San Diego City Council votes to appeal cross ruling

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego City Council has voted to continue fighting a 17-year legal battle to save a giant cross standing on city property.

A federal judge has ordered the cash-strapped city to remove the cross from public land by Aug. 1 or face daily $5,000 fines. The city has until June 2 to file an appeal for a stay.

San Diego’s chief operating officer, Ronne Froman, said that an appeal would give officials more time to explore options for preserving the cross. The council voted 5-3 Tuesday to approve the appeal.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders met with White House officials in Washington on Monday to discuss possible federal intervention. The White House has not said it would help, Sanders’ spokesman Fred Sainz said Wednesday.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter has asked President Bush to exercise the power of eminent domain to take over the land beneath the cross.

The complaint against the cross was filed in 1989 by Philip Paulson, an atheist from San Diego.

U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. ruled on May 3 that the presence of the 29-foot cross on city land violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

City Attorney Michael Aguirre has said that an appeal has a remote chance of succeeding. If San Diego loses, the city would have to pay the legal bills for Paulson’s attorney, James McElroy. The city has already paid McElroy $100,000 and has been ordered to pay him another $280,000.

San Diego is facing a financial crisis that includes a $1.4 billion city employee pension fund deficit and federal investigations into city finances.

The city has tried to sell the property to a private buyer. But federal courts have repeatedly blocked the sale, saying the transactions were designed to favor a buyer who would keep the cross. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s appeal in 2004.

A city-sponsored referendum asking permission from residents to sell the property failed in 2004. Voters approved a second referendum the following year to transfer the land to the federal government, but a state judge threw out the 2005 measure was an “unconstitutional aid to religion.” The city is appealing that decision as well.

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