ALTO PASS - Barbara Casey just wants to see light shine on the Cross of Peace atop Bald Knob again.
The last two years have been dark for the 110-foot-high Christian symbol built south of Murphysboro more than 50 years ago, as the structure itself has since fallen into disrepair. Ground lights that once illuminated the cross at night are dark now, broken by vandals two years ago, and gaping holes dot the exterior of the steel-framed structure.
The damage will most likely not be fixed until a lawsuit that began in December 2006 between present and former members of the board of directors is settled.
Casey, 69, manages a coffee shop and rents a tourist cottage about a quarter mile away from the cross. She said tourists no longer come by the store or continue uphill to the cross because of its condition.
"I've sat here for 20 years. There were a hundred cars going up there, but in the last four years it's gone downhill," Casey said.
The case's plaintiff, Tirzah Tweedy, filed suit after being removed from the board for holding a fundraiser to repay a loan she took out to fund construction at the Bald Knob Cross welcome center, said Wesley Wilkins, Tweedy's attorney.
The lawsuit has put an injunction on repairs, which become more necessary each passing year.
In the meantime, Bald Knob Cross relies on its friends to raise restoration money.
One million dollars would allow contractors to make the much needed repairs, said Bill Vandergraph, a pastor at Alto Pass Full Gospel Pentecostal Church and chairman of the Friends of the Cross organization. The group has raised more than $115,000 since January 2007 to pay directly for construction costs, he said.
Rev. William Lirely and Wayman Presley first envisioned the cross in 1936, when they decided Bald Knob was the perfect location for an Easter sunrise service. In 1945, three wooden crosses were constructed on the hill and remained in their original location until a few years ago. After more than a decade, Lirely and Presley decided they wanted something bigger. A four-year construction project of today's cross was completed in 1963.
At a Sept. 25 hearing, Tweedy and members of the board, along with their attorneys, continued to attempt to settle the issue before it goes to trial, Wilkens said. The parties involved will confer again during a conference call scheduled for Oct. 10, he said.
In the meantime, cross visitors are left disappointed about the structure's condition.
As he looked upon the cross for the first time in nearly 30 years, Ed Janik, a tourist also from Springfield and SIUC Class of 1974 graduate, said he was disappointed to see the structure had not been maintained.
Janik's daughter, Debbie Janik, a sophomore studying radio-television, said she appreciated the cross was not meant to promote a specific Christian denomination.
"I'm not really religious, but I am all for peace," Debbie Janik said.
Casey said the cross reminds her of God's existence but encourages those even without faith to visit Bald Knob to admire an important part of southern Illinois' history and enjoy the view from the high ground.
"I don't know how someone can look off that hill and not believe there's a God," she said.
Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 263 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.
