New Orleans Times-Picayune – 8/6/2006

The ACLU of Louisiana has advised officials of the St. Bernard Parish not to build a memorial to the victims of Hurricane Katrina which would feature as part of it, a cross. The ACLU wants the Parish instead to erect a “religiously neutral symbol” to commemorate the dead

After receiving the letter from the ACLU, Parish President Henry “Junior” Rodriguez responded angrily suggesting that the ACLU could kiss a part of his anatomy.

The memorial, which will be mounted near the shoreline of the Mississippi River Gulf-outlet at Shell Beach, will be erected on private land and is being financed with donations, Rodriguez said. The memorial is being coordinated by a group of volunteers on their own time, and no public money is going to the project.