Motto resolution changed a third time

I know I sound like a broken record, but the posted “In God We Trust” resolution has changed once again.

If you didn’t follow the drama last week, multiple versions of the council’s “In God We Trust” resolution have appeared on The Grid, the county’s website for all things Clark County council. Originally, the Feb. 24 resolution included a line about countering “the state atheism of the Soviet Union.” After Michele Wollert emailed the councilors, county staff removed the line, but then added it back in the approved version of the resolution.

The version of the resolution Councilor David Madore read at the Feb. 24 meeting included no mention of state atheism, the Cold War or the Soviet Union.

I bugged Acting County Manager Mark McCauley last Friday about the re-addition of that phrase, and he left me a voicemail Saturday.

“That’s an oops,” McCauley told me.

Apparently county staff had both versions of the resolution in front of them and signed the wrong one, McCauley said. Oops indeed.

Some of the folks I’ve spoken to and seen on Facebook are skeptical that this was an accident, however. George Thomas, who filed a petition with the council against the motto, told The Columbian that he actually filed a complaint with the Attorney General over the back-and-forth in the wording. We’ll see if that goes anywhere.

I’d be remiss to finish this post without giving credit to Wollert, who also emailed McCauley and the council over the weekend to let them know of the change.

At 10:30 a.m. Monday, a version was posted online that matches what Madore read at the meeting on Feb. 24.

Here are all four versions of the resolution.

First version – First update – Second update – Third update