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The vote to go "above the wishes of the mayor" was 15-2 and almost anticlimactic, with few comments from the council.
Even Mayor John Medinger prefaced his remarks with, "I know that people probably don't want to hear anything more on this ..."
Still, he outlined his reasons for vetoing Tuesday's council decision on the appeal — the potential cost, his opinion that the ruling is strong enough to stand — and called for an end to "this very, very ugly issue that had divided the city of La Crosse."
It didn't persuade even a single council member to change sides. The vote to override was 15-2, with council members Larry Lebiecki and Marilyn Wigdahl opposed, as they had been on Tuesday's resolution to take the case to the 7th District U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago.
That appeal will have to be filed within 30 days, said Council President Mark Johnsrud, who supported the move.
"We're not willing to quit at one judge's ruling," Johnsrud said after the meeting. "I think the appeals court will see it differently."
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled July 14 that having the Ten Commandments monument in the city park violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state.
The 5½-foot monument has been in Cameron Park since 1965, when it was donated to the city by the Eagles Club and later dedicated to young people who helped protect the city from record spring flooding earlier that year.
The city sold the property to the Eagles Club a year ago, but Crabb ordered the site be returned to the city, the monument removed and the city pay legal costs for the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and 22 local plaintiffs in the case.
"I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised," said Ellen Severson of La Crosse, one of those plaintiffs. She attended the meeting with her husband, Eric, to show support for the mayor's veto.
"I thought it took a tremendous amount of bravery," she said.
Brad Benrud of Citizens for Liberty, a group pushing for the appeal, also wasn't surprised by the vote, considering the amount of time the Commandments monument has been at issue. The Freedom From Religion Foundation first filed suit in July 2002.
"I would have been surprised if any of them would have changed," he said.
Benrud said he now plans to ask that supporters send donations to the city for the legal fight ahead.
The city has $110,000 put aside for legal fees in the monument case. Attorneys for Freedom From Religion have put its expenses so far at about $50,000, and Johnsrud said the appeal is expected to cost about $25,000.
"And if we win at the next level," he added, "we owe nothing."
As the city goes into the next round of the Commandments legal battle, Medinger said he will "be a back-bencher" from this point. He said he has no regrets about his stance, even if it translates into loss of support when the next election comes in 2004.
"I think they (the council) set the city on a path they're going to regret someday."
Betsy Bloom can be reached at bbloom@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8236.
