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SBD
Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 1022
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 Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:27 am Post subject: San Diego-area congressmen propose bill to spare cross |
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| Quote: | Posted on Wed, Jun. 28, 2006
San Diego-area congressmen propose federal bill to spare cross
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - A trio of Republican congressmen introduced a bill that would designate a giant cross as a federal war memorial to keep it from being removed from city-owned land.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, led the effort to stave off a federal judge's order to remove the 29-foot cross on grounds the city showed preference for one religion by maintaining it in a public park.
The bill was introduced late Monday.
The cross, raised in 1954 as a local memorial to veterans of the Korean War, has been the target of a 17-year court battle waged by an atheist against the city of San Diego.
In May, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon H. Thompson Jr. gave the city until Aug. 1 to remove the cross or face daily $5,000 fines.
Last week, a three-judge federal appeals court panel in San Francisco rejected the city's request to stay Thompson's injunction until a series of cases pending in state and federal courts are heard. The city plans to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.
Hunter was joined by fellow San Diego-area Republicans Rep. Darrell Issa and newly elected Rep. Brian Bilbray in sponsoring the bill that would petition the Department of Defense to recognize the cross as an official war memorial.
Hunter led a similar effort in 2004 that ultimately fizzled. A related city ballot measure to transfer the land to the federal government was approved by 76 percent of voters but later declared unconstitutional by a Superior Court judge. That decision is also under appeal by the city.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has said that he will abide by Thompson's order if the city is not granted relief through the appeals process and no legislation is signed into law before the August deadline. |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:40 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Court intervenes in Calif. cross fight
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 40 minutes ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put on hold an order to remove a monumental cross that sits on public land, giving hope to supporters just weeks before it was to be taken down.
A lower court judge had ordered the city of San Diego to remove the cross or be fined $5,000 a day.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, acting for the high court, issued a stay while supporters of the cross continue their legal fight.
Lawyers for San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial said in an appeal that they wanted to avoid the "destruction of this national treasure." And attorneys for the city said the cross was part of a broader memorial that was important to the community.
Phil Thalheimer, chairman of the war memorial group, said the ruling "borders on divine intervention."
"We were jumping up and down," he said. "For this to happen on July 3 the day before our Independence Day, which is about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of expression it couldn't have happened better."
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-Alpine, said the stay was "the right decision." Hunter, along with Mayor Jerry Sanders, asked President Bush in May to exercise his power of eminent domain and take over the half-acre cross site atop Mount Soledad.
The 29-foot cross, on a scenic hilltop perch in the upscale La Jolla area, was contested in 1989 by Philip Paulson, a Vietnam veteran and atheist.
A judge declared the cross, a symbol of Christianity, was an unconstitutional endorsement of one religion over another.
Three years ago, the Supreme Court refused to get involved in the dispute between Paulson and the city.
Kennedy granted the stay to the city and the cross' supporters without comment pending a further order from him or the entire court. It was unclear Monday how long the stay would remain in effect or whether the Supreme Court would ultimately deny the appeals by the city and the cross' supporters.
Paulson's attorney, James E. McElroy, played down the significance of Kennedy's order.
"What he really did today was nothing," McElroy said. "It probably means, 'We just need a little time to look at it.' "
In its most recent case involving religious symbols, the Supreme Court ruled last year in a pair of 5-4 decisions that overtly religious displays are unconstitutional, but historic ones are allowed.
The court, then led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, struck down framed copies of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses while upholding a 6-foot granite monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol.
The only religious case to come before the court under Chief Justice John Roberts involved the use of hallucinogenic tea by a small branch of a South American religious sect. The court unanimously ruled that the government cannot hinder religious practices without proof of a "compelling" need to do so.
In San Diego, the Mount Soledad cross was dedicated in 1954 as a memorial to Korean War veterans, and a private association maintains a veterans memorial on the land surrounding it.
The mayor has argued that the cross is an integral part of the memorial and deserves the same exemptions to government-maintained religious symbols as those granted to other war monuments.
In May, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson Jr., ordered the city to take down the 29-foot cross before Aug. 2 or pay daily fines of $5,000.
Thompson's ruling, which he described as "long overdue," found the cross to be an unconstitutional display of government preference of one religion over another.
Last year, San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot proposition to transfer the land beneath the cross to the federal government. The measure was designed to absolve the city of responsibility for the cross under the existing lawsuit. But a California Superior Court judge found the proposition to be unconstitutional.
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I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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BuffaloJack
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1637
Location: Buffalo, New York
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:58 am Post subject: |
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This whole fiasco seems un-American. This is a monument honoring our military dead. To destroy it is no different than the Taliban destroying the two giant Bamiyan Buddhist statues. We wouldn't tolerate this behavior in religious groups on other shores. Why do we tolerate this here?
Thank god these three congressmen recognize the monument for what it really is, a monument to our war dead.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71) |
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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| BuffaloJack wrote: | | This whole fiasco seems un-American. This is a monument honoring our military dead. .....Thank god these three congressmen recognize the monument for what it really is, a monument to our war dead. |
on a side note, the Mayor was overheard at a cocktail party the other day decreeing that once he took care of the military he'd make sure any tombstone crosses come down in the city's other cemeteries as well!
could be San Diego is the new hellmouth? 
Deuce |
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