State legislators have been criticized for trying to sneak $50,000 into their budget to light a giant Christian cross in Wickliffe, KY. The 95-foot metal cross, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, was erected last year with $250,000 in private donations. It has become a local tourist attraction. Someone decided if it was lit, it could be seen from further away. According to Wickliffe's mayor, the land lease specifies that the display be nondenominational and nonsectarian. "People are free to interpret the cross however they wish." The budget line was labeled as lighting for Jefferson State Park -- a state park which doesn't exist in Kentucky.

Sept. 2018 Update: The lighting scheme apparently failed; the cross has never been illuminated.

[04/30/2000]