A small South Carolina town committee refused to remove a Nativity scene from a market parking lot after the mayor ordered it taken down from public property.
Around Thanksgiving, Kimberly Byrd, head of the Mullins Beautification Committee in Mullins, South Carolina, said her small team decided to decorate the city’s new marketplace area for its first Christmas season "like a Hallmark movie," hoping to draw more customers to the downtown area.
The group spent about two weeks placing decorations they paid for out of their own pockets, including a snowman, wreaths, lights, Santa Claus and a small 3-by-4-foot Nativity scene. Byrd said she later received a text from Mayor Miko Pickett asking her to remove the Nativity scene, citing concerns about residents of other faiths and beliefs in the community.
Byrd said the mayor’s request stunned her.
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