Oklahoma Shield v. Las Cruces Symbol

" The Oklahoma state flag honors more than 60 groups of Native Americans and their ancestors. The blue field comes from a flag carried by Choctaw soldiers during the civil war. The center shield is the battle shield of an Osage warrior. It is made of buffalo hide and decorated with eagle feathers. Two symbols of peace lie across the shield. One is the calumet, or peace pipe. The other is an olive branch."

The stars, which also represent the cross-stitching of leather strips used in making a shield, are Native American signs which represent high personal ideals.

The mostly white-Christian Oklahoma Legislature ordered that the center mark on the stars be longer to obviously represent a Christian Latin cross.


Las Cruces, New Mexico:

"I just don't see that third cross...." so said federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez.

The secretly adopted and secretly trademarked religious symbol claimed by the City of Las Cruces to represent the city originated in the 1960s, but the City got tangled in its lies and claims the symbol originated in the 1970s. It wasn't until citizens started openingly questioning in 2001 the increasingly in-your-face displays and use of the symbol on public property that City Attorney Rubio secretly contracted with a law firm in Albuquerque that specializes in trademarks to get the symbol trademarked. Using an outside agency was intentional to hide the process as the City Attorney's office could have done it themselves, it being a simple process.

Once the City's secret actions were discovered, protestations by citizens to the U.S. Trademark Office over the government's application for the ownership of the Christian religious symbolism of the Trinity crosses/Calvary events and the 15-points representing the Gospel of John 15, proved fruitless.

Then enters New Mexico State University History Professor Jon ("He's one of ours.") Hunner who presented himself to the Federal Court as an expert in local history. Hunner admitted during testimony that he had not read most of the standard references from a list about local history. The holes in Hunner's 'expert' report to the Court was the only thing 'holy' about his effort and sworn testimony. The religiously-biased federal Judge Robert C. Brack ignored the three lengthy, yet scholarly rebuttals that destroyed Hunner's sophomoric effort. One of Hunner's most outlandish claims was the Native American symbolism on the Oklahoma state flag justified the City of Las Cruces using Christian crosses as the City symbol. The Plaintiffs had to pay Hunner $2,500 for his "court expert" effort and lawyer-guided report, while this payment does not count for any other payments he received from the slush fund the City maintained from fearful citizens' donations.

The City Manager Terrence Moore had previously been quoted in the local Las Cruces Sun-News as saying the City was accepting donations for the Defense-of-the-City (slush) fund. The City refused to provide an accounting of the amount of money in the slush fund and the distribution.