Suspended Alabama chief justice Moore to speak in Winder

WINDER - Suspended Alabama chief justice Roy Moore, who defied a federal court order by refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state Judicial Building, will speak at a rally in Winder on Thursday, officials said.

The rally will be at the Barrow County courthouse, said county public information officer Lane Downs. The courthouse is where a legal battle is brewing between the county and the American Civil Liberties Union over a framed parchment copy of the Ten Commandment in a building breezeway.

Downs said Moore's appearance is being sponsored by Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., an organization founded by the Rev. Jody Hice, pastor of Bethlehem First Baptist Church, in support of the display of the monuments in the courthouse.

Barrow officials have hired Virginia attorney Herb Titus, who worked on Moore's defense team, to defend the county against a lawsuit by the ACLU.

Moore was suspended after he refused to obey a federal judge's order to remove a 5,000-pound Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama state judicial building. He faces a Nov. 12 trial before the state's Court of the Judiciary, and could be removed from office.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/11/169856