DO NOT MAKE ANY PAYMENT TO CHANGE.ORG WE ARE JUST GETTING SIGNATURES AT THIS TIME ONLY!

PAYMENTS THAT MADE ARE NON REFUNDABLE.

IF YOU HAVE DONATED IT WILL BE USED TO PROGRESSIVLY PUSH OUR PETITION TO THOSE WHO NEED TO SEE IT, EX: JUDGE BRICKLEY,  JUDGE ARTHUR CLARKE, JUDGE JEFFREY DUFON, JUDGE MICHAEL MCKAY,  JUDGE DAVID DISTEFAANO AND BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS.

Below article pieces from The Herald Palladium. 

It has been brought to our attention that On Tuesday the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners agreed to the request of four judges to cover two murals in the historic courthouse. In a memo, Chief Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Brickley requested that the paintings be covered with paint or a tapestry or moved elsewhere, such as a museum.

" The two murals depicting topless women will soon be covered up" says one article from The Herald Palladium. 
The paintings, one in the courthouse stairwell which may be the Greek Goddess Athena, and the other directly above the judge’s bench in the main circuit court courtroom, don’t support the court’s dignity, solemnity or professionalism, according to Brickley. “To the contrary,” Brickley wrote, “they depict justice being metered out with swords and spears through beheading and through a humiliation marked by naked begging on bended knee.”
 
“To have paintings of bare-breasted women in a courthouse display a lack of respect for women and for men who respect women,” Brickley wrote.
The murals were painted by Paw Paw-born artist Frank Lewis Van Ness (1865-1944). The Village of Paw Paw accepted the paintings in 1908. They are believed to be 111 years old.

A Van Ness painting was also featured in the 1956 movie “Giant,” starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. It now hangs in the Wenger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas.

Brickley wrote that she recognizes that many people view the courthouse paintings as historically significant. “To that end,” Brickley wrote, “I would suggest exploring the feasibility of moving the pieces to a museum.

While there was a time when depictions such as these might have seemed suitable in a historic courthouse, sensibilities have changed. This is reflected in other significant events in recent history where statues, flags, or other potentially offensive items have been removed.”

Brickley added that there are people who aren’t offended by the images. “The judiciary, however, is a place to dispense justice, not controversy or provocation. If the images are offensive to even a few, they should be removed from the courthouse,” Brickley wrote.
 
The paintings will be covered. The stairwell mural will be hidden by a banner of the Van Buren County seal, costing $360, and the courtroom mural will be covered by fabric matching the ceiling, cost is $1,233.

In this manner the paintings will be preserved but not visible.

County Administrator John Faul said it’s not possible to move them elsewhere, such as to a museum. “One’s painted on the wall and one is glued to the wall,” Faul said.

In addition to Brickley, the request was signed by Circuit Court Judge David DiStefano and District Court judges Michael McKay and Arthur Clarke III.

Let's sign this petition to show the courthouse and VBC commissioners office that they can not do this without community involvement. These are historical art pieces, and do NOT need to be tampered with or removed.

BY SIGNING THIS PETITION WE THE PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO RECALL THE JUDGES ORDERS TO COVER THE ART PIECES IN THE VAN BUREN COUNTY COURTHOUSE LOCATED IN PAW PAW, MI. WE WOULD LIKE TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT AS A COMMUNITY AS TO HOW TO PROTECT, PROSERVE AND DIGNIFY OUR COURTHOUSE'S ARTWORK.

DO NOT MAKE ANY PAYMENT TO CHANGE.ORG WE ARE JUST GETTING SIGNATURES AT THIS TIME ONLY!

PAYMENTS ARE NON REFUNDABLE AT ANY TIME.

IF YOU HAVE DONATED IT WILL BE USED TO PROGRESSIVLY PUSH OUR PETITION TO THOSE WHO NEED TO SEE IT, EX: JUDGE BRICKLEY AND BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS.