Appeals court says cross must come down

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 20, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

A U.S. appeals court has denied the city of San Diego's request to suspend a court order to remove the Mount Soleded Cross. The decision upholds a 14-year-old ruling that the cross violates the separa

A U.S. appeals court has denied the city of San Diego's request to suspend a court order to remove the Mount Soleded Cross. The decision upholds a 14-year-old ruling that the cross violates the separation of church and state because it is on city owned land. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The appeals court decision leaves standing a federal deadline to remove the cross in just 40 days. San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who's in Sacramento, issued a statement saying he is disappointed in the ruling. His spokesman, Fred Sainz says the mayor believes the war memorial is part of San Diego's cultural fabric.

Sainz: "However it must also be made clear that the mayor has no intention of violating Judge Thompson's order, if a resolution cannot be reached by August 1st, which is when the judge has ordered that the cross be taken down."

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The judge ordered the city to pay a five thousand dollars a day fine if the cross is not removed by then.

Sainz says the mayor will go on exploring all legal options with the city attorney and also with San Diego's congressional delegation. Some suggest the federal government annex the land under the cross, taking the legal battle to a different level. Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.