[Vision2020] Wiccan Plaque Installed for Fallen Soldier

[debismith at moscow.com]

Finally! Goddess Bless! And may She bless all our soldiers still on the battle lines, especially 
in the war in Iraq--AKA the War Built on Lies......
Debi Robinson-Smith


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

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>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.


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