Free Republic

Bush Administration Fights for Cross in Mojave Preserve Proposal to give away land in the heart of the park draws fire from activists In a last ditch effort to circumvent a federal court order, the Bush Administration is backing a legislative land exchange that would retain a cross in the center of the Mojave National Preserve in private hands. On July 23, a federal district court in Riverside, California ordered the removal of a large white cross from atop a prominent hill on Preserve lands by granting a motion for summary judgment in an ACLU lawsuit brought by Frank Buono,...

Bodies of WWI soldiers found in glacier ROME - The bodies of three Austrian soldiers killed in World War One have been found frozen and almost perfectly preserved in an Italian Alpine glacier. ADVERTISEMENT Mountain rescue worker Maurizio Vicenzi discovered the mummified bodies on Friday, encased upside down in ice at 11,940 feet altitude on San Matteo mountain near the Swiss and Austrian borders. ``Using binoculars, I saw what looked like a stain on the Forni glacier and went to look,'' Vicenzi, 46, from the northern Italian town of Peio told Reuters on Monday. ``When I got close I discovered...

9th Circuit topples Mojave desert cross By The Associated Press 06.08.04 SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that an 8-foot cross in the Mojave National Preserve is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. Ruling 3-0 in Buono v. Norton, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court that had ruled against the cross, which has become both a war memorial and a place of worship at a Southern California desert site known as Sunrise Rock. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a retired National Park Service...

<p>MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) -- Henry Sandoz, a retired miner with a thick white mustache and scuffed cowboy boots, climbed a rock as big as a two-story house in the desert near the California-Nevada border.</p> <p>He pointed to rusty scuff marks on a steel cross set in concrete and bolted atop the rock.</p>

Posted on Monday, November 25 @ 09:54:07 PSTSwap could save crossby Chuck MuellerMemorial in peril on Mojave preserveCongress may take up legislation in January that could end the constitutional battle over the Veterans Memorial Cross in the Mojave National Preserve. The measure would allow the transfer of national preserve land, where the cross stands, to the California Veterans Home in Barstow. A comprehensive public lands bill that included the proposal was postponed this month when Congress recessed, and was again delayed when legislators returned to Washington after the fall elections, said Jim Specht, spokesman for Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. "We...

Tuesday, July 1, 2003Mojave Cross gains support of state American Legion   By KELLY DONOVAN/Staff WriterThe American Legion of California will seek support for the Mojave Cross from its counterparts across the country, Legion officials said Monday.Willy Wilkin, who represents California on the American Legion's executive committee, said he will urge his colleagues to pass a resolution in favor of U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis' efforts to save the cross.The executive committee, which has one member from each state, will meet in August in St. Louis.Wilkin said the Mojave Cross, bolted on top of a rock outcropping in the Mojave...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 — To halt the removal of a cross placed in the Mojave National Preserve almost 70 years ago to commemorate World War I veterans, a Republican lawmaker from California has proposed swapping the land it sits on with a private group. The National Park Service recently ordered the return of plaques bearing biblical verses that had hung in Grand Canyon National Park for more than 30 years before they were taken down last summer. The Park Service also approved selling a book at the Grand Canyon that suggests the canyon was created in six days several thousand...