Memorial to fallen stirs controversy

Memorial to fallen stirs controversy 

Marine Corps weighs fate of crosses atop remote hill in Camp Pendleton

Written by J. Harry Jones

The Marine Corps will soon decide whether two crosses that sit atop a remote hill in Camp Pendleton as a memorial to fallen troops should be removed.

One of the crosses was placed on the hill in 2008, about 60 feet from where another had been for four years but burned in a wildfire in 2007. The second, a 13-foot cross made of a fire-resistant material, was erected Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

A controversy started after the Los Angeles Times wrote a story and published photographs of it being carried up the steep hillside. Atheist groups read the story and complained. They said the separation of church and state dictates that religious symbols should not be allowed on public land. Base officials have conducted a legal review and have sent their recommendation to Washington, where a final decision awaits. They declined to say what that recommendation is.

Should the crosses be allowed to stay, a lawsuit is likely. This is just the latest battle in San Diego County over crosses. After receiving two complaints, Caltrans quietly removed three crosses from a roadside pullout just south of Julian in August. The largest of those three crosses is back now, near where it once stood, but this time on private land. The Mount Soledad cross in La Jolla has been a legal issue for years, its fate still unknown. read more here