SAN DIEGO – After a 17-year legal battle between the city and a self-described atheist, a judge has ordered San Diego officials to remove a giant cross from a hilltop park or start paying $5,000 a day in fines.
Defying the order is something cash-strapped San Diego can ill afford. Its pension fund is more than $1 billion in debt, the federal government is investigating, and there’s been talk of bankruptcy.
Still, Mayor Jerry Sanders said he would ask the city attorney to appeal.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. on Wednesday gave the city 90 days to comply with a 1991 injunction forbidding the cross on public property.
"It is now time, and perhaps long overdue," the judge wrote.
The 29-foot-high cross was dedicated as a memorial to Korean War veterans in 1954 on a hilltop that towers over seaside La Jolla.
Philip Paulson, an atheist and Vietnam veteran, has been challenging its placement on city-owned parkland since 1989. He declined comment on the ruling Wednesday, but his attorney, James McElroy, said he hoped city officials would finally back down.
13 comments
A sad day in San Diego, now there’s nothing to mark this scenic lookout point.
Thus ensuring an extra 100 days in purgatory for those vets.
They’re the real victims here. Lets say a prayer for them.
Looks like the perfect place for a Hill of Crosses.
That cross stands on the top of Mt. Soledad, the highest point inside the city limits of San Diego. The cross was there before it became the site of the veteran’s memorial also.
There’s another cross on city land, “Padre Cross” in Presidio Park. It marks the site where Blessed Junipero Serra offered his first Mass in San Diego to found the Church here in 1769. Although there is no attention being paid to this cross, I would fear it’s being removed more than the Mt. Soledad cross. The Padre Cross marks a historical site.
Correction. It always was a memorial to veterans. What has been added over the years are the many memorial markers for individual veterans.
Normally I don’t even react to pieces like this: just another angry person using a lawyer to repeatedly go after the same quest. But all I can think is that this cross was here before the litigant, and maybe he should just get on with his life.
Now that the ACLU-ites have found victory in the Mt. Soledad case, I imagine it’s only a matter of time before they focus again on knocking down the cross on Mt. Helix. (Mt. Helix is within the San Diego suburb-city of La Mesa and I believe it’s now on private land, but since when has justice ever mattered to types who find pleasure in wiping out sites sacred to others?)
It seems to me that someone forgot to move away when the scenic view became unsatisfying.. I get the sad feeling that he the atheist wouldn’t back down if someone offered to relocate him to the middle of nowhere where there’s no cross (or anything else) in sight..
The city should just refuse and simply NOT PAY THE FINE. A little civil disobediance is in order here i think. Besides what is the judge going to do if the city “forgets” to pay? With all the issues they have i’m sure it would be overlooked anyways.
Where does the city get off calling itself “San Diego” anyway?
It’s forcing Christianity down the throats of all its citizens, not to mention everyone who has to drive by the signs on the freeway.
Plus, think of the maps it’s on!
Why can’t we just go by our zip codes?
Is there a lawyer in the house?
The time and money this gemtleman (Philip Paulson) has wasted in our federal courts, while there are children in fear(for their safety) of going to public schools, homeless living in the streets, and other matters much more deserving of our citizens attention… Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. should be ashamed of himself, as should we, as American citizens for allowing this nonsense of useless litigation to clog our federal court system.
Stand your ground Mayor Jerry Sanders! and if the city does cave in to this outrageous demand, the courts should rule that the plaintiff be ordered to finance the entire removal project and ensuing cleanup. If Philip Paulson is that serious and offended by seeing the cross, he wouldn’t mind paying to have it removed, rather than burden an already overloaded San Diego budget!!!
What could the court do if the City were to tell the judge just where he could put his fine?
Last I checked the City of San Diego had a police force. The judge doesn’t.
Philip Paulson is the real loser here. Unless he repents, he will burn in hell forever and ever. THAT’s the sad story here, regardless of the outcome of the Mount Soledad Cross/War Memorial.
Can you imagine risking an eternity of torment just to get a “book deal???”
It’s also unfortunate that secular citizenry can’t see the need to speak up against this extreme form of intolerance. It only starts with a few crosses. Intolerance, and the suppression of public expression is no respecter of persons. It will affect EVERYONE sooner or later….yes even YOU.
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