VEGA - An Amarillo memorial company has delivered a 4-ton gift from Oldham County residents to the county Courthouse Square: the Ten Commandments etched in granite.

"It's not going to blow away anytime soon," said Jim Watkins, one of the leaders of the effort. "If it does, we better get worried."

The monument sits on the northwest corner of the square under sprawling trees. It stands, in part, for a uniquely Texas way of life.

"We've had a lot of citizens come by and make positive comments," said Oldham County Judge Don Allred. "It fits our community values."

An inscription says, in part, "Dedicated to our loving Lord God, our founding fathers and our great nation ... Donated by the people of Oldham County."

In 2008, Potter, Randall and Deaf Smith counties denied permission for Ten Commandment monuments in their courthouse squares, citing potential legal challenges. Panhandle counties that allowed monuments only granted permission. They otherwise contributed nothing.

The community in Oldham paid for its $11,000 monument through donations from churches and individuals and fundraising efforts like community dinners. Even the company that crafted the shiny gray memorial, Osgood-LaGrone Monument, contributed, Watkins said.

"We talked to the other counties about how they handled theirs," Allred said. "Our commissioners court said they could put it there as long as they understand we can't put any money in it."

The constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments in public squares and buildings has been tested elsewhere with varying results.

"The laws are very convoluted," said Manuel Quinto-Pozos, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. "Does it represent the government's endorsement or seal of approval for a religion?"

Quinto-Pozos said he knows of no current court challenges in Texas.

How and where the commandments are displayed makes a difference.

"In short, it depends - on context, history and motive," Charles Haynes, a First Amendment Center senior scholar, wrote in 2005.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 that year to allow a Ten Commandments monument to remain on the Texas Capitol's grounds along with 17 other monuments and 21 historical markers.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, "Texas has treated her Capitol grounds monuments as representing the several strands in the state's political and legal history. The inclusion of the Ten Commandments monument in this group has a dual significance, partaking of both religion and government."

On the same day of that ruling, the high court upheld a lower court decision that a Ten Commandments display in a Kentucky courthouse was unconstitutional because it was solely for religious purposes.

There are commandments displays in Dallam, Moore, Hartley, Gray, Carson and Hutchinson counties, Watkins said.

"A lady from Dumas, after they did theirs, said she felt encouraged or compelled to share the idea," he said.

She did just that during a chance meeting with Oldham resident Phyllis Poling in an Amarillo medical office. Poling brought the idea home.

"First, we talked to the county commissioners, and they said, 'Make a plan and bring it back,'" Watkins said. "A committee got together, and one of the men from Adrian made a full-size model from plywood."

The entire process took about six months.

Making the display was complicated by its size.

"It was too big to fit in our blast chamber," said Jim Gwinn, sales manager at Osgood-LaGrone. "It wouldn't fit through the door."

The engraving was sand-blasted almost exclusively by hand.

Donations also funded a display in Stinnett that the county dedicated in December.

"But the court allowed them to put it in place because they thought it was that important," said Hutchinson County Judge Faye Blanks.

The Oldham monument is surrounded by three historical markers commemorating the senator for whom the county is named, the county's first physician and Old Tascosa.