STEUBENVILLE - City leaders agreed to change the municipal logo after a Wisconsin organization threatened legal action over a religious symbol it contains.
Law Director S. Gary Repella announced the decision after a 15-minute closed-door meeting with City Council members Tuesday.
"We will be approaching Mark Nelson of Nelson Fine Art and Gifts and asking him to redesign the city logo to remove the cross and silhouette of the Christ the King Chapel on the Franciscan University of Steubenville campus," said Repella.
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"We were contacted in May by the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. in Madison, Wis., who said one of our citizens had complained about the city logo. During the past several months the foundation sent me their research and past case law regarding religious symbols. I researched current case law and found a lot of case laws that do not allow religious symbols in government symbols," Repella continued. "We have discussed the issue with City Council, and we will ask Mark Nelson to design a silhouette of another building such as the library or a dormitory for the city logo. The council realizes the potential cost to our city taxpayers may be very expensive to try to win the case."
