Source: Google News
Wire Service: AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hx2uUxa56iyk7iw2kAjbmF2cHljA
A controversial cross erected to honor American war dead in the Mojave National Preserve has been stolen after the US Supreme Court rejected calls for it to be removed, officials said Tuesday.
The National Park Service confirmed that the seven-foot high symbol had been ripped down sometime on Sunday or Monday by thieves who cut through bolts attaching it to Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve.
Park Service spokeswoman Linda Slater told AFP that authorities in California had kept the cross covered up with a wooden box during a long-running lawsuit where activists had sought to have it removed.
"It was reported that the box had been removed on Saturday. When they went out there on Monday to replace the cover, the cross was gone," Slater said.