this story really pisses me off!
For Wiccan Nev. Soldier, Death Brings Fight
Thursday, May 25, 2006 7:14 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By SCOTT SONNER
RENO, Nev. (AP) Nevada officials are pressing the Department of Veteran Affairs to allow the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan to place a Wiccan symbol on his headstone.
Federal officials so far have refused to grant the requests of the family of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, who was killed in Afghanistan last September when the Nevada Army National Guard helicopter he was in was shot down.
"Every veteran and military member deserves recognition for their contributions to our country," said Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services.
The state's top veterans official said Thursday that he was "diligently pursuing" the matter in cooperation with Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.
"Sgt. Stewart and his family deserve recognition for their contributions to our country," Tetz said.
"It's unfortunate the process is taking so long, but I am certain Sgt. Patrick will ultimately receive his marker with the Wiccan symbol," he said.
Stewart, of Fernley, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize.
Wiccans worship the Earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans.
The Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration allows only approved emblems of religious beliefs on government headstones. Over the years, it has approved more than 30, including symbols for the Tenrikyo Church, United Moravian Church and Sikhs. There's also an emblem for atheists but none for Wiccans.
Stewart's widow, Roberta Stewart, said she's hopeful she'll receive permission to add the Wiccan pentacle a circle around a five-pointed star to her late husband's government-issued memorial plaque.
While Memorial Day services are scheduled Monday at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Roberta Stewart plans an alternative service at Fernley's Out of Town Park. She's calling the ceremony the Sgt. Patrick Stewart Freedom for All Faiths Memorial Service.
"This is discrimination against our religion," Roberta Stewart said.
"The least his country can do is give him the symbol of faith as he would have wished," she recently told the Daily Sparks Tribune.
The Rev. Selena Fox, senior minister of the Wiccan Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., is among those who have been pushing the federal government to adopt the emblem. She said the Veterans Affairs Department has been considering such requests for nearly nine years with no decision.
"While this stonewalling continues, family of soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice are still waiting for equal rights," Fox said by telephone.
"Sgt. Stewart was shot down by terrorists. He deserves to be recognized. I'm holding out hope that my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War did not do so in vain and that the freedom of religion on which our country was founded will prevail," she said.
Officials for the National Cemetery Administration in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
Veterans Affairs Department spokeswoman Jo Schuda told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month that the application was being processed but there was no new information on whether it will be approved.
Stewart enlisted in the Army after he graduated from Reno's Wooster High School in 1989 and served in Desert Storm and in Korea. After completing his active duty, he enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in 2005 and went to Afghanistan with Task Force Storm.
no equality if you re not a fucking christian!!
Driver Has 18 Times Legal Alcohol Limit
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 5:57 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By LIUDAS DAPKUS
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) Lithuanian police were so astonished by a breath test that registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit, they thought their device must be broken. It wasn't.
Police said Tuesday 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices after he was pulled over Saturday for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 60 miles from the capital, Vilnius.
Lithuania's legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter.
"This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record," Saulius Skvernelis, director of the national police traffic control service, told the AP. "He was of high spirits and grinning the whole time he was questioned."
Medical experts say anything above 3.5 grams per liter of alcohol in the blood is lethal for most people.
"A person this intoxicated should be in an intensive care unit, not behind the wheel," said Tautvydas Zikaras, head of the dependence illness center in the country's second-largest city, Kaunas. Zikaras said he had never heard or read of someone being so drunk.
Sungaila, who was slapped with a $1,110 fine and the loss of his license for up to three years, told police he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast.
Lithuania has one of the worst road safety records in the European Union. Last year, 760 people died in traffic accidents in this country of 3.5 million residents. Most were alcohol-related.
Woman Gets 'DO NOT RESUSCITATE' Tattoo
Thursday, May 18, 2006 7:27 PM EDT
The Associated Press
DECORAH, Iowa (AP) Mary Wohlford has made it perfectly clear what her final wishes are: it's written in ink on her chest. Wohlford, 80, had the words "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattooed on her chest in February.
Wohlford hopes she's made her wishes perfectly clear should she become incapacitated. She also has a living will hanging on the side of her refrigerator.
"People might think I'm crazy, but that's OK," she said. "Sometimes the nuttiest ideas are the most advanced."
But Wohlford's decision to have her final wishes imprinted on her chest have raised some legal issues.
