questionRobert Frost once said "good fences make good neighbors."
Apparently not when the fence is used to express religious beliefs.
A Des Moines couple say city officials have attacked their pagan religion and their civil rights after a complaint from a neighbor led to a notice to remove symbols that had been painted on the fence. Officials said the symbols are graffiti and must be removed.
"Those are religious symbols; they're not mean or obnoxious in any way," said Ryle MacPebbles who lives in the 2000 block of Southeast Sixth Street. "I just don't like them telling me my religion isn't anything.
"When they start making it personal with my religion, I'm sorry, we'll take it to court," said MacPebbles, a member of the American Pagan Church.
The MacPebbleses said a city inspector approved the fence earlier this year. The symbols - a bull that represents food blessings; letters of ancient Germanic alphabet that mean good health, protection and larger perspective; a pentagram; and other Celtic paganism symbols - were on the fence when it was inspected.
City inspection officials said that may be the case, but a permit and development inspector reviewed the fence, not the neighborhood inspections division, which issued the graffiti removal notice after a May 8 complaint.
"When he said the fence is OK, he said the fence is constructed correctly," said Ben Bishop, neighborhood inspections administrator. "Our position is this was graffiti and it was inappropriate."
City law defines any "inscription, drawing, picture, letter, number, symbol or other written communication" on a surface not intended for such use as graffiti. It does not specifically address religious symbols. MacPebbles said he painted the symbols on the outside of the fence to protect the family's home and to ward off evil energy.
Phil Delafield, the city's permit and development administrator, said he did not know whether the inspector had reported the symbols as graffiti, but normally wouldn't.
"They were not reacting to the symbology of the fence," he said. "It's not within our area of authority."
The MacPebbleses appealed the removal notice on Monday. "Don't you think being a good neighbor you should have put them on your side of the fence?" asked hearing officer LeAnn Ducey, who will decide whether the symbols must be removed.
Rachel MacPebbles said an attorney told them they have a case and to contact the American Civil Liberties Union.
"Pagans have worked hundreds and hundreds of years to have the same rights as Christians to avoid persecution," she said.
