North Carolina Residents Oppose City's Removal of Bible Verse Park Bench

Residents in North Carolina are currently disputing a city's decision to remove a bench inscribed with Bible verses and dedicated to a young car crash victim.

Residents in Elkin, North Carolina have disputed the city's recent decision to remove a metal bench dedicated to 16-month old son, Mason Roten, who was reportedly killed in a car accident earlier this year.

The bench was commissioned by alumni of the local Elkin High School in honor of Mason. The bench includes a verse from the book of Psalms.

City of Elkin officials have claimed that permission was not granted to place the bench in Elkin Municipal Park in the first place, but Mason's mother has argued that she and the high school alumni group did in fact receive permission.

 "The bench was first noticed on Monday morning and was removed due to not being approved by our Recreation and Parks Director. The bench does have religious symbols and scripture in its designs which no other bench in our park currently has," the town manager of Elkin said in a statement to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Heather Roten, mother of the deceased child, told Fox 8 that she was in shock that the city would remove the bench.

"One day we come down here with this beautiful bench and tears of joy and now it's being taken away as if we haven't been through enough already," Roten told the local media outlet.

"I just could not believe that they would take something away from my precious little baby like that," Roten added.