Post by Maverick on Jun 13, 2004 8:38:16 GMT -5
Vote on L.A. County seal's cross upheld before angry crowd
Click here to read the original article
By Troy Anderson
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
LOS ANGELES - Despite passionate pleas from an overflow crowd of 2,000, Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors refused Tuesday to back down on its decision to remove a tiny Christian cross on the official seal because of a legal threat from the ACLU.
The 3-2 vote came only hours after a private legal foundation filed a lawsuit against the county in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking to prevent the removal of the cross, which was part of a design adopted nearly five decades ago.
The standing-room-only audience estimated at 2,000 -- the largest crowd to attend a county supervisors' meeting in recent decades -- included people of many faiths and some who espoused no faith. They were united in opposing removal of the cross. Some held signs that read "Jews for the L.A. County Seal," "Buddhists for the Seal" and "Stop the ACLU Nazis."
"This is a religious frenzy," said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who voted with Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina to uphold the board's decision of last week to negotiate a solution acceptable to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
The ACLU had said it would sue on grounds that the cross is impermissible under the U.S. Constitution.
Last Wednesday, the county and the ACLU reached a tentative agreement to replace the cross with depictions of a mission and indigenous people.
After the five-hour hearing Tuesday, some people in the crowd expressed outrage after the board rejected a motion by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich -- backed by Supervisor Don Knabe -- to reject the tentative deal with the ACLU.
"To me, this is absolutely outrageous and I'm embarrassed by how the supervisors treated some of the speakers," said Rosemead Mayor Margaret Clark.
Antonovich said he plans to bring a motion to the board next week to put a measure on the ballot for county voters to decide whether to retain the cross.
Burke said that based on the public's comments Tuesday, the issue was one of religion, not preservation of county history as some speakers claimed.
"This is as close to the Inquisition as we have seen in the 21st century," she said.
Los Angeles-based radio host Dennis Prager, who led an outdoor rally before the supervisors met, told the board that the ACLU wants to erase evidence of America's religious heritage and history.
"I don't believe you realize the severity of the mistake you are making. I'm a religious, practicing Jew. To take the cross off the seal is terrible. The ACLU is fooling you; they are leading you down a very terrible path. Don't rewrite our history."
Burke, Yaroslavsky and Molina said they voted against Antonovich's motion because federal courts have ordered numerous cities and counties to remove crosses from their seals, and they believe the cross is unconstitutional.
"There is only one case in the United States, and we all know it was in Austin, Texas, where any religious symbol was maintained," said Yaroslavsky.
Yaroslavsky told the audience he was incensed that the supervisors had been called "anti-Christian" in the past week as the controversy raged on talk radio shows and in the community.
Since last week, five conservative legal groups have offered to represent the county at no cost, to fight the ACLU's threat.
One of those groups, the Thomas More Law Center, a Catholic public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., filed a lawsuit Friday in federal district court in Los Angeles seeking to prevent county officials from removing the cross.
It was filed on behalf of Ernesto Vasquez, a county employee who objects to the removal of the cross because, according to the suit, the action would send a government-sponsored message of hostility toward Christianity in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
"California has become a battleground for anti-Christian forces," said attorney Charles LiMandri, director of the law center's West Coast office in San Diego.
Click here to read the original article
By Troy Anderson
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
LOS ANGELES - Despite passionate pleas from an overflow crowd of 2,000, Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors refused Tuesday to back down on its decision to remove a tiny Christian cross on the official seal because of a legal threat from the ACLU.
The 3-2 vote came only hours after a private legal foundation filed a lawsuit against the county in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking to prevent the removal of the cross, which was part of a design adopted nearly five decades ago.
The standing-room-only audience estimated at 2,000 -- the largest crowd to attend a county supervisors' meeting in recent decades -- included people of many faiths and some who espoused no faith. They were united in opposing removal of the cross. Some held signs that read "Jews for the L.A. County Seal," "Buddhists for the Seal" and "Stop the ACLU Nazis."
"This is a religious frenzy," said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who voted with Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina to uphold the board's decision of last week to negotiate a solution acceptable to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
The ACLU had said it would sue on grounds that the cross is impermissible under the U.S. Constitution.
Last Wednesday, the county and the ACLU reached a tentative agreement to replace the cross with depictions of a mission and indigenous people.
After the five-hour hearing Tuesday, some people in the crowd expressed outrage after the board rejected a motion by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich -- backed by Supervisor Don Knabe -- to reject the tentative deal with the ACLU.
"To me, this is absolutely outrageous and I'm embarrassed by how the supervisors treated some of the speakers," said Rosemead Mayor Margaret Clark.
Antonovich said he plans to bring a motion to the board next week to put a measure on the ballot for county voters to decide whether to retain the cross.
Burke said that based on the public's comments Tuesday, the issue was one of religion, not preservation of county history as some speakers claimed.
"This is as close to the Inquisition as we have seen in the 21st century," she said.
Los Angeles-based radio host Dennis Prager, who led an outdoor rally before the supervisors met, told the board that the ACLU wants to erase evidence of America's religious heritage and history.
"I don't believe you realize the severity of the mistake you are making. I'm a religious, practicing Jew. To take the cross off the seal is terrible. The ACLU is fooling you; they are leading you down a very terrible path. Don't rewrite our history."
Burke, Yaroslavsky and Molina said they voted against Antonovich's motion because federal courts have ordered numerous cities and counties to remove crosses from their seals, and they believe the cross is unconstitutional.
"There is only one case in the United States, and we all know it was in Austin, Texas, where any religious symbol was maintained," said Yaroslavsky.
Yaroslavsky told the audience he was incensed that the supervisors had been called "anti-Christian" in the past week as the controversy raged on talk radio shows and in the community.
Since last week, five conservative legal groups have offered to represent the county at no cost, to fight the ACLU's threat.
One of those groups, the Thomas More Law Center, a Catholic public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., filed a lawsuit Friday in federal district court in Los Angeles seeking to prevent county officials from removing the cross.
It was filed on behalf of Ernesto Vasquez, a county employee who objects to the removal of the cross because, according to the suit, the action would send a government-sponsored message of hostility toward Christianity in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
"California has become a battleground for anti-Christian forces," said attorney Charles LiMandri, director of the law center's West Coast office in San Diego.