yadkin

Hopefully, now the board will hold a meeting and the bench will be approved and all will be well. I think that there are a few that will oppose though. Hopefully I'm wrong and they will set aside their disapproval out of respect for the family. Hopefully.

There's no approval for placement or design, so I would say yes.

I sorta know the family but not seen them in years, I know the tragedy surrounding their son/grandson. It's terrible and I hate this is now an issue. But regardless, rules need to be followed or everyone will be building monuments and planting them in city parks.

I know that's what the article said, I'm just kinda questioning whether no one at the park knew the plans prior to the bench being made.

Actually, if you read the person in charge of the parks new nothing about it. He was out of town when the bench was installed and when he came back, he had it removed because they did not seek or receive the correct permission of design approval.

Actually, it mostly is the Bible verse that's the issue. When it reads "he didn't know anything about it", that just means the town manager, right? That doesn't necessarily mean that nobody at the town knew anything does it? I'm just kinda doubting that these people just put the bench there without asking anyone. Maybe they didn't ask the right person, but sometimes we don't always know who the right person is.

They just put it on city party with permission. People are screaming it's about the bible verse and some of it is because of separation of church and state, but mainly because they did not seek city approval for placement and/or design.

Now all the right wing nuts will scream without understanding the real facts.

(1) No permission

(2) Ordinance state city must approve design and placement

(3) Separation of church and state. I bet if the verse was from the Quran these same people with their panties in a bunch would be screaming not to put the bench back.

It wasn't just the bible verse that was the problem. That wasn't even the biggest problem. The problem is that they put it there without going through the proper steps and process to have it put there. The process is there for a reason.

There is going to be a big prayer meeting Saturday morning at 10am at the park. I heard that lots of local preachers are going and hoping for a big turnout. Also the Elkin city council is having a vote on it here soon. Theres lots about it buzzing around facebook. I personally think its ridiculous to remove it all over a bible verse. You hear about these things on the news but this hits close to home.

Go to a town council meeting and ask for the bench to be placed on the trail. Pretty simple.

Governments forget who the Government is and represents.

I have mixed emotions on this, so I'm curious what everyone else thinks.

Memorial bench for toddler was removed by Elkin staff because approval for design, placement not given

A bench in memory of a toddler who died three months ago was placed along the E&A Rail Trail Saturday by those who purchased it, but it was then removed Monday by town staff who said those who placed it there had not received approval from the town to do so.

Community members are planning a prayer service for Sunday afternoon in Elkin Municipal Park as well.

Mason Camden Roten was 16 months old when he died Sept. 6 following a hit-and-run vehicle accident Aug. 30 on N.C. 66 in Walkertown, which involved the truck he was traveling in with his parents, Andrew and Heather Roten, and 3-year-old brother Stewart of Winston-Salem. Mason's father, Andrew, is a 2006 graduate of Elkin High School.

"After Mason, our grandson, passed, one of Andrew's classmates of Elkin High School Class of 2006 started a Facebook page, and they wanted to create some kind of memorial," explained Elkin resident Stewart Roten.

He said Ben Crosswhite, who graduated with Andrew, came up with the idea to have a bench made and placed at Elkin Municipal Park. "They called Andrew and asked if that was OK," said Stewart. "They created the bench and put it out either Friday or Saturday.

"We went to see it Sunday morning, took several pictures and it was a wonderful tribute, a beautiful gesture on their part. The bench was beautifully crafted," said Roten.

The bench, which is metal, has Mason's full name, his birth and death dates, and the words "Psalm 127:3" on its back rest, and then across the front below the seat it reads, "Children are a Gift from the Lord, They are a Reward from Him."

"We thought it was wonderful and beautiful on the part of Andrew's friends," Roten said. "Then this morning we see a post went out on the Facebook page that the bench could not be displayed anywhere in the park because of the Bible reference."

Elkin Town Manager John Holcomb said part of the problem was he "didn't know anything about it until this morning."

Proper procedure would have been for the group planning to purchase the bench in memory of Mason to work through Adam McComb, Elkin's recreation and parks director, since the park is owned by the town, said the town manager. "Typically people will contact Adam, so they can show him what type of bench they want to put in and get Adam's approval and decide on the area they want to put the bench," Holcomb said. "That didn't happen.

"Adam got a call on Saturday and he wasn't in the office," he said, noting that McComb was in the mountains with his family getting a Christmas tree. "They said they were bringing this bench down and [McComb] said to leave it at the recreation center and he would take a look at it Monday."

When McComb got to work, Holcomb said he didn't find the bench so he thought they hadn't brought it until someone spotted it on the E&A Rail Trail on one of the flower beds that surround the statue which serves as a tribute to the rail bed.

"We didn't give any permission on what it would be like or where it would be installed," Holcomb said. "The people who did this meant very well, but it had a biblical verse on it and when it is on public property, it makes it a different issue.

"Some people didn't want our national motto ‘In God We Trust' put on town hall, so anything that contains a religious message we've been very much aware of that," he said.

The town staff did remove the bench from where those purchasing it placed it on the trail, and Holcomb has been consulting with Town Attorney Raymond "Scooter" Parker on the issue. "We are waiting on some feedback from our town attorney on what we may need to do that, and it may be something our town board will need to discuss," said Holcomb.

"The people who did it didn't go through the approval process and that could have saved us some of the issues we're going through now. I think it was all done with the best of intent. I just can't imagine what a family who lost their child is going through this time of year," he said. "I'm trying to get in contact with the family to let them know we're not evil people, but we do have an approval process for when memorials are put on town property."

Holcomb said for now the bench has been removed, and "we'll see what happens after next week" when the commissioners hold their meeting Monday.

"We really don't have any religious references in our park at this point," he said. "We had a lot of discussion about that, with ‘In God We Trust' and even at the cemetery. If you have something on the gravesite, you own that, but in the public open areas, it is town property, and the park is that way, too.

"Our board probably are the ones who will have the last say. I've made them aware of it. I think everything was done with good intentions, we just have to back up."