Panel told to study memorial at Capitol
Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007
A group asked Secretary of State Charlie Daniels on Wednesday for permission to put a statue in the state Capitol to commemorate infant deaths, including abortions.
He decided, instead, to appoint a subcommittee of the state Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to come up with guidelines for what’s appropriate for monuments at the Capitol.
As secretary of state, he’s in charge of the Capitol and its grounds. He’s also chairman of the 10-member commission. He picked commissioners Gerri Soltz, Judy Gaddy, Ken Grunewald and Richard Davies for the appropriateness assignment. They are to report their findings to the commission next year. As the subcommittee, they will check on other states’ standards.
“We really do have to be careful on monuments inside the state Capitol,” Daniels said. “There is no set of rules or regulations, and there should be. We need to make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
After the meeting, Millie Lace of Wynne, who led the group asking for a place for the statue, said she hoped her group’s proposal would be considered before the new guidelines are in place.
The $ 28, 000 to pay the cost of the life-size statue would be privately raised.
Supporters of the memorial said it would allow parents to cope with grief caused by miscarriage, abortion or fetal or infant death.
Lace has participated in events at the Capitol in opposition to abortion.
During the presentation, several mothers talked about their children. Some of the children were aborted.
Lace described the statue as a man holding a baby while talking to a woman. The robewearing male figure wears sandals.
Daniels asked Lace, “Is that Jesus ?”
“It’s whoever you want to say it is,” Lace replied.
According to materials Lace handed out, the statue is called the Hope Monument. According to the Web site www. hopemonument. com, the male figure is Jesus.
The commission met in the Old Supreme Court Room on the Capitol’s second floor. On a table at the rear of the room the group set up a display showing a small model of the proposed statue. At the end of a table was a rectangular, dark wood box.
Lace told commission members that the box contained a fetus miscarried in 1993.
“Since he was considered medical waste, his mother asked if he could be preserved,” Lace told the commission. “He is here with us today at our reference table. If you desire to see him, let us know.”
After the meeting, Daniels looked at it.
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