Some medical and legal experts doubt that Wohlford's tattoo would be binding in the emergency room or in court. But they give her credit for originality.
"I'll be darned," said Bob Cowie, a Decorah lawyer and chairman of the Iowa Bar Association's probate and trust law section.
"There are easier ways to do it than that," said Cowie, who suggested people sign a living will or authorize a medical power of attorney.
Wohlford said she knows some people might find the tattoo amusing. But she said her motive is serious.
"This is a modern day and age," she said. "You have to advance with the times. We never even had a living will 20 years ago. Now I think we've got to go to the next step."
So, will Wohlford's tattoo stop an Iowa doctor from resuscitating her? No, said Dr. Mark Purtle, who works at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
Purtle said Iowa law defines when caregivers are permitted to end life-sustaining measures. A tattoo isn't enough, he said.
He recommended a living will or an advanced directive, with a copy placed in the patient's medical charge. He also said people should discuss their wishes with family members.
Piano Found Near Summit of Mountain
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:35 PM EDT
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) Volunteers tidying up Britain's highest mountain have found a piano near the summit, a conservation group said Wednesday.
The instrument was discovered at the weekend under a pile of stones near the top of the 4,418-foot Ben Nevis, according to the John Muir Trust, which owns part of the Scottish mountain.
"Our guys couldn't believe their eyes," trust director Nigel Hawkins said. "At first they thought it was just the wooden casing, but then they saw the whole cast iron frame complete with strings.
"The only thing that was missing was the keyboard, and that's another mystery," Hawkins said.
A cookie wrapper with an expiry date of Dec. 12, 1986, was found underneath the piano, suggesting it may have been there for 20 years.
Hawkins said he suspected the piano was carried up as part of a charity fundraising effort by a group who decided it was easier to bury it under a pile of stones, or cairn, than carry it back down.
"People have played rugby up there, and someone drove up a herd of llamas," Hawkins said. "It does attract a lot of wacky things."
Volunteers, who were also clearing trash left by some 120,000 people who visit the mountain every year, have broken up the piano and carried down the pieces.
For Wiccan Nev. Soldier, Death Brings Fight
Thursday, May 25, 2006 7:14 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By SCOTT SONNER
RENO, Nev. (AP) Nevada officials are pressing the Department of Veteran Affairs to allow the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan to place a Wiccan symbol on his headstone.
Federal officials so far have refused to grant the requests of the family of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, who was killed in Afghanistan last September when the Nevada Army National Guard helicopter he was in was shot down.
"Every veteran and military member deserves recognition for their contributions to our country," said Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services.
The state's top veterans official said Thursday that he was "diligently pursuing" the matter in cooperation with Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.
"Sgt. Stewart and his family deserve recognition for their contributions to our country," Tetz said.
"It's unfortunate the process is taking so long, but I am certain Sgt. Patrick will ultimately receive his marker with the Wiccan symbol," he said.
Stewart, of Fernley, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize.
Wiccans worship the Earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans.
The Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration allows only approved emblems of religious beliefs on government headstones. Over the years, it has approved more than 30, including symbols for the Tenrikyo Church, United Moravian Church and Sikhs. There's also an emblem for atheists but none for Wiccans.
Stewart's widow, Roberta Stewart, said she's hopeful she'll receive permission to add the Wiccan pentacle a circle around a five-pointed star to her late husband's government-issued memorial plaque.
While Memorial Day services are scheduled Monday at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Roberta Stewart plans an alternative service at Fernley's Out of Town Park. She's calling the ceremony the Sgt. Patrick Stewart Freedom for All Faiths Memorial Service.
"This is discrimination against our religion," Roberta Stewart said.
"The least his country can do is give him the symbol of faith as he would have wished," she recently told the Daily Sparks Tribune.
The Rev. Selena Fox, senior minister of the Wiccan Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., is among those who have been pushing the federal government to adopt the emblem. She said the Veterans Affairs Department has been considering such requests for nearly nine years with no decision.
"While this stonewalling continues, family of soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice are still waiting for equal rights," Fox said by telephone.
"Sgt. Stewart was shot down by terrorists. He deserves to be recognized. I'm holding out hope that my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War did not do so in vain and that the freedom of religion on which our country was founded will prevail," she said.
Officials for the National Cemetery Administration in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
Veterans Affairs Department spokeswoman Jo Schuda