Arkansas Police Chief Defies Atheists’ Demands to Remove Cross From Department Property

Heather Clark christiannews.net SEARCY, Ark. – An Arkansas police chief is defying atheist demands to remove a cross from the lawn of the police department. Searcy Police Chief Jeremy Clark told reporters this week that the cross was planted in the ground before he took office a year ago, and that he has no intentions of removing it. He stated that the cross is just outside of his private office and that no one sees it there. “Someone put it there. I didn’t put it there, [and] I don’t know who did,” Clark told local television station KARK-TV. “I wasn’t going to remove it just because this organization in another state told us that we should.” “The only person that sees that cross everyday is me, unless someone is purposely trying to look for it,” he added to The Daily Citizen. “You can see these crosses in yards all over the community we serve. I don’t for one-second think a wooden cross staked into the ground is offensive to the majority of the people that we serve.” The Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) had contacted Clark last year to request that the cross be removed. The organization states that its letter was sparked by a complaint from a “concerned local resident and taxpayer.” “It is our information that there is a white cross in front of the Searcy Police Station near one of the public entrances,” the letter from FFRF read.