Letters to editor

Don Barnes 9-28-09

Dear Editor: 

I feel I would be remiss if I did not respond to a couple of comments that were made about me in the Heavener Ledger last week.

First off, I am not a well versed Bible scholar nor a historian. I did not know I had to be one to stand behind God’s Ten Commandments.  I simply feel that our country would be much better off if “we the people” were to strive to live by those commandments. It would be wonderful if the folks on Wall Street and in Washington, D.C., Republicans as well as Democrats, could learn to live by just one of the commandments, “Thou Shall Not Steal”.

Perhaps it might help some too, if a few of them adhered to “Thou Shall Not Commit Adultry”.

Our Ten Commandment monument will not be a “neon lighted billboard”! It will be made of Georgia Grey Granite, as are the stones on our Veterans Memorial. And, our monument will be two Tablet style, stones on a nice seven-foot base.  

I enlisted the help of the county’s military veterans, with the guidance of LeFlore County DAV Chapter #63’s Charley Horsley, to assist with this project . One reason for this, and part of my motivation for wanting to make an issue of and display the commandments at our courthouse has been, not only because do I feel like the whole country needs to wake up and realize that “we the people are our own worst enemies”, as Ledger columnist Steven Sewell stated in his column last week. In addition think about the hundreds of thousands of “patriotic Americans who have given their lives on foreign soil to protect our rights, liberties and freedoms, including our right to worship as we want to”. They gave their lives believing in the fact that this country was founded on Christian principles as guided by God and His Ten Commandments. And, isn’t it ironic that those commandments are even posted above the entryway to and inside the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC! It is still a mystery to me why those same people ruled that we should let one lady take prayer out of our schools. Now, that did a lot of good for the country didn’t it?

As my pastor at Poteau’s Southside Baptist Church Rev. Monty Thompson told me “what this country needs is a good old fashioned revival”. And, he also told me early on that “if this issue did nothing more than draw attention to those Ten Commandments and make more people aware of what they are, it will have all been worth the efforts”. It has been a few months since permission was granted to display the Commandments at our courthouse during which time, “there has been a lot of talk about it” including in the Associated Press.

And therefore one would have to believe it has been rather educational, as well as perhaps thought provoking.

 I was very pleased to see that even ABC television, has been broadcasting a series of programs on the Ten Commandments on their Nightline program. They started last Thursday night with “Thou Shall Not Commit Adultry”. And, I was informed by the company that is building our monument “because of the publicity we have gotten over this matter here in LeFlore County, other Oklahoma countiess have plans for monuments.”

I and the county veterans hope to be able to put the monument at the courthouse, in front of the Veterans Memorial. It depends on the court’s decisions. If not, we have a few locations picked out on Broadway which has over 26,0000 automobiles a day on it passing through Poteau.  And, yes, it will be lighted and landscaped.

Finally, I would once again like to make something very clear. I had it on my mind to request the permission to put the commandments at our courthouse ever since they did so in Haskell County a few years ago. God inspired me to follow through this past Easter. And, last but certainly not least, I repeat “this is being done for the glory of God” on behalf of everyone in the county.

Sincerely yours in Christ’s name,

Don Barnes
Poteau, Oklahoma

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