Mt. Soledad cross standing on federal ground

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 13, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego's Mount Soledad cross now stands on federal, not city, owned land. President Bush signed legislation authorizing the transfer effective immediately. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more

San Diego's Mount Soledad cross now stands on federal, not city, owned land. President Bush signed legislation authorizing the transfer effective immediately. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The transfer takes the legal burden of defending the cross away from the city.
For 17 years, courts have consistently ruled the cross violates California's constitutional separation of church and state, and should be removed.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who did not make it to Washington for the ceremony, expressed his gratitude to the President at the foot of the war memorial.

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Sanders: "Today's action allows the federal government to take the lead in preserving the integrity of this memorial. I believe the president has substantially improved the changes that the desires of the vast majority of San Diego voters will finally be fulfilled."

Seventy-six percent of San Diego voters voted in favor of a previous voluntary transfer that was later ruled unconstitutional by a judge. This mandatory transfer now shifts the case firmly into the realm of federal rather than the state constitution. 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.