Roselle Park mayor was threatened over a statue

When do the needs of the many outshine the needs of the few? A controversy over a statue of a soldier kneeling over a grave marked by a cross in is causing its temporary removal while a court case goes on challenging its constitutionality.

The statue which sits in front of the Roselle Park Veterans Memorial Library was bought and paid for by Mayor Carl Hokanson himself an ex-marine.

The lawsuit comes from The American Humanist Association who allege the cross constitutes government endorsement of religion and violates the Establishment Clause in the first Amendment. Councilwoman Charlene Storey and her husband, Gregory Storey, who have protested the statue since it appeared outside the library are also plaintiffs in the suit.

Mayor Hokanson called my show and told his story, "I did buy the statue with my own money, had it installed in July, it wasn't up an hour when Charlene Storey's husband started threatening me. Mayor and council approved a resolution to keep it and as of Friday it was taken down on legal advice.”

Hockanson says 95% of the Borough of Roselle Park is for it, "there were four people who came to the council meeting and spoke out against it.”

You could hear in Mayor Hockanson's voice that it's breaking this ex-marine's heart to take it down. Personally, I don't see any problem leaving it up especially when the council approved it and the people seem to want it. Hokanson says he's gotten phone calls and emails from all over the country, who want to send money and create petitions. He also says he has businesses and people that want them for their front lawns.

We took call after call from people who think it should remain up including Alberta who is an athiest who says she “would never begrudge anyone their religion or the right to have a memorial," and thinks it's outrageous. She feels they are bastardizing the entire constitution. I asked Alberta if she were in a foxhole would she still be an atheist, she says she's asked herself that question and she doesn't know.

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