Officials Turn to U.S. to Save Cross

SAN DIEGO — In what could be the last chance to keep the cross atop Mt. Soledad from being removed, Mayor Jerry Sanders and Rep. Duncan Hunter on Thursday pleaded with President Bush to turn the site into a federal war memorial.

After a 17-year court battle, a federal judge on May 3 ordered the city to take down the cross by early August or face a $5,000-a-day fine. The same judge in 1999 ruled that the cross violated the constitutional separation of church and state, but appeals delayed the ruling from taking effect.

Sanders and Hunter, a Republican from El Cajon, believe that if Bush orders the Department of the Interior to begin condemnation proceedings, the cross can be retained as part of a federal park.

Sanders said he plans to meet next week with a White House official who has been helpful with other San Diego issues, Ruben Borrales, presidential assistant on intergovernmental affairs.

Sanders and Hunter sent letters to Bush with their request.

The 43-foot cross, which is highly visible on its perch overlooking Interstate 5, is “part of our cultural and social fabric,” Sanders said.

But James McElroy, a lawyer for a San Diego atheist who has waged the battle to have the cross removed from city-owned land, predicts the latest gambit will prove as futile as other stratagems.

“The president of the United States may have the right to transfer title to the property, but he does not have the right to burn our Constitution or violate a District Court order,” McElroy said.

Erected in 1954, the cross enjoys immense public support in this military town. Voters have twice endorsed measures aimed at keeping the cross from being moved.

City lawyers have argued that the cross is a memorial to military veterans, not strictly a religious symbol. But state and federal courts have consistently ruled against the city, saying the cross has functioned primarily as a religious symbol, including as a site for Easter sunrise services.

A federal court struck down an effort by the city to find a private owner for the property. The judge ruled the effort was a sham because groups opposed to saving the cross were prevented from bidding for the land. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

On May 23, the City Council will discuss whether to appeal a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson that the cross be removed within 90 days.

Two years ago, Hunter inserted a clause into a defense bill to designate the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial as a national veterans’ memorial. The City Council, however, declined to deed the land to the federal government.

Hunter and Sanders now want Bush, in effect, to override the council and order the land taken by the federal government through condemnation.

McElroy said the move will not work because a legal decision in another case upheld the ban on crosses on federal property.

McElroy estimated that he is owed more than $500,000 in legal fees from the city. “The outcome is inevitable,” he said. “The only question is how much taxpayers’ money we’re going to waste.”