After a long court battle, city officials took down a church’s iconic \u201cJesus Welcomes You to Hawkins\u201d sign overnight.<\/p>\n
The city spent four years in court but ultimately won, citing that the sign was on public land and was in the way of future development.<\/p>\n
The church, however, is not done fighting just yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city employees destroyed our church property, pulled up our crosses and destroyed everything,\u201d church trustee Mark McDonald told the Longview News-Journal Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re treating it like a hate crime of religious discrimination that was conspired by the city. We have enough documents to prove that,\u201d McDonald added. \u201cThe city was warned (Thursday) by our attorneys not to touch it and not to bother it. There\u2019s been closed meetings, closed records (and) a lot of things wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sign was placed along U.S. route 80 which leads into the small town of Hawkins, which hosts a little over 1,300 residents. It was erected in 2015 in front of a Hawkins coffeehouse, on property owned by Jesus Christ Open Altar Church.<\/p>\n
The church claims the area the sign was put on was theirs, having bought the property from two funeral homes. City officials, however, believe the funeral homes did not have legal right to sell that property and the rightful owner is the city.<\/p>\n
The church’s legal counsel said it will challenge the decision and continue trying to get the “Jesus” sign back up.<\/p>\n
To learn more, check out the video below.<\/p>\n