PRESS RELEASE - San Diego City Clerk Certifies an Astounding 73,000 Signatures to Save Mount Soledad War Memorial...

For Immediate Release
April 19, 2005

Contact:
Joshua Gross
619.249.6170
Joshua@SoledadNational.com

San Diego City Clerk Certifies an Astounding 73,000 Signatures to Save Mount Soledad War Memorial, Forcing City Council Action

SAN DIEGO – In yet another overwhelming victory for the people of San Diego, the City Clerk’s office today projected a total of 73,000 valid signatures on the petition to preserve the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial and overturn the March 8 decision by the City Council to remove its historic cross.  The City Clerk’s projection represents an astonishing 82% of the total 89,000 signatures delivered by San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial Committee Chairman Phil Thalheimer and Co-Chair “New York” Myke Shelby on April 7, and even more impressively exceeds by 110% the minimum 33,000 signatures required for overall qualification.

As a result of the qualification, the City Council will convene at Golden Hall on May 17 at 2pm.  With their original decision overturned, council members will have the option of either changing their vote and transferring the site of the memorial to the federal government or calling a special election to let the voters decide the matter.

“The people have spoken.  The signatures show that the vast majority of San Diegans want to preserve the integrity of this sacred monument by offering it federal protection,” said Phil Thalheimer.  “The City Council can and should listen to the people of San Diego and take action to protect this memorial.”

San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial and its hundreds of volunteers led the petition drive to overturn the City Council’s March 8 decision, which put the future of the memorial in jeopardy.  The group’s ultimate objective is to turn the site of the memorial, with its plaques and historic cross, into federal property where the cross will serve a secular purpose as part of a national memorial protected under the Constitution of the United States.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:  Volunteers and those interested in supporting this effort can contact San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial through the new website at www.soledadnational.com.