CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : TEHACHAPI : Cemetery Won’t Remove Symbol

The Kern County Grand Jury has recommended that a planter shaped like a cross be removed from a public cemetery. Placement of religious symbols on public property is inconsistent with the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom, the grand jury report said. However, a spokesman for the Tehachapi Public Cemetery District said the planter will not be removed until the district receives a legal opinion ordering such action. “Everybody tells us that cemeteries are excepted from provisions of the First Amendment,” said cemetery board chairman Phil Marx. “Every government cemetery in the country has crosses all over them, and religious services are held all the time.”