MOUNT MORRISBURG, Ky.
(AP) The top of the mountainside in Mount Morrisburg is an oddball spot.
The town of just over 2,000 people is home to only a few residents and is known for its beautiful redwoods and rolling hills.
But now, in the late 1990s, residents say a group of people began building a concrete structure.
The concrete, they said, looked like a giant statue of a marble falling.
They even had a sign on the sidewalk that said “Mountain statue.”
The town has been trying to clean up its reputation, but not for the reasons some in the community thought.
It’s been the subject of a $1.8 million lawsuit filed by the group Citizens Against Illegal Structures, which has called for a statue to be removed and replaced with a memorial.
In February, a jury sided with Citizens Against illegal structures, ruling that a statue should not be erected.
The lawsuit claims that the monument was constructed in an illegal manner, and that it could be considered an “undue burden” to residents.
The monument was never placed on public property.
But the suit contends that the city, county and county commissioners did not take any action against the project and that a $25,000 grant to help clean up the town was never disbursed.
The statue of the “marbles” fell in 1999, the suit said, and a $10,000 donation from the county and city to the Friends of Mountain Falls Memorial Fund was never used.
The fund was established by former Gov.
Mitch Daniels to help defray costs associated with the construction of a memorial, including the cleanup of the monument and cleanup of any debris from the concrete and the construction site.
A group of citizens sued in 2012 to stop the construction, but a judge dismissed the case, ruling there was no merit to the claim.
It has not been re-litigated, the lawsuit says.
In 2014, Citizens Againstillegal structures filed a lawsuit against the city of Mount Morrisboro, asking the county to refund the $25 million in grants the group said it spent on cleaning up the memorial, and to remove the statue.
The group said the money went to pay for construction of the statue but never to clean it.
The group has said it plans to sue the city for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, including discrimination and harassment.
The lawsuit seeks more than $200,000 in damages, claiming the city violated the Americans With Disabilities act and a state law requiring people with disabilities to be able to use public property without undue hardship.
Citizens Againstillegal sculptures and the city were both removed after the lawsuit was filed, the county said in a statement.
The city said in an emailed statement that it “does not believe the $100,000 was improperly expended and the monument remained in place at the time.”
The lawsuit against Citizens Againstlegal structures said the monument had been placed on private property “without the requisite approvals.”
The lawsuit said that city officials had not received any complaints about the monument’s placement, and the group did not seek the removal of the sculpture until three years after it was installed.
The suit also said that residents of the town had complained about the statue’s presence in their community.