Council approves adding ‘In God We Trust’ to city logo

By ROB LARSON
Daily Press Staff Writer
At their only meeting for the month of December as well as the final meeting of the year, the Artesia City Council met Tuesday night to unanimously approve a resolution to add “In God We Trust” to Artesia’s city logo.
As Mayor Phillip Burch said to the council, the resolution was drafted as a result of the National League of Cities Conference in Boston a few weeks ago. The mayor was joined in Boston by Artesia City Councilors Manuel Madrid Jr., Jose Aguilar and Jeff Youtsey. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
“In Boston, we ran into a group of elected officials from Bakersfield, Calif., that were concerned that legislators were getting away from the motto of the United States,” Burch said. “That motto, which has been accepted by the federal government, is ‘In God We Trust.’”
The group Burch referred to is In God We Trust America Inc., started by Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan. According to their website, it was founded in 2001 when Sullivan overheard on the radio that “a small group on the East Coast” was protesting the use of the national motto on public buildings.
As of Oct. 3, the organization has been able to convince more than 300 municipalities in 12 states to use the four words in their municipal logo, according to the Bakersfield Californian.
After the resolution was unanimously approved, Burch said, to his knowledge, Artesia was the first municipality in New Mexico to implement the national motto in their logo.
According to Assistant City Clerk Lisa Johnston, the council will now wait to see an artist’s rendering of the updated logo. Once that has been officially approved by the council, it will take the place of the former logo.