Repairs to Bald Knob cross underway as locals gather at site for Easter service

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Hundreds of people in Southern Illinois gathered for Easter services Sunday at the base of a rusty, crumbling 111-foot cross, part of restoration efforts that were delayed by years of discord.

The nearly 50-year-old white cross atop Bald Knob Mountain near the village of Alto Pass was once the pride of the region, with floodlights making it visible for miles at night. But over the last few years, the cross' steel panels corroded and fell off as members of its administrative board worked out a dispute in court.

On Sunday morning, people took part again in the tradition of holding Easter services at its base, according to Steve McKeown, president of the transitional board which oversees the cross. The cross had been stripped of all but about 50 of its 900 panels.

"It was just a really, really good morning," McKeown said Sunday. "We're pulling together and we have our mission clearly in sight, which is to restore the cross physically as well as restore its mission."

The dispute began when newer members of the board accused their older counterparts of overmarketing the cross with little regard for its spiritual meaning or financial stewardship. They suspected the former treasurer misused donated funds, something she flatly denied.

The older board members, many of them descendants of the farmers who hatched the idea for the cross and scraped up money for it partly by selling pigs, countered that newer folks on the panel were intent on hijacking the landmark.

Over the years, the cross fell into disrepair.

Hikers on Bald Knob were warned to look out for debris falling from the deteriorating cross. Vandals broke the lights, leaving it in the dark.

"It's sad to see it in the shape it's in," Marvin Clutts, whose family helped build the monument, told The Chicago Tribune for a story published Sunday. "It's really a place right next to God, a spiritual place."

A court settlement dissolved the board in December and ordered a new transitional board be created. The agreement ended the dispute and allowed restoration work to begin. Former members are banned from rejoining the board for the next 20 years.

McKeown said members of the two factions met for the first time in years on Sunday and there was no apparent discord.

Pentecostal pastor Bill Vandergraph of Alto Pass created the group Friends of the Cross and said the not-for-profit has already raised $170,000.