Thieves Steal Cross in Mojave

How does someone hide a 7-foot-tall cross? Ask the thieves who stole a 7-foot-tall cross from the Mojave Desert late Sunday night or early Monday morning, less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled religious imagery could remain on federal land to honor American war dead. A National Parks spokesman said the thieves cut the metal bolts that attached the cross to a rock. Suspects range from metal scavengers to “people with an interest in the case,” National Park Service spokeswoman Linda Slater said. The cross was erected in 1934 to honor World War I causalities, and the Supreme Court recently refused to order it removed, overturning an earlier federal judge’s ruling that the cross violated the First Amendment. Authorities offered a $25,000 reward for information regarding the theft.