robed judges and pinstriped lawyers.

But, sooner or later, they come home to roost in less conspicuous places, like the wood-paneled dining hall of the Seaman United Methodist Church in this Adams County village.

There, early Saturday morning, the Rev. Ken Johnson and a half-dozen church members ate scrambled eggs and sausage links.

They talked and prayed about a court decision that distresses them greatly - the 2-1 decision Tuesday by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that said the granite markers containing the Ten Commandments placed five years ago in front of four Adams County high schools must go.

"Because we have opposition doesn't mean we throw in the towel," said church member Ova Barr, a longtime Seaman resident who now lives in the county seat of West Union, 11 miles to the south.

"God is with us," Mr. Barr said, as his fellow church members nodded in agreement. "He will see us through."

The Rev. Rob Schenck (right) and Rev. Ken Johnson review Ten Commandments petitions. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

The appeals court ruling leaves the Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board with a decision to make about whether the 3-foot granite tablets will, in fact, be removed, and whether the board will continue to appeal the case.

That decision, said Superintendent Pat Kimble, is likely to come at a Monday night board meeting.

"It does not look good," said the Rev. Mr. Johnson, one of the leaders of Adams County for the Ten Commandments, a citizens group that has been battling for keeping the markers since February 1999. That's when the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Berry Baker, a Peebles man, who believed the markers in front of taxpayer-supported schools violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

The Ten Commandment markers were given to the Adams County/Ohio Valley School District in 1997 and placed in front of four newly built high schools - North Adams High School in Seaman, Manchester High School, Peebles High School and West Union High School.

In this largely rural county of about 28,000 people, 60 miles east of Cincinnati, evidence of the three-year court battle is everywhere.

Yard signs are stuck in manicured lawns on the side streets of the villages.

Shopkeepers keep Ten Commandment posters in their windows alongside announcements of church spaghetti suppers and school plays.

Religious faith in this county is strong, from the Amish enclave of farmers and business owners who live off Graces Run and Turkey Ridge roads and the many churches - mostly evangelical Christian - that pop up on nearly every village street and country back-road.

TIMELINE

Fall 1997: The Ten Commandments monuments are erected at the doors of Adams County's four high schools. Feb. 9, 1999: The American Civil Liberties Union files a complaint in federal court on behalf of Berry Baker of Peebles, who maintained posting the Ten Commandments was unconstitutional. Feb. 24, 1999: Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board announces it will fight the lawsuit. March 3, 1999: A disclaimer added near the monuments says no taxpayer money was spent on them. Fall 2000: The text from additional historical documents was placed near the Ten Commandments in an attempt to say the Commandments are part of an educational display. June 2002: A federal magistrate ordered the display of the Ten Commandments removed in Adams County. Nov. 19, 2002: The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold a federal court's June decision calling for the removal of the Ten Commandments.

Saturday morning, the church members were joined for breakfast by the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the Washington, D.C,-based National Clergy Council, which has assisted the Adams County ministers in their fight.

Saying he did not want to be a "prophet of doom and gloom," the Rev. Mr. Schenck told the men it was "highly unlikely" the U.S. Supreme Court would ever agree to hear an appeal of the Adams County case.

If the decision is made by the school board to remove the tablets, he said, "don't let them do it in the dead of night. Make sure the media is there to see it."

On Saturday morning, as the Methodist men finished their breakfast with the Rev. Mr. Schenck in the dining hall, Second Street in Seaman began filling up with cars, vans and pickup trucks as a crowd gathered in front of a one-story frame house for an estate auction.

As the auctioneer let out a staccato-burst plea for more than $2 for a set of China plates, Esther Mapes of nearby Dunkinsville inspected some collectible dolls that were up for auction next.

"I don't understand it," Mrs. Mapes said of the court order to remove the tablets. "School should be about teaching morals. It's not teaching religion."

Most people here seem to agree. Two miles south of Seaman, in the heart of Adams County's Amish community, Thomas "Gene" Ryan, who runs a tiny grocery story in the crossroads village of Unity, said he would like to see the pro-Ten Commandment forces win.

"I wish they could remain up," said Mr. Ryan, whose family has catered to the Amish community here for three generations. "But I don't think they will. The courts are never going to allow it.

"But there is such a thing as teaching morality," said Mr. Ryan, as an Amish horse-and-buggy clopped by on Graces Run Road, just outside his door. "People don't take responsibility for their actions these days. Look at these people suing McDonald's because their kids got fat. Who's responsible for that?"

In the county seat of West Union, there seemed to be fewer of the Ten Commandment yard signs than in the northern end of the county. Mike McCann, owner of the Corner Craft store across the Adams County Courthouse, said he thought perhaps the Ten Commandments issue was not as hot a topic now as it was when the lawsuit was filed three years ago.

"Maybe people's yard signs just wore out," said Mr. McCann, whose shop sells ceramics, candies and Christian books and videos. "But you really don't hear people talking about it as much as you used to."

Asked what he thought of having the commandments displayed, Mr. McCann paused for half a minute.

"That's hard," he said. "It's a hard one.

"In the end, you know,'' he said, rapping his knuckles on the counter-top, "morality is taught in the home."

E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com