Ventura faces suit over park's cross

Ventura faces suit over park's cross

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Sean Scully
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published April 14, 2003

     LOS ANGELES — A small group of self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics is demanding the city of Ventura remove a 90-year-old, cross-shaped monument from a hilltop park overlooking the coastal town north of Los Angeles.
     "Government establishing a Christian cross on government property treads on their rights and makes second-class citizens of non-Christians," said Charles Wilson, a federal employee from nearby Oxnard and one of three men threatening to sue the city over the cross.
     He said the cross is a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.
     Stan Kohls, a resident of nearby Somis and another of the men complaining about the cross, said the symbol represents a dangerous intrusion of religion into public life.
     "All you have to do is look at Israel or Northern Ireland to see how destructive religion can be when it is brought out in public," said the semiretired special education teacher. "A society that is democratic must be secular as well."
     The illuminated cross stands almost 30 feet at the summit of city-owned Grant Park in the rugged hills that emerge from the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. There is some dispute about the history of crosses at the site, but the current one was erected in 1913, city officials said.
     Legend has it that the first cross on the site was erected by the Rev. Junipero Serra, the founder of the original Spanish missions in California, in 1782. Whatever the origin, at least three crosses have been on the site during the past three centuries, according to historians quoted in local news reports.
     The California hills are dotted with such crosses, from San Diego to San Francisco, many on state and federal land. In recent years, however, federal courts have forced the removal of crosses in San Francisco and San Diego. And the National Park Service is appealing a federal district court decision banning a cross in the sprawling Mojave National Preserve, in the desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
     Non-Christians "feel marginalized by the government," said lawyer Vince Chhabria, who is representing the Ventura residents in the battle against the hilltop cross. By allowing the cross to remain, and maintaining the lighting on it, the city government "is imposing majority religious views on them."
     In light of recent federal court decisions, city officials are expressing a cautious willingness to cooperate with Mr. Chhabria and his clients.
     City attorneys met with Mr. Chhabria last week and plan to meet with him again this week to discuss ways to satisfy his clients.
     While neither side will detail the specifics of the discussion, options on the table include selling the land to a private organization and moving the cross to a museum or other private site.
     Deputy City Attorney Amy Albano said this is the first serious legal threat to the cross in her 12 years with the city.
     "Every once in a while, someone would write a letter about the cross," she said. "This time is different."
     Mr. Wilson said he has been looking for a way to challenge the cross for about 10 years, but he didn't take any action until last year, when officials from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State put him in touch with Mr. Chhabria, who agreed to take the case without cost. The men first presented their case to the city a month ago.
     So far, there has been no organized effort to save the cross, but Mr. Kohls said he has received a flood of threatening phone calls. The opinion pages of the Ventura County Star newspaper, meanwhile, have been full of angry reaction to the threatened lawsuit.
     "What happened to majority rules?" wrote Ojai resident June Bryden on April 4. "I doubt Mr. Chhabria represents more than a very few people with too much time on their hands."
     The newspaper itself called the threat to the cross "a silly suit that must be fought" in an April 5 editorial.
     "It is not only a historical landmark, but also serves as a guide to ships at sea," the newspaper wrote. "In that regard, the cross is identical to the two trees above Arroyo Verde Park — also a historic landmark and maritime guide with no religious connotation whatever."
     Mr. Kohls, however, dismisses the "historic landmark" argument, saying the cross is only acceptable to most Ventura residents because most Ventura residents are Christians.
     "All you have to do is ask how people would feel if it was the Grant Park Star of David or the Grant Park Crescent," he said. "It would be a totally different reaction."