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Veterans Group Wants To Intervene In Mojave Cross Dispute

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Veterans groups are asking to intervene in the legal battle over a cross erected at a Mojave Desert federal park to honor war dead.

A nonprofit group filed a motion Tuesday in a federal court on behalf of the California department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a VFW post in Barstow. The motion will be heard next month.

A decade-old legal battle continues over whether the cross in Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County is an unconstitutional religious symbol on public land. The latest dispute challenges a congressional move to make land under the cross private by trading it to the VFW.

The original wooden cross erected in 1934 was later replaced with one made of steel pipes. It was stolen earlier this year. A replacement mysteriously appeared but park officials removed it.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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