Cross battle continues with new lawsuit filed

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 10, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The battle over the Mount Soledad Cross entered a new phase Friday. The attorney who's fighting to have the Cross removed as a constitutional violation filed a brand new lawsuit. The suit aims to void

The battle over the Mount Soledad Cross entered a new phase Friday. The attorney who's fighting to have the Cross removed as a constitutional violation filed a brand new lawsuit. The suit aims to void the federal government's annexation of the land. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

President Bush is scheduled to sign legislation on Monday to take the land under the Mount Soledad cross, removing it from city ownership to federal ownership. Cross supporters say this is a step towards saving the cross where it is.

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But Attorney Jim McElroy, who's fought for 17 years to have the cross removed, has filed a new complaint with a federal judge. He says he cannot prevent the land transfer.

McElroy: "The governments position is the transfer happens when the president signs the bill, so the constitutional violation happens the minute he signs the bill."

So McElroy asked the judge to void the land transfer after it takes place, because it is a violation of both state and federal constitutional separation of church and state. Judge Barry Moskowitz has agreed to issue his ruling in September. 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.