Ten Commandments, ‘historical documents’ to be displayed outside Mat-Su Borough Assembly chambers

What you need to know:

• The Ten Commandments and six other historical documents will be placed on permanent display in a lobby outside the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly chambers, according to a resolution unanimously approved by the assembly on Tuesday.
• The display will include the Ten Commandments, a summary of the Code of Hammurabi, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the preambles to both the U.S. and Alaska Constitutions. The display will be paid for by donations. Borough staff will research whether to include similar displays in public libraries.  
• The resolution, sponsored by Assembly member Ron Bernier, was inspired by a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms. 

PALMER — The Ten Commandments and six other historical documents will be placed on permanent display in a lobby outside the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly chambers, according to a resolution unanimously approved by the assembly on Tuesday.

The display will "honor historical documents" that have influenced U.S. and state law, the resolution states. It will include the Ten Commandments, a summary of the Code of Hammurabi, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the preamble to the Alaska Constitution. It will be installed in the lobby of the Borough Administration Building in Palmer.

Assembly member Ron Bernier, whose district includes Talkeetna, sponsored the resolution. Its approval was greeted by cheers from a handful of audience members.

"Unless you know your history, you don’t have anything to be proud of," Bernier said during the meeting. "That’s what’s wrong with this culture today. They don’t know where they came from."

The resolution also directs borough staff to study the feasibility of installing similar displays at borough-operated public libraries in Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Willow, Big Lake and Sutton.

Bernier was inspired by a Louisiana law passed this summer that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, he said in an interview last week.

Bernier initially intended to propose a resolution calling for the display of only the Ten Commandments but said a borough attorney advised him that doing so could open the borough to legal action. Placing a display of multiple texts that includes the Ten Commandments would likely not bring such a challenge, he said.

“There's no prohibition of displays that use the Ten Commandments as you would any other historical document,” he said during the meeting. “It's when you make it by itself where it’s a religious thing, that's where it crosses the line.”

The Louisiana law is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which contends the requirement violates the First Amendment rights of students and staff.

Officials with the ACLU of Alaska said they are monitoring the Mat-Su resolution but have no legal action planned.

The borough is prohibited from funding any part of the display, according to an amendment approved during Tuesday’s debate. Instead, borough staff will cover the costs through a fundraiser, officials said after the meeting.

The display’s exact location and installation date have yet to be determined, borough officials said Wednesday. The lobby currently features a large taxidermied brown bear, a box for depositing worn U.S. flags, and portraits of borough assembly members and Mayor Edna DeVries.

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.