Thursday, March 6, 2014

Lake Elsinore Continues to Have First Amendment Lapses

The city of Lake Elsinore seems unable to wean itself of its unconstitutional addiction to putting up religious displays.  The most recent was over a 5-foot-tall plywood roadside cross erected on the side of Lake Street at the foot of the I-15 exit ramp.  The Christian display was put up in 2012 in response to the traffic death of a local teen on the ramp. It was finally taken down by the city on March 4 after longstanding pressure from First Amendment groups. However, within a day of the original cross being removed, citizen vigilantes planted at least six new crosses on the same spot.

You may recall that Lake Elsinore was recently sued for planning a taxpayer-funded memorial depicting a soldier kneeling in prayer before a cross in front of the city baseball stadium. A U.S. District Court judge ruled at the end of February that the memorial was unconstitutional, forcing the city to change its plans.