A Cross To Bear
M-NCPPC Petitions for Rehearing Of Court Decision Regarding “Peace Cross” World War I Veterans Memorial
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) has filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for a rehearing en banc (a rehearing by all judges on the Court) of a decision that declared the “Peace Cross” World War I Veterans Memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland as unconstitutional.
M-NCPPC Chair Betty Hewlett. PHOTO: M-NCPPC ZONING
The M-NCPPC filed a legal appeal against the October 18 ruling that declared the cross-shaped monument an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion that should be removed from public land.
Said Prince George’s County Planning Board Chairman Elizabeth M. Hewlett, “We hope that the Court will revisit the fact that M-NCPPC assumed ownership of this World War I Memorial sixty years ago with the expressed secular purpose of maintaining safety of the site near a busy highway intersection and preserving a monument commemorating a highly significant chapter in our nation’s and our county’s history.”
The “Peace Cross” was built by private citizens nearly a century ago to honor soldiers of Prince George's County who died while serving and defending the United States in World War I. It is surrounded by several other monuments that honors fallen soldiers in World War II, Pearl Harbor, Korea-Vietnam, September 11 and the Battle of Bladensburg.
