Posted on 12/22/2004 6:30:04 AM PST by NYer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - Is it divine intervention or just a government goof?
The crosses on two original Los Angeles County seals in the Board of Supervisors hearing room were "shining through" decals that were meant to cover them, county officials said Monday.
In fact, the cross is clearly visible directly over the rendering of the San Gabriel Mission on the new seal, which was recently redesigned to omit the controversial Christian symbol.
"It's amazing," said Tony Bell, spokesman to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. "It's a Christmas miracle. The cross is shining through. (County officials) are talking about replacing it again. We are going to ask them to leave it the way it is."
After $1,800 was spent to replace the large pair of county seals in the hearing room, the small cross from the original seal has begun to "shine through to be visible" in the new seal, Supervisor Don Knabe wrote in a prepared release.
"The cross has resurrected itself on the county seal," Knabe said. "County employees just covered the old seal on Friday afternoon, and, in three days, the original cross has begun to bleed through to be visible again. I don't think we should spend another dollar of taxpayer money to replace the seal to eliminate that cross.
"It is very symbolic that the cross has reappeared on the new seal directly above the new icon of a mission, which does not have a cross," Knabe said. "It is only appropriate."
ACLU spokeswoman Elizabeth Brennan said the incident was unfortunate.
"But they've made a good-faith effort," Brennan said. "It is kind of amusing."
Earlier this year, county workers installed the two six-foot-diameter seals costing $3,800 on the wall directly behind the supervisors' chairs at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.
In May, the ACLU threatened to sue unless the cross was removed. In June, the supervisors took the first of several votes to replace the seal with a cross-less version. The county plans to spend $700,000 to replace the seal on thousands of county buildings, vehicles and park signs, as well as on employee uniforms as they wear out.
Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said officials were considering taking down the two seals and sending them back to the sign shop to find out what went wrong and how they can be fixed.
"It looks just like hell," Janssen said. "They were trying to do it on the cheap, just by plastering another seal over the old ones. And they did it on the wall. They didn't really have a good angle or surface to work with."
Tom Tindall, a Internal Services Department general manager who oversees the sign shop, said he doubts that the faintly glowing cross is a miracle.
"I'm not really clear what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's a graphics problem," Tindall said. "There was relief in those symbols. It's not noticeable in the back of the room, but you can see them when you get closer."
Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said the church would have to view the seals before commenting on whether it's anything more than a graphics problem.
"So much for the best-laid plans," Tamberg said. "The goof is not that they didn't use thick-enough paper on the seal to cover the cross. The goof is that they took the cross off in the first place."
San Fernando Valley activist David Hernandez, who is spearheading a petition drive to collect 314,212 signatures by March 1 to give voters a chance to decide the issue, said it just adds to the "comedy of errors."
"Do we call it divine intervention? There are just some things in life where you can't just make this stuff up."
Antonovich said he planned to bring the issue up at a board meeting in January and hoped to convince his fellow supervisors to call off the $700,000 project to replace the seals until the petition drive is finished.
This seal should be clubbed to death
I need some seal skin gloves.
But seriously fols- Did anyone else notice it still contains the Masonic Square and Compass symbols? (I know- I am a Mason)
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Syncro (MSU)
Member Seal Club Since Nov 22, 1993
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How utterly ironic. Maybe that is why the cow is on the seal?
Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmn."
Do you know how Masons know when another Mason is in a Bar?
They yell, "Hey! any Masons in here?"
That's interesting.
They LEFT the Mason's symbol in the "new" (socialistic) seal, specifically and deliberately removed the cross from the seal, and LEFT in place the star and arc that now seems to generically represent the "star" of Stalinist Soviet Union.
Of course, the "new" building isn't "really" a mission - it's sort of generically nothing - other than a monument to government.
It becomes more like an Islamic symbol!
Of course, the original "rainbow" (without the cross and constellation) now becomes a gay symbol and Islamic/Soviet stars!
Huh??
It's a Mason joke.
I dont get it
Is it meant to make fun of people who think it is some sort of evil hidden society?
Really?
A Mason friend of mine told me the joke it makes sense to me.
LOL- yes really
To the ACLU it is.
I saw that.
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