A man who built a stone and concrete monument dedicated to President Woodrow Wilson inside Joshua Tree National Park boundaries has been fined $9,000 and his monument to a hero of the Albanian people will be torn down.
Din Kossova is an Albanian immigrant who lives in Sky Valley, on the southwestern edge of Joshua Tree National Park. In 2011, he was hiking and saw a nice vista and decided to build a 20-foot tower out of stones and concrete and dedicate it to Woodrow Wilson, who advocated independence for Albania. A Joshua Tree National Park ranger was hiking in the area last winter and discovered the monument was inside park boundaries. Last week, a federal magistrate fined Kossova $9,000 and sentenced him to three years’ probation. Joshua Tree National Park spokesman George Land said the park service will use the fine to tear down the monument to restore the land to the condition it was in prior to the monument being built. It is illegal, he said, to build anything on park property, and leaving the monument encourages copycats. Land said the park will explore options on how to destroy the monument, including the possibility of bringing in the Marines.
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK ORDERS 20-FOOT MONUMENT DESTROYED
