[Vision2020] [Spam] Wiccan Plaque Installed for Fallen Soldier

[lfalen]

Tom
Some one should talk to Senators Crapo and Craig.  Veterans should be able to have anything they want on their  tombstones.

Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Tom Hansen" thansen at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:17:52 -0800
To: "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Spam] [Vision2020] Wiccan Plaque Installed for Fallen Soldier

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