SAN DIEGO – Philip Paulson, an atheist who waged a 17-year legal battle to have a giant cross removed from public land on Mount Soledad, has died. He was 59. Paulson died Wednesday of liver cancer. He was diagnosed in July and was hospitalized on Oct. 20 after complaining of abdominal pain, remaining in critical condition until his death, said Lorelei Lindsey, his companion of 17 years. AP story 10-30-06