Free Republic

Judge halts Mount Soledad cross transfer          By Jennifer Vigil and Karen Kucher UNION-TRIBUNE 12:41 p.m. September 2, 2005 JAMES BAIRD / Union-Tribune As votes were counted in the July 26 special election, the setting sun illuminated the cross on Mount Soledad. SAN DIEGO – A Superior Court judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order barring the city from transferring the Mount Soledad cross to the federal government under the deal voters overwhelmingly approved in San Diego's July special election. Judge Patricia Yim Cowett issued a tentative 34-page ruling in the case, which questioned the constitutionality of Proposition...

Employees in the city of San Diego's treasurer's office – ground zero in federal investigations of city finances – destroyed numerous records last month, prompting a warning from City Manager Lamont Ewell yesterday. The destruction of records was revealed yesterday by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who said he learned from an unnamed city employee Thursday night that about 20 people in the treasurer's Financing Services division dumped whole files into recycle bins and erased e-mails. The news spurred a terse e-mail from Ewell to "all city employees," warning against the destruction of documents that might be sought by federal investigators...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records from 12 current and former San Diego city officials in a criminal investigation of the city's pension fund and financial disclosures, documents released Wednesday show. The U.S. Justice Department asked for a trove of documents on pension underfunding and possible conflicts of interest on the pension board. The demand for e-mails, phone logs, minutes of board meetings, contracts and other records extends back to 1996, the year that the city decided to cut contributions to its pension plan and, at the same time, increase retirement benefits. The disclosures come less than...