Mt. Soledad Cross Battle Returns to Court

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 29, 2006 at 1:32 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The long running battle over the Mount Soledad cross was back in San Diego federal court Wednesday. The city of San Diego is asking to be released from the case. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The long running battle over the Mount Soledad cross was back in San Diego federal court Wednesday. The city of San Diego is asking to be released from the case. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The San Diego City Attorney’s office argues that since the land under the Mount Soledad cross has been transferred to the federal government, the city no longer has a stake in the legal battle over its constitutionality. But Jim McElroy, the attorney who has been fighting for 17 years to have the cross removed, says the city is still involved. He says the mayor lobbied President Bush to take the land.

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McElroy: Those actions of the mayor are pretty clear evidence that it was the intent of the city to work with the federal government to transfer the land to the federal government in order to save the cross. It wasn’t that the city wanted to get rid of this park land for some reason.

McElroy argues any motive to save the cross on publicly owned land is unconstitutional.

Judge Barry Moskowitz will hear arguments for and against the motion Wednesday afternoon. 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.