Petitioners fight to save cross at desert airport in San Diego County
For 51 years, a cross at the San Diego County airport in Ocotillo Wells has stood to honor a soldier who died in the Vietnam War, but is now slated for removal because of one complaint.
An online petition to stop the removal started the weekend of May 13 and had 2,349 supporters in less than a week. “We’re ready to battle for the right to stay where it is,” said Sherri Kukla, who started the petition.
An Ocotillo Wells resident, Kukla publishes S&S Off Road Magazine and said that for five decades thousands of people recreating in the desert have enjoyed the cross that sits on a hill, adding that it has been helpful to off-roaders.
“They use it as a point of reference,” she said. It has also been a source of comfort to those who have lost loved ones, she stated in an article in her magazine.
Kukla didn’t know the history of the cross when she received a call on May 9 alerting her to the fact that the county was going to remove it.
The Ocotillo Airport is one of eight owned by the County of San Diego and is adjacent to the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Park. According to the county, it has two dirt runways, no county or Federal Aviation Administration staff on-site, and the second-least aviation traffic of all its airports, averaging less than 200 takeoffs and landings per month.
Alex Bell, program manager for the county’s Land Use and Environmental Group, said a complaint was received in January that a cross was located on county property. She would not say who made the complaint.
After investigating, Bell said the county confirmed the cross is on its property, 84 feet from the unmarked property line.
Bell said in an email that the presence “of a monument of this nature on government land is an establishment of religion and in violation of federal and state constitutions,” and the county is taking steps to address the issue.
Kukla doesn’t see it as a religious monument. “It’s a historical memorial monument,” she said. “That’s what really it’s about.”
The cross was erected in honor of Jim Bruce Robison, an Ocotillo Wells resident who was killed in action in Vietnam at age 21 in 1966. His house, still owned by the family, is across the street from the cross. The cross also serves as a memorial for two other residents in the community, according to a news article Kukla found in her research.
The airport property was given to the county by the federal government in the 1950s with the stipulation that permission was required from the FAA if the land should ever cease to be used for aviation purposes, according to Bell.
Bell said the county reached out to the FAA to request approval to sell the land under the cross to a private party or relocate the cross to another section of the airport that would be acceptable to sell. The requests were denied, she said.
There is no official date to remove the cross, said Bell, adding that the county is actively trying to work with the community to either identify a new permanent home for it or to modify it so there is no religious reference and can remain. One idea, she said, is to replace it with a flagpole with the American flag and a memorial plaque at the base honoring fallen military members. Kukla’s goal is to get 5,000 supporters on the petition and present it to Supervisor Bill Horn, whose District 5 includes that area.
As of June 20, there were 2,922 signatures. The petition has attracted supporters from all over the country.
Bell said that questions may be directed to Airport Manager Marc Baskel at (619) 956-4805 or Marc.Baskel@sdcounty.ca.gov.
karen.brainard@sduniontribune.com
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