Soledad cross (again) ordered removed
By Onell R. Soto
STAFF WRITER
12:12 p.m. May 3, 2006
Union-Tribune file photo
The cross atop Mount Soledad is again ordered removed by a judge. This time a judge says the city faces a $5,000 a day fine if it isn't.
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the removal of the Mount Soledad cross from property owned by the city of San Diego within 90 days or he will fine the city $5,000 a day.
It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad cross on city property, said U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson.
Thompson first found the presence of the cross on city property unconstitutional in 1991 because it violated the separation of church and state.
Since then, his order, and the issue of the cross, has been subject to more than a decade of litigation, public debates and, in recent years, two public votes.
The lawyer who fought for the removal of the cross said he expects city officials to comply with the judge's order and have it removed.
I don't think the city has its heart in taking more action, attorney James McElroy said.
City officials were not immediately available for comment, but during an hour-long court hearing, a lawyer for the city said that people had voted for transfer of the land under the cross to the federal government.
That transfer, which a Superior Court judge found unconstitutional, is now on appeal, said Deputy City Attorney David Karlin. He said legal papers are due by the end of the month.
Litigation over the cross is probably not over.
A group formed last year to ask voters to approve transferring the property to the federal government is looking at the possibility of appealing Thompson's decision.
Philip Paulson, the man who sued back in 1989 for removal of the cross, declined comment after Wednesday's ruling, saying he would let his lawyer speak for him.
The concrete, 29-foot cross has stood on its La Jolla hill since 1954,though the first cross was built there in 1913.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/2...-bn03cross.html