Letter: Ten Commandments are in wrong place

Recently I was traveling through Cloquet for work and noticed that there is a quite large Ten Commandments tablet outside of the Cloquet fire station on Cloquet Avenue.

Clearly, this is a violation of the First Amendment. In speaking with a local, they stated that the city council was informed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation to remove the Ten Commandments, yet they have clearly failed to do so.

Being a lifetime resident of Minnesota (and longtime resident of the Duluth area), I’m surprised at the brazen action taken by the Cloquet City Council by not removing the Ten Commandments. Everyone has a right to their religion, but no religion has the right to be above my own rights.

A religious government is not your government, a government religion is not your religion.

Adin Briggs, Duluth

Editor’s note: The Ten Commandments monument at the corner of Cloquet Avenue and Sixth Street by the fire station was donated by the Eagles Club in 1962. In 2018, after a crash knocked the monument off its base, it was repaired using insurance money. At the time, Cloquet city attorney Frank Yetka said legal precedent indicated the monument doesn’t have to be moved because it was donated long ago by a private party and placed on city property at no cost to the city.