Weinbaum v. Las Cruces Public Schools

Citation465 F.Supp.2d 1182
Decision Date07 December 2006
Docket NumberNo. CV 03-1043 RB/LAM.,CV 03-1043 RB/LAM.
PartiesPaul F. WEINBAUM, Plaintiff, v. LAS CRUCES PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Charles Davis, Leonel Briseno, Gene Gant, John Schwebke, Sharon Wooden, as School Board Members of Las Cruces Public Schools, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of New Mexico

Paul F. Weinbaum, Las Cruces, NM, pro se.

William R. Babington, Jr., Holt & Babington, P., Las Cruces, NM, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

BRACK, District Judge.

THIS MATTERcomes before the Court on the parties' Stipulation of Facts (Doc. 166), filed November 17, 2006, Plaintiffs Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Doc. 163), filed November 16, 2006, and Defendants' Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Doc. 167), filed November 17, 2006, and a trial on November 27, 2006. Pursuant to Rule 52, the Court herein sets forth its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and its decision. Because the Court finds that Las Cruces' name is widely understood in the community to mean "the crosses," and that the Establishment Clause's strictures are otherwise satisfied, judgment, in favor of Defendants, shall be entered. See O'Connor v. Washburn Univ., 416 F.3d 1216, 1231 (10th Cir.2005).

I. INTRODUCTION.

This case concerns whether—in Las Cruces, New Mexico—the Establishment Clause allows the display of three Latin crosses on public school property. See U.S. Const, amends. I, XIV. Following this Court's November 9, 2006 Memorandum Opinion and Order (Doc. 152), only two issues remained unresolved. Namely, whether an emblem affixed to Las Cruces Public School ("LCPS") maintenanceschool vehicles and LCPS Policy # 424, as applied to the emblem and a permanent mural displayed inside Booker T. Elementary School ("BTW"), are unconstitutional.

On November 27, 2006, the Court held a bench trial on the remaining issues. Plaintiff (Paul F. Weinbaum) proceeded pro se; attorney William Babington represented Defendants (Las Cruces Public Schools, et al). Having heard witness testimony, reviewed the parties' exhibits accepted into evidence at trial, heard Plaintiffs and defense counsel's respective arguments, and reviewed the trial pleadings and relevant law, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.1 See Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).

II. FINDINGS OF FACT.

1. Plaintiff Paul F. Weinbaum is a New Mexico resident and taxpayer, who lives within the boundaries of the Las Cruces Public Schools ("LCPS"). Plaintiff Weinbaum has a child enrolled in a LCPS school.

2. Defendant LCPS is a governmental entity created by statute and governed by an elected School Board.

3. LCPS is the second largest school district in New Mexico that encompasses, inter loci the City of Las Cruces.

4. Defendants Davis, Briseno, Gant, Schwebke, and Wooden are Las Cruces School Board Members ("Board Members") who, together with the LCPS Superintendent, are responsible for creating and enforcing LCPS school policies within the law.

5. Defendant Board Members are sued in their official capacity.

6. The Christian or Latin cross is an immediately recognizable symbol for most of Christianity.2

7. For Christians, the cross is the most powerful symbol of their faith—the symbolic representation of redemption and of the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

8. For many others, the cross has, sadly, been a symbol of oppression, persecution, and sometimes death.

9. From the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, "three crosses"—one Latin cross, slightly taller than the crosses to the right and left of it—have come to symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus, along with two criminals, at Calvary.

10. "Las Cruces" is Spanish for "the crosses."

11. In 1849, Pablo Melendres, the mayordomo of Dona Ana, a village about fifteen miles to the north of present-day Las Cruces, New Mexico, asked the United States Army to help relieve overcrowding in his community.

12. In response to Melendres' request, Lt. Delos Sackett laid out and founded El Pueblo del Jardin de Las Cruces, which translates as "the City of the Garden of the Crosses," which is known today as the City of Las Cruces.

13. There are at least two theories regarding the origin of the City of Las Cruces' name.

14. One theory suggests that the name means "the crossroads," originating from the intersection of the Chihuahua Trail and the Butterfield Overland Mail Route near Las Cruces.

15. This theory lacks support: the Butterfield Overland Mail Route began service through the area in the 1850s, only after the village of El Pueblo del Jardin de Las Cruces was founded.

16. The more reliable, and widely held, theory holds that the name, Las Cruces, described groups of crosses placed on graves and the sites of massacres that occurred in the area between 1712 and 1840.

