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A federal judge has ordered a Pennsylvania county to remove the cross from its seal, saying it violated the Constitution. Lehigh Valley County, which is about 40 miles north of Philadelphia, will have to redesign its seal after U.S. District Judge Edward Smith ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an organization that promotes separation of church and state and which filed the lawsuit against the county, according to The Morning Call. Smith made it known in his ruling that he was not happy about the decision he had to make but was following the...

LOS ANGELES - Two supervisors urged voters Tuesday to sign petitions for a ballot measure to keep a cross on the Los Angeles County seal. Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe were joined by veterans and religious groups that support the design of the seal used since 1957. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 last year to remove the cross, with Antonovich and Knabe opposing the move. The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to file a lawsuit claiming the cross was a government endorsement of Christianity. Antonovich said the ACLU threat "is something right out of...

The New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is objecting to the new logo for the Village of Tijeras. Some village residents are objecting to the ACLU. At issue is the village seal, an image containing depictions of a conquistador’s helmet, a sword and a Catholic rosary. It’s the last item that has the ACLU concerned. “Religious minorities cannot be made to feel like outsiders simply because the government endorses in an unenlightened way the majority faith,” says Peter Simonson, the executive director of the New Mexico ACLU. “It’s part of the culture that has been the Village...

Restoring a tiny cross to Los Angeles County's official seal is the goal of a signature-gathering campaign announced Monday that aims to put the issue to a public vote. Supporters -- including Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and county Supervisor Mike Antonovich -- said they have already collected 20,551 signatures in recent weeks, and hope to gather 171,000 by Sept. 26 to qualify their initiative for the county's June 2006 ballot. An attempt earlier this year to qualify a similar initiative for the countywide November 2005 ballot fell well short of its goal. In fact, this is the third...

In 1957 Los Angeles County redesigned its County Seal. The Seal was designed to reflect a broad spectrum of icons of significance in Los Angeles. Among the items included on the County Seal were the Hollywood Bowl and a very small cross to signify an old Los Angeles landmark - a cross atop a hill near the Hollywood Bowl. The cross was also an homage to the missionary origins of Los Angeles, whose original name was "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula." For decades the seal stood as the official seal of the County...

A group of Los Angeles County residents who want to see a small cross restored to the government seal there have begun a second effort to get an initiative placed on the ballot to do just that. A petition drive with the deadline of March 1 failed to collect the 175,000 signatures needed, falling 66,000 short. But organizers are not deterred and are starting the collection process once more, hoping to have a measure placed on the November 2006 ballot. Old L.A. County seal As WorldNetDaily reported, last year the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, threatened to sue the...

HOLLYWOOD - Just as Martin Luther King Jr. strove for justice for African Americans, the people who want Los Angeles County to keep the cross on its seal say they are striving to keep intact the symbol of the Judeo-Christian values King promoted. At a rally Monday, the day set aside nationwide to celebrate King's legacy, speakers at the Hollywood Ramada Inn encouraged residents to finish collecting the 341,212 signatures needed by March 1 to retain the seal's cross. "Where do we think Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideas of equality, humanity and love our neighbor came from? They came from...

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 sounds like something out of Edgar Allan Poe. Six months ago, three county supervisors -- in cahoots with the lawyerly vigilantes at the American Civil Liberties Union -- decided to rid Los Angeles County of its decades-old seal with its minuscule gold cross. The supervisors passed a resolution, and they allocated $700,000 to purge the offending bit of historic religiosity from public view. But it hasn't worked. Instead, the seal, which scarcely no one had seen, let alone noticed, is now everywhere. Defiant county employees have affixed the old seal to their new, religiously sanitized uniforms. Defiant supervisors continue...

On October 26, 2004, the Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer issued the IMPLEMENTATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPLACEMENT OF THE COUNTY SEAL to all Department Heads. In response, Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Supervisor Don Kanabe introduced motions to hold off on the changing of the Seals until after the date allowed to gather the petition signatures. As in the past, the majority, Zev Yaroslavsky, Yvonne B. Burke and Gloria Molina voted against waiting and the motion failed. As we move forward, facing 116 days to obtain the 341,212 signatures, we must keep focused and maintain a sense of urgency. If this...

Previous posts on this topic: Los Angeles Protest it's a cross the aclu cannot bear! Here are the pictures from the protest yesterday. There are about 70 pics, so I put them onto 3 pages.

URGENT Southern Californians: Please join DENNIS PRAGER tomorrow morning, 8:30 a.m. TUESDAY, at a march and rally in downtown Los Angeles. We will protest the ACLU's bullying demand to remove a tiny cross from the LA County seal. Location: Corner of Temple and Grand streets. Easy Metrolink access. Parking available in nearby city lots. BRING SIGNS WITH LARGE LETTERING. See also: dennisprager.com. This is especially important because the Board of Supervisors will meet in their nearby building at 9:30 a.m. to hold a SECOND VOTE on the issue. We need to have lots of people at this meeting too. The...