ANTONOVICH APPLAUDS CROSS'S RETURN TO SAN GABRIEL MISSION

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:  Tony Bell, Communications Deputy    Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Office:  (213) 974-5555   Cell: (213) 215-5176    E-mail:  tbell@bos.lacounty.gov

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

March 11, 2009                                                                                                            For Immediate Release

 

ANTONOVICH APPLAUDS CROSS’S RETURN

TO SAN GABRIEL MISSION

 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY –  Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich issued the following statement following the return of the stolen cross from the San Gabriel Mission to its original location atop the mission:

 

“I was pleased to learn that the cross was found and placed back on top of the San Gabriel Mission where Los Angeles County’s was founded 238 years by missionaries from Spain.  The original County seal reflected this historical fact with a small cross which was subsequently removed by three members of the Board of Supervisors and replaced with a mission without a cross.  When the previous Chief Administrative Officer tried to paint over the cross on the eight foot County seal which hung on the wall in the Board of Supervisors hearing room, the cross bled through each time they painted over it.  After four or five times, out of frustration, the former CAO took it down and destroyed it. 

 

Hopefully, the return of the cross to the top of the San Gabriel mission will lead to returning the cross to the Los Angeles County seal to depict the historical heritage of Los Angeles County.”    

 

The new version of the Los Angeles County seal features a rendition of the mission without the cross recognizing the County’s heritage, which began in 1771 with the establishment of the San Gabriel Mission.  

 

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