Bush Administration Fights for Cross in Mojave Preserve

faultline.org ^ | Oct. 23, 2002 | Faultline Magazine

[risk]

Bush Administration Fights for Cross in Mojave Preserve

Proposal to give away land in the heart of the park draws fire from activists

In a last ditch effort to circumvent a federal court order, the Bush Administration is backing a legislative land exchange that would retain a cross in the center of the Mojave National Preserve in private hands. On July 23, a federal district court in Riverside, California ordered the removal of a large white cross from atop a prominent hill on Preserve lands by granting a motion for summary judgment in an ACLU lawsuit brought by Frank Buono, a Board member of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

A massive public lands bill introduced last week in the House of Representatives (HR 5569) included a provision ordering the exchange of one acre of land containing the cross for private tracts. The bill, which includes provisions from approximately 100 separate bills, would redraw park boundaries to withdraw the one-acre parcel from the National Park system. HR 5569 conditions the exchange on the continued maintenance of the cross.

In July, the district court found that the cross, erected on federal land, violated the First Amendment, and permanently enjoined the Park Service from permitting the display of the cross in the area of Sunrise Rock in the middle of Mojave National Preserve.

[risk]

It continues briefly from there as a green hitpiece against the Bush Administration, but to me it's just one more reason to support W in 2004.

[coconutt2000]

There is a cross way up on the hills above my high school. I once hiked all the way up there.

I hope no one ever tries to take it down.

[risk]

Congress cares, too:

Section 133 prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from removing a white cross erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor the memory of fallen World War I veterans. The cross is located within the boundary of the Mojave National Preserve along Cima Road, approximately 11 miles south of Interstate 15. -- House Report 106-1033

[muir_redwoods]

Wait five more years at most and they'll be telling you they own the sight-lines and, even if it's based on private land, if it's visible from public lands, it has to be removed.

Wait, the time will come.

[piasa]

So, using liberal logic, should the park service have to remove structures of religious signifigance from archaeological sites even when they are hundreds of years old? Should they flatten temple mounds to please the liberal nutjobs? Eradicate effigy mounds? Sandblast pictograms? Destroy ceremonial stone knives and smash grave offerings in graves on public land? dismantle southwestern kivas? Hasn't too much of that happened already even before the park service came along?

The liberals would be bothered by that oddly enough- their only gripe is with Christianity.

[Jaysun]

We have a gigantic cross on the side of a local mountain here in Huntsville, AL. You can see it from 20 miles away. I don't think anyone has the kiwis to come to Alabama and demand that they take it down.

[sergeantdave]

I would love to hear the twisted liberal thinking on this decision.

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that this judge is a Clinton-appointed nut job.

BTW, the Lakota consider the Black Hills sacred. Should these hills in the national park be sandblasted into a parking lot or covered with a drop cloth and posted "No Peeking!"?

[CyberAnt]

Read David Limbaugh's, "Persecution". Believe me .. it's on the dems list.