Mojave Desert cross, focus of long legal battle, is stolen [Updated]

  An 8-foot-tall cross that stood as a war memorial in Mojave National Preserve and which prompted a U.S. Supreme Court ruling was reported stolen Monday morning.

National Park Service officials said a staff member instructed to replace the cross’ plywood cover had discovered the metal cross missing from its site atop Sunrise Rock along Cima Road.

The cross has stood since 1934 in various forms as a memorial to World War I soldiers.

In 1999, after the park service refused to permit a Buddhist shrine to be erected nearby, former employee Frank Buono sued, saying the official preference for the cross violated the 1st Amendment and its ban on "an establishment of religion."

Officials were ordered to remove the cross, but in April Supreme Court justices reversed the decision in a 5-4 ruling.

The wooden cover for the cross was reported missing by park staff Saturday morning. The cross itself was last seen standing Sunday.

[Updated at 9:59 a.m.: "This happened on Sunday night when someone went up there and demolished it,” said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel at the Liberty Institute, which has represented the veterans groups in court throughout the controversy. “It hasn’t even been two weeks since the Supreme Court decision and evidently someone didn’t like that decision and took the law into their own hands and tore it down.”

Shackelford said the cross was made of 3- to 4-inch-thick pipes filled with cement and bolted into the ground. To remove it, he said, would have taken a major effort involving planning and probably more than one person.

The national commander of the VFW called the destruction of the cross "sickening."

"This was a legal fight that a vandal just made personal to 50 million veterans, military personnel and their families," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. "To think anyone can rationalize the desecration of a war memorial is sickening, and for them to believe they won't be apprehended is very naive."]

Anyone with information is asked to call National Park Service law enforcement at (760) 252-6120. The Veterans of Foreign Wars is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

-- Corina Knoll

Photo: The war memorial cross in the Mojave National Preserve in 2000. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[larry]

honoring war veterans does not justify violating the LAW

[larry]

honoring war vets does not justify violating the LAW

[Daniel]

Its amazing if you think about it. The long legal battle that was involved with this monument and the fact that the outcome actually allowed the monument to stay. Only to have some one who thinks they know better than the Supreme Court to go out there and steal it, pissing off everyone that it represents. I guess the only people that truly win from all of this is the lawyers who got paid to fight that long case.

[Kenneth]

What is she smiling for like this is some kind of college prank?

[Thomas Rudkin]

I myself am an atheist but I am appalled at this act of vandalism. I have driven past that cross hundreds of time and the thought that these people refuse to forget our fore fathers that died in these massive wars so we have the right to whine and cry about “that cross offends me”. My only thought to that is grow up you imbeciles Americans have gave their lives so you can whine and moan about this that and the other. So have a little bit of decency in that self centered skull of yours and let the memorials alone that were dedicated to these brave men and women…..

[max ferrington]

Typical liberals. If they are overruled, they react with violence and dirty tactics.

[chris]

i think this might be a different scenario if it was the star of david, no?

[bob]

Well said Mr. Rudkin. If everyone would think as you do, I mean everyone, we would surley have a better life to live. I hope they can catch and prosecute the person or person's responsible for this.

[Victor Halsig]

As a practicing Catholic, a very staunch Christian person, I simply wonder why on earth we could not have honored our Buddist brothers request? Intolerance is intolerance-doesn't matter who practices it....

[AJ]

I'm not big on religon myself, How about make the next cross out of 12" thick I-beams pile driven 15' into the rock itself. Not even GOD himself could destroy.

[shooby]

oh well, any real news today?

[Anonymous]

I don't like the ruling, especially in light of their refusal to allow a Buddhist shrine to be erected nearby, but the Supreme Court had spoken and the law of the land is for the cross to stay.

The vandals who stole it should indeed be brought to justice.