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COLUMBUS — Barb Otto was watching television two years ago when a woman from In God We Trust America Inc. challenged viewers to urge county officials to display “In God We Trust” signs inside their courthouses.

Otto, who lives north of O’Neill, has so far visited 40 of Nebraska’s 93 counties and told the Platte County Supervisors on Tuesday she’s had “100 percent success at this project.”

According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s website, “In God We Trust” was added to the nation’s currency in 1864 “largely because of increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War.” In 1956, Congress and President Dwight Eisenhower declared the phrase the national motto.

The campaign by In God We Trust America Inc. has met resistance from the American Civil Liberties Union as courthouses across the country began displaying the signs.

“I think that it’s on our currency, it’s etched in stone in (Washington) D.C.,” Otto told the local county board. “It’s kind of a no-brainer. It's our national motto.”

Supervisor Hollie Olk asked Otto if she’d been asked by anyone in Platte County to make the request. Otto had not. Olk expressed ambivalence during the discussion.