11 May 2010

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say a 7-foot-tall cross in the Mojave Desert that sparked a U.S. Supreme Court dispute has been stolen.

The National Park Service says someone cut the bolts holding down the metal-pipe cross and made off with it late Sunday or early Monday.

Veterans groups say they're outraged at what they consider the desecration of a symbol that was erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor World War I dead.

The cross was challenged by critics who say a religious symbol shouldn't be allowed on public land but the U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to order it removed.


2010-05-11 A wonderful day for freedom!



"The wooden cover was reported missing from the cross by park staff on Saturday morning, and the uncovered cross was seen again on Sunday," a news release explained. "When park staff arrived on Monday morning to replace the cover, they found that the cross had been removed."


Supreme Court justices in late April rejected a lower court decision banning the 8-foot cross on the grounds that it was purely religious. "It is a symbol often used to honor and respect those whose heroic acts, notable contributions and patient striving help secure an honored place in history for this nation and its people," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, noted the LA Times. The case was sent back to the lower court for reconsideration in that light.


Sometimes boltcutters will do what the courts lack the spine to do.