17. During the Spanish colonial and Mexican periods, most travelers and settlers in the area were Catholic and crosses were used to mark graves or locations of massacres.

18. A 1847 first-hand account corroborates that crosses were seen in the area, which would, two years later, become El Pueblo del Jardin de Las Cruces,3 today known simply as Las Cruces.

19. Despite lingering ambiguity surrounding the name's historical origins, it is clear that Las Cruces means "The Crosses."

20. The plural of both cruz (cross) and cruce (crossing) is cruces, but the potential for confusion dissipates when the gender of the respective nouns is considered. All nouns in Spanish have either masculine or feminine gender, except for one or two nouns of undecided gender. Cruz is a feminine noun, the plural of which, accompanied by its definite article (which must agree in case and gender with the noun modified) is rendered las cruces, while cruce is a masculine noun, the plural of which, accompanied by its definite article, is rendered los cruces.

21. Plaintiff concedes that "the crosses" is a possible translation of "Las Cruces."

22. Plaintiff does not object to City of Las Cruces' name, due to its historical character.

23. The City of Las Cruces has long used crosses in its official insignia: the earliest documented use of three crosses in an official symbol of Las Cruces consists of a lease agreement between the Town of Las Cruces and Mrs. A.L. Sweet, dated July 28,1941.

24. The cover of the City's 1963-64 Annual Report included several images illustrating city services and a symbol consisting of three crosses surrounded by a sunburst; the 1965 Annual Report's cover employed a slightly different version of the three-crosses-in-a-sunburst symbol.

25. A number of non-religious public and private entities in Las Cruces use three crosses to identify themselves as local entities.

A. Maintenance-vehicle emblem.

26. Since at least 1969, LCPS has marked its maintenance vehicles with an emblem that features a sunburst with three Latin crosses.4

27. LCPS owns approximately thirtyfive maintenance vehicles.

28. The emblem's diameter is 12 inches.

29. At the center of the emblem, a blue sunburst is depicted. Inside the sunburst, there is a white circle containing three, centered, blue crosses. The white circle's diameter is 1.875 inches; the three crosses are not equal in size. The largest cross is centered and flanked, on either side, by the two remaining crosses, which are equal in size.

30. Encircling this symbol are two separate blue bands containing text. Immediately surrounding the center symbol is a blue band with thin, white, capital-letter text that reads: "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY." The first two words appear above the sunburst containing the crosses; the latter two words are situated below. The exterior blue band features larger capitalletter text that reads: "LAS CRUCES PUBLIC SCHOOLS." Like the arrangement of the "for official use only" text, the exterior band features the words "Las Cruces" above the sunburst containing the crosses and "public schools" below.

31. The emblem is very similar to the logo used by the City of Las Cruces on its 1965 Annual Report; both images' designs incorporate three crosses placed inside a sunburst.

32. The emblem is used by LCPS exclusively on its maintenance vehicles; no other LCPS vehicles bear the emblem.

33. The emblem identifies the LCPS maintenance vehicles as being affiliated with LCPS' maintenance department and, thus, properly on LCPS school grounds.

34. Unauthorized vehicles on school property are a student-safety concern.

35. The emblem's origin—namely, when, by whom, and why it was designed—remains unknown, despite the significant research efforts of LCPS personnel and graduate students employed by Dr. Hunner.5

36. Having examined the emblem's available history exhaustively, the Court concludes that the emblem: (1) was most likely adopted in the 1960s, at the behest of Luitt Miller, a former Associate LCPS Superintendent/Former Physical Plant Director, to make vehicles readily identifiable to LCPS personnel; and (2) has been, and continues to be, used for this purpose.

37. LCPS uses another emblem—that does not feature obviously religious symbols—on its stationary, official documents, and the main LCPS administration building; that symbol was adopted long after the emblem was first placed on LCPS maintenance vehicles.

38. The sunburst, itself, conveys no religious meaning.

39. The emblem has not been used to proselytize Plaintiffs daughter or anyone else.

40. LCPS uses a logo, other than the emblem at issue here, on its administration building. LCPS adopted the logo at the time LCPS administration relocated to its current location in Las Cruces. The logo is affixed to the exterior of that building; it was adopted in the 1990s following a student design contest. However peculiar it is that LCPS uses multiple symbols, there is no evidence that Defendants' stated secular purpose for the maintenancevehicle emblem is, in any way, insincere.

B. Policy #424.

41. LCPS Policy # 424 is one of many policies that govern...

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