Seal of Catawba County, North Carolina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Catawba County Seal was adopted by the Board of Commissioners of Catawba County, North Carolina on September 7, 1925.

[edit] Design

Designed by Pearl Setzer Deal of Hickory, North Carolina, the seal incorporates a shield with in a ring which displays the name of the county and the year that the county was established, 1842.

The Shield is divided into four parts, representing the national colors of the United States, red, white, and blue, with the fourth color of royal purple representing the blending of the national red and blue into royal purple. The county through the royal purple stands by the national colors.

The four emblems are the cross in the field of red to represent religion, which was established with the earliest settlers; the torch in the field of white representing education, which was established along with the church in the earliest days; the cow in the royal purple, representing the farming upon which the county has always depended and the dairying which made the county famous far and wide; and the wheel in the field of blue to represent the manufacturing in the county.

[edit] Controversy

In the summer of 2000, The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina stated that they had received complaints from some Catawba County residents about the cross that appears on the Seal. A request by the ACLU to County commissioners to remove the cross was rejected (Mitchell 2000, p. 1A).

In November, 2005, County commissioners banned use of the seal for anything other than official county business (Mitchell 2005, p. 3N).