Mission does an injustice!

The two year long battle for the Los Angeles County Seal has taken a very interesting and unexpected turn.

On June 8, 2004, I attended a rally at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Building where the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meet. The rally was called for by nationally known talk radio host Dennis Prager.

The rally was to express opposition to the Board of Supervisors cow-towing to the ACLU and removing the cross which appeared on the County Seal.
What took place following that rally is history and is known across the United States. Hundreds of newspaper articles chronicled the attempt to save the cross.

Now for some information which has just come to light.

The ACLU letter to the Board of Supervisors demanding the cross be removed was dated May 19, 2004. It was not until May 25th that the letter was brought to the Board and the public. Here is the announcement made by Supervisor Don Knabe directly from the official county transcript:

“SUP. KNABE, CHAIR: OKAY. IS THAT ALL THE HELD ITEMS, I BELIEVE?
BUT FOR NEXT WEEK, THIS IS FOR NEXT WEEK: THE A.C.L.U. HAS SENT A LETTER TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS DEMANDING THAT A SMALL CROSS DISPLAYED ON THE OFFICIAL COUNTY SEAL BE REMOVED AND THAT A RESPONSE FROM OUR BOARD BE RECEIVED WITHIN 14 DAYS. THEY HAVE THREATENED LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE COUNTY IF IT'S NOT REMOVED.
OFFICIAL COUNTY SEAL WAS DESIGNED BY FORMER SUPERVISOR KENNETH HAHN AND ADOPTED BY THIS BOARD ON MARCH 1ST, 1957. IT HAS BEEN A SYMBOL OF OUR GREAT COUNTY WHICH SPANS 4,081 MILES AND ENCOMPASSES SOME 10 MILLION RESIDENTS, MAKING IT THE LARGEST AND MOST DIVERSE COUNTY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
THE SEAL HAS VARIOUS SYMBOLS REPRESENTING OUR COUNTY'S DIVERSE AND RICH HISTORY, FROM AGRICULTURE TO OIL PRODUCTION, FROM CULTURAL ACTIVITIES TO THE CONQUEST OF SPACE, AND INCLUDES A CROSS REPRESENTING THE INFLUENCE OF THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN A PART OF OUR DEPARTMENT-- DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTY AND STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

OUR HISTORY CANNOT BE CHANGED AND WILL NOT BE REWRITTEN.WE HAVE A RICH AND PROUD HISTORY WHICH EVERY PERSON IN THE COUNTY CAN BE PROUD OF, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND. TODAY, THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES FACES A VARIETY OF CRITICAL ISSUES AND THE THREAT OF SUCH A LAWSUIT BY THE A.C.L.U. IS CLEARLY A FRIVOLOUS ACTION AND WOULD CAUSE THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES TO SPEND UNTOLD AMOUNT OF ALREADY SCARCE RESOURCES.

WE WOULD THEREFORE MOVE THAT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS REITERATE ITS SUPPORT FOR OUR COUNTY SEAL WHICH WAS ADOPTED 47 YEARS AGO AND DIRECT COUNTY COUNSEL TO THOROUGHLY REVIEW THIS MATTER AND BEGIN PREPARATIONS AND BRIEF THIS BOARD TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE COUNTY'S SEAL IF SUCH LITIGATION IS BROUGHT AGAINST THIS COUNTY, AND THAT'S FOR NEXT WEEK.”

The next board meeting took place June 1, 2004. The first to address the Board on the seal issue was Los Angeles City Council member Janice Hahn. Being the daughter of former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who submitted the seal for adoption in 1954, she spoke very passionately on retaining the original seal. She, too, referred to the historical significance of the cross and its relation to the California Missions.

The next speaker was Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LeBonge. He is well known for his historical knowledge of Los Angeles. After Councilman LeBonge spoke the fate of the cross on the original county seal was to take a new and in the end a disturbing direction.

Knabe, Hahn and LeBonge set in motion a chain of events that has robbed the cross and seal of its true place in the history of Los Angeles County.

While Councilman LeBonge was addressing the Board, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky asked Tom LeBonge and Janice Hahn “would you have an objection if the cross were replaced with a representation of a mission to represent the role of the Missions and the Missionaries?”

When the discussion turned to the financial exposure to the county, Supervisor Yaroslavsky made a motion to send the issue to “closed session” so the supervisors could have a discussion with the county counsel, Ray Fortner.
Motion made to refer to closed session by Yaroslavsky
Yvonne B. Burke 2nd -
Gloria Molina voted infavor, with Mike antonovich and Don Knabe opposing.

What took place in that closed session is unknown to the people, but the testimony given by Ray Fortner at the June 8th board meeting gives us an insight to what took place.

In the June 8, 2004 official Los Angeles County transcript Ray Fortner said,
“The charge that I believed I had from the closed session was to settle the lawsuit, to, in sense, to achieve the ACLU’s agreement to refrain from filing a lawsuit, which they had said they would, that the papers were ready and they were just standing waiting for our indication of whether we were going to agree to remove the seal or not. And the boards instructions to me were contingent upon the agreement by the ACLU and, until I spoke to and received the agreement of the ACLU that settlement was not final.

It could have been reported. It would not of been unlawful to have reported immediately out of--after that closed session but it did not need to be reported and, in my judgment, it was better to take it to the ACLU without them having heard it from the press or otherwise what the Board's offer was. Once they accepted it, and that then was confirmed by the Executives in the ACLU, we didn’t report out the decision.”

This was the testimony of the County Counsel at the meeting following the Dennis Prager rally. The deal had already been made and agreed upon out of sight of the press and the people.

Now here is the rub. The cross on the Original Los Angeles County Seal has nothing to do with the Missions of California and has nothing to do with the Mission in San Gabriel.

The County Council, the ACLU and three Supervisors have placed a symbol specific to one Religion on the new LA County Seal. Had the cross been a symbol representing the contributions of the Missions the exchange may have been legal. But as it stands, the Mission symbol, truly is a violation of the First Amendment as it does endorse one specific religion--Catholicism.

Our research has taken us back to Hollywood in 1920 and one extraordinary lady, Christine Wetherill Stevenson. She was the founder of the Pilgrimage Theatre and was also instrumental in acquiring the “Daisy Dell” which is now known as the Hollywood Bowl.

There is a reason the cross above the John Anson Ford Theatre (formally known as the Pilgrimage Theatre) appeared on the Los Angeles County Seal and it is not just its proximately to the Bowl.

It is the historical relationship to the Bowl, Hollywood, Arts, Culture and Religion--all religions.

“Mrs. Christine Wetherill Stevenson, became increasingly disturbed by the casualty lists and devastation in Europe. She felt a deep compulsion to find an antidote for war. Long meditation brought her to the conclusion that mankind needed a fuller understanding of the great religions and philosophies of the past.
The modern age, she believed, had failed to conserve and carry forward the wisdom of the spiritual leaders of former centuries.

There was a desperate need for wider acceptance of the fundamentals of Christianity, as well as of other religions.” … John Anson Ford, Thirty Explosive Years in Los Angeles County,(1961) (pg 193).

The placing of the San Gabriel Mission on the new LA County Seal does an injustice to the history of Los Angeles County and the people who have done so much to bring about the advancement of the Arts, Culture and Religion to our County.

We now continue our campaign with a new sense of direction, conviction and dedication.

David Hernandez
Chairman
Committee to Support the Original LA County Seal