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Judge to San Diego: Move cross or pay fine
By UPI Staff
United Press International
May 5, 2006

San Diego -- A federal judge has ordered San Diego to move the Mount Soledad cross from city property within 90 days or start paying $5,000 a day in fines.

U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. hopes to end a fight that began in 1989 when a local man with backing from the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit claiming that the cross -- a memorial to Korean War dead -- violates the First Amendment, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

"It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this Court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad Cross on City property," Thompson said in his ruling.

Shaun Martin, a law professor at the University of San Diego, said the fines are the judge's way of telling the city to "put up or shut up." He said the city has explored every possible alternative to moving the cross, including transferring the land to a private group or getting the cross designated as a historic memorial.

William Kellogg, president of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, said the group plans to move the cross to private property and replace it with another war memorial.

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