Last Friday we broke a story about a family in Carmel Valley suffering anonymous harassment because they put up a simple wooden cross on their remote property high above the valley floor. The story has since received national attention and this last Wednesday, even the local Monterey paper picked up the coverage.

The Scholink family set up the cross using two-by-fours seven years ago. At 12 feet high, it certainly has a lower profile than many flagpoles and telephone poles that dot the valley ridgelines. Their closest neighbors are over a quarter-mile away. But for the past three years, they’ve been getting flooded with junk mail addressed to “ScholinkRemoveBigotCross.” Some person or group has systematically arranged this nuisance mail to attempt to intimidate the family.

Now someone has filed a complaint with the county claiming the family needs a permit for the cross. What’s up in kooky Carmel Valley? This is a place that bills itself as quiet, tolerant, one that welcomes free-thinking. Federal mail fraud, hate crimes, last year even neighbors shooting neighbors? Holy smokes! The family put up a cross as a personal gesture of faith. One can barely see it from Carmel Valley Road. Supervisor Dave Potter was right this week in saying he didn’t think the county government wanted to get into this battle. The county should now provide to the Sheriff the name of the person who filed the complaint about the cross, so that deputies can investigate if there is any link to the harassing mail. Perhaps Carmel Valley residents could support their besieged neighbors by also putting up crosses. Big or small, simple rugged crosses on a hundred lawns all around Carmel Valley would sure make it difficult for bigots to intimidate or harass.