[Vision2020] Wiccan Plaque Installed for Fallen Soldier

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's Roundup edition of the Army Times -

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Wiccan plaque installed for fallen soldier

FERNLEY, Nev. - The space on a memorial wall in Fernley for a fallen Nevada
soldier is empty no longer.

A plaque with the Wiccan religious symbol was installed Monday on the
Veterans' Memorial Wall at the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery for Sgt.
Patrick Stewart.

The Nevada Army National Guardsman and four other soldiers died Sept. 25,
2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Since then, Stewart's widow, Roberta, has been fighting to have the
Department of Veterans Affairs recognize the Wiccan pentacle - a
five-pointed star enclosed in a circle - for plaques and headstones at
veterans' cemeteries.

The Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration allows only approved
emblems of religious beliefs on government headstones. Over the years, it
has approved 38, including symbols for the Tenrikyo Church, United Moravian
Church and Sikhs. There is also an emblem for atheists.

But leaders of the Wiccan faith say they've been trying for nine years to
have their symbol recognized by the federal government.

This fall, the Nevada Office of Veterans Services decided it had the
authority to put the Wiccan emblem on a plaque for Stewart because the
Fernley memorial is at a state veterans' cemetery.

Roberta Stewart said she was pleased with the plaque but would continue her
struggle with the federal government.

Earlier this month, she and others filed a federal lawsuit, claiming the
VA's failure to approve the Wiccan symbol amounts to constitutional
violations of free speech, freedom of religion and due process.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

t hansen-moore
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.