FAYETTEVILLE — It’s not every day Fayetteville gets mentioned in the hallowed halls of the U.S. Supreme Court.
But speaking on Feb. 25, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. called upon Fayetteville’s World Peace Prayer Fountain, the large bronze ball on the plaza in front of the Town Center. Quiet rivulets of water stream over more than 100 translations of the word “peace” written on its surface.
The high court was ruling on the issue of free speech in the case Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum. The court reversed a decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled a municipality was required to accept a monument that reflects the beliefs of Summum, an unusual religious sect. The public park in Utah where the Summum group wanted to erect their monument also contains a monument to the Ten Commandments. But the Supreme Court said in its unanimous decision that a permanent monument in public outdoor space is a form of government speech, and therefore not subject to scrutiny under the Free Speech clause.
“The Free Speech Clause restricts government regulation of private speech; it does not regulate government speech,” Alito wrote. In short, the high courts said the decision to put a permanent monument on public property is up to the government.
Aside from believing the Utah community should have accepted the monument, the petitioners also wanted its “message” accepted. The Supreme Court ruled that a monument’s message is often nuanced and could convey a variety of meanings.
“Or, to take another example,” Alito wrote after quoting the John Lennon song “Imagine” and calling to mind the Lennon memorial in New York’s Central Park, “what is ‘the message’ of the large bronze statue displaying the word ‘peace’ in many world languages that is displayed in Fayetteville, Ark.?”
Hank Kaminsky, the artist who created the $350,000 peace sculpture, said he hopes the Supreme Court mention will spread the word about the five-year-old sculpture.
“I was thrilled when I saw that,” Kaminsky remarked, who serves as chairman of the Fayetteville Arts Council. “And it’s been making the circulation all around town.”
The Fayetteville City Council doesn’t have a clear-cut policy on how it decides what types of permanent artwork gets installed on public property.
“We have an Arts Council to make recommendations if monuments are offered to the city,” said Kit Williams, the Fayetteville city attorney.
The arts council considers an amalgam of criteria, Kaminsky said, including how the art would fit into the physical surroundings or the overall appropriateness of the art and its message.
“That’s where you get into things that are interesting, to say the least,” Kaminsky said of any discussions which begin to explore hard to define qualities like appearances. “But the aesthetic is not the least of them.”
Back in 2004, another issue of free speech in public parks arose in Fayetteville when two “peace poles” were placed in two city parks. Williams said the poles, which were part of a national anti-war campaign preceding the presidential election, were a type of sign “which would be currently prohibited from city property.”
“I do not believe Fayetteville’s current sign ordinance permits the placement of political signs in public parks,” Williams wrote at the time.
“I believe that is still correct after the Supreme Court’s decision on Pleasant Grove’s permanent monument,” Williams wrote in a memo to the city administration and Connie Edmonston, Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Director.
“The ‘peace poles’ that I have examined were painted wood, hammered into or otherwise installed into the ground. I do not believe they could meet the definition of ‘monument,’ especially not a ‘permanent monument’ used by the Supreme Court,” Williams added.
Even if Alito’s comments regarding Fayetteville were somewhat peripheral, it beats the last time Fayetteville cropped up in a Supreme Court discussion. In the case, Arkansas v. Oklahoma, 17 years ago, the dispute was about chicken feces in waterways.
“This mention of our peace globe monument is more attractive than references to sludge and effluent content when Oklahoma’s suit against us made its way to the Supreme Court,” Williams said.
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