The cross that sits atop the Mojave Narrows in Apple Valley is seen from Victorville on Thursday. Over time, the cross has been tagged, cut down by saw and pulled down from its base, yet people continue to put it right back up.
As Easter approaches, the saga of the white cross that overlooks the Mojave Narrows Bridge and downtown continues.
Apple Valley On Thursday, several local residents called the Daily Press to report that the cross on the rocky hill that faces Victorville had been pulled down and then put back up
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Eric Stanton, who said he drives the D Street and Highway 18 loop almost every day, said he first noticed the large white cross laying a few feet from its rocky perch on Wednesday.
“I’m not a religious person, but this seems to be a battle between those who value the symbol of faith and those who don’t respect it,” said Stanton, 59, who lives in Apple Valley. “It seems like it happens every spring, right before Easter. It's like a battlefield for good and evil."
A local businessman, who wished to remain anonymous, said after several years of smaller crosses being repeatedly destroyed and erected on the hill, his son, who serves in the U.S. Marine Corps, built an 8-foot-tall cross and anchored it with concrete on the hill, just before he left for boot camp in 2013.
Since that time, the cross has been tagged, cut down by saw and pulled down from its base.
“I said it before and I’ll say it again, as long as someone tears the cross down, we will put it back up,” said the businessman on Thursday. “But people love that cross so much that someone else put it back up as fast as it was torn down.”
After the cross was put up again, the businessman said he climbed the hill and gave it a fresh coat of paint after he noticed that the cross had been tagged.
“There is evil in the world and that is why the cross is the target just before Easter and Christmas,” the businessman said. “The cross symbolizes faith, forgiveness, healing, peace and love — things that Jesus lived and died for. That is why people hate the cross.”
The businessman also said he knows of a few Christian groups and people that hike to the cross to pray on a regular basis, with one Hispanic group taking “troubled youth” to the cross to pray.
About three weeks before Easter 2013, many senior residents at the River Ranch Mobile Park on Stoddard Wells Road near the bridge called the Daily Press to report that the cross had been torn down.
During that time, Daily Press Staff Photographer David Pardo found the cross in pieces when he climbed the hill on a photo assignment to investigate a report that it was missing.
In November 2012, many mobile home park residents saw two unidentified individuals working to erect the cross after it had disappeared for a almost a week.
Over the years, several residents said the cross represents a variety of things to them, including reminding them to pray for “unsaved family members,” adult children serving in the military and “God’s faithfulness.”
Ann Ferrante, who noticed that the cross was missing on Wednesday, said it breaks her heart every time the cross is “not where it should be on the hill.”
“I wish they could anchor the cross so that it could not get pulled down,” Ferrante said. “It would also be nice if the cross could have a light.”
According to Coldwell Banker Commercial Victorville, the hill property is divided into two 62- and 54-acre parcels and is owned by the Wagner Living Trust. Raymond Wagner owned the property until it was transferred into the trust in 2007.
“I have never spoken to the owners, but crosses have been put on that land for decades with no objections from the owner,” the businessman said. “If you believe in God that’s OK, if not, that’s OK too, but people just need to respect what the cross stands for.”