Officials in a small Kansas town narrowly reversed a decision to remove “In God We Trust” decals from police cars after outraged residents flooded a city council meeting earlier this week.
As the Haven city council voted 3-2 Monday evening to reverse its May 2 decision, Mayor Adam Wright said he had received more than 100 emails from citizens opposing the removal. The town has fewer than 1,200 residents, according to the 2020 census.
Tim Throckmorton, a member of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC), gave brief remarks and presented the city council with a thick folder containing the petition signatures of 19,568 people. The evangelical Christian group said 500 of the signatures came from Kansas residents.
“The attendees were grateful for FRC and thankful we made the trip all the way here for this issue,” Mr. Throckmorton, a pastor, said in a statement afterward.
Councilmember Sandra Williams, who introduced the measure to remove the decals out of a concern to separate church and state, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Throckmorton said that when one member of the council offered to delay a decision until the pressure subsided, the town’s residents responded: “There’s always going to be pressure.”
The FRC petition had pointed out that “In God We Trust” is printed on U.S. currency.
Haven resident Mary Andresen told Wichita news outlet KWCH that she was pleased with Monday night’s outcome.
“They heard the citizens that came up and spoke and said, ‘We didn’t agree with the previous unilateral decision,’” Ms. Andresen said.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.