Lawyer defends Elkhart County's Ten Commandments display

ELKHART, Ind. -- A Florida lawyer will defend Elkhart County against a lawsuit that seeks to remove the Ten Commandments from a display in the administration building.\nMathew Staver, of Liberty Counsel in Orlando, agreed last month to defend the northern Indiana county for free if anyone sued over the new display, which also includes the Mayflower Compact, the Constitution and an American flag.\nStaver's commitment was part of the reason county commissioners voted in favor of posting the documents that were donated by two Elkhart County residents, County Commissioner Martin McCloskey told the Truth newspaper for Tuesday's paper.\nLast week, Elkhart resident and disabled Vietnam veteran William Books filed a suit in U.S. District Court, claiming that he is offended by the display.\nIn 1998, Books was part of a group that sued the city of Elkhart for keeping a granite slab engraved with the Ten Commandments in front of City Hall.\nAfter spending $63,000 fighting the complaint, Mayor David Miller gave up the struggle last fall and moved the monument to private land off North Main Street.\nBut the county's display is different because it includes 10 other historical documents in addition to the Ten Commandments, Staver said.