“In God We Trust” logo on county building delayed until end of May
Published 10:10 pm Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The logo displaying the words “In God We Trust” scheduled to go on the front of Polk County’s Womack building in Columbus will be delayed until March 31.
The logo was at first scheduled to be complete by the end of March but Polk County Manager Marche Pittman said the company ran into permitting issues in the region so has pushed back the installation until the end of May.
Polk County Commissioners met Monday, March 21 and heard from Pittman regarding the delay.
Pittman also told commissioners the flag poles the county is installing on the front of the Womack building are also delayed by two-four weeks. Pittman said two flagpoles are being installed and the first one the county installed was made of stainless steel and the second was black, so that one was returned with the correct one not being shipped back to the county for another few weeks.
Installing “In God We Trust” on government entities has been occurring throughout the region, including on Polk County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars recently. The City of Saluda just last week denied placing the “In God We Trust” logo on city hall after hearing several public comments against the wording on a government building.
While Saluda heard from six residents all against the wording being displayed, Polk County has not heard any negative comments publicly for its decision to install the wording.
The Saluda Fire and Rescue just decaled its trucks this week with the words “In God We Trust.”
Polk County was asked by the U.S. Motto Action Committee to install the wording on both the Womack building and the county courthouse last July. The county researched installing the wording on the courthouse, which is on the National Historic Registry and due to those restrictions the wording will not go on the courthouse.
Created in 2002, the U.S. Motto Action Committee’s mission is to “defend, promote and assist in the awareness and furtherance of our nation’s motto, ‘In God We Trust’ on public buildings, structures, monuments, the printed page, and to encourage our godly heritage in various other aspects.”
As of October 2015, the U.S. Motto Action Committee had 41 counties and 36 cities to display its national motto of “In God We Trust” on government buildings, according to the U.S. Motto Action Committee.
The organization pays for the installation of the motto on government structures through donations.