An organization that has been striving to post the Ten Commandments and other religious messages across the country and the world has established a home base of sorts with a Ten Commandments park in the Columbia Heights area.

The project along U.S. 2 has taken shape quickly. Creston rancher Philip Klevmoen and supporters purchased the 10-acre property about four months ago, and set about erecting crosses and billboards with the Ten Commandments and patriotic and scripture quotes in a semi-circle around the park. Now there are 22 billboards of varying sizes, and a new building that will have an office and prayer room.

“All the people that just came, and God sent our way, helped us do this,” Klevmoen said of the God’s Ten Commandments Park.

There will be a dedication ceremony Saturday, Aug. 16, at 10 a.m. Starting at 7 a.m. that morning, Matthew Murray, a supporter of the effort, will carry a 10-foot cross from Half Moon Road through Columbia Falls to the Ten Commandments park.

Klevmoen said a grand opening won’t happen until next year, after some landscaping gets done on the property.

Already, the park has attracted attention, with appreciative people stopping by, Klevmoen said.

“People say, ‘we’ve never seen anything like this,’” he said.

But some of the reaction has not been positive.

“We’ve had people calling and complaining,” Flathead County Planning Director B.J. Grieve said. “We’ve had about a dozen phone calls total. They’re concerned with the appearance of these huge signs on the side of the road.”

Grieve said there is a “scenic corridor overlay” that includes some sign restrictions for that area, but it does not apply to on-premises signs.

“It only regulates off-premises signs,” meaning that a person cannot put a billboard advertising a business down the road.

“These are on-premises signs,” Grieve said. “They’re on his property and it’s just him expressing his religious beliefs.”

The Montana Department of Transportation also has reviewed the signs to determine if they are in compliance with the federal Highway Beautification Act.

“The department has reviewed the signs and those signs are all on-premises signs and they are exempt from the regulations,” said Lori Ryan, a department public information officer.

Klevmoen said he is asserting his First Amendment Rights no differently than the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas in Arlee, which partly inspired him to build the park.

“I’m sure we’ll get naysayers. This is what happened in Texas,” Klevmoen said, referring to a case where the Texas Department of Transportation attempted to force a couple to remove a 6-by-12-foot sign with the Ten Commandments from their private property in Hemphill, Texas. The couple fought back with the help of the Liberty Institute, a legal organization that also has been involved with litigation locally over the Big Mountain Jesus statue.

“We have a First Amendment right to tell people about Jesus,” Klevmoen said.

The park is an extension of a campaign that Klevmoen started after moving to the Flathead Valley in 2005 with his wife Suzy. It has become an organization called God’s Ten, and it is dedicated to inspire and help churches and people display the Ten Commandments, whether it be on signs, banners, vehicle magnets or bumper stickers, all of which the group distributes.

Klevmoen said “tens of thousands” of Ten Commandments displays have been distributed, but more important to him than those numbers are the number of people who have been touched by the lessons of the commandments. The organization has inspired displays in 37 states, vehicle magnets in all 50 states, and it has been extended to 13 different countries.

“We want this to go forward throughout the nation. You can see what’s happening to the country,” Klevmoen said, lamenting his belief that vices have consumed society and God has been displaced from the public square. “Not only are we forgetting him, we are kicking him out of our society.”

God’s Ten is all about reversing that trend.

“The whole point of this project is to get people back on track, and to glorify God,” said fellow organizer Mel Sheeran, who likens the effectiveness of the Ten Commandment displays to advertising — they may not reach everyone but they will reach some people at different times.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.