NBC 11.com, CA
Sept 29 2007
Bronze Plaque Stolen From Mt. Davidson Cross In SF
Police Send Flier To Recycling Centers To Be On Lookout
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A 160-pound, 3-by-4-foot bronze plaque that
sat at the foot of San Francisco’s Mt. Davidson Cross has been
stolen, San Francisco Police Captain Dennis O’Leary said Friday.
The giant plaque commemorated the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by
the Turkish government from 1915 to 1918.
It was bolted to a concrete base.
"This is a very serious matter," said O’Leary. "We are considering
all possibilities."
O’Leary said investigators were also considering the recycling value
of the bronze plaque as a motive for the theft.
The department sent out a message and photos to all the metal
recycling plants in the Bay Area, and an additional flier to police
departments throughout California, O’Leary said.
The 103-foot Mt. Davidson Cross was built and inaugurated by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934.
In 1997, the people of San Francisco voted to approve the sale of the
cross to the Council of Armenian-American Organizations of Northern
California to preserve the structure as an historic landmark.
More than $1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turkish
government from 1915 to 1918.
The plaque was installed after a decade-long legal and political
battle over the constitutionality of the presence of a cross in a
public park.
The case was resolved when the city of San Francisco auctioned the
property to private ownership.
Mt. Davidson Park and the cross have remained open to the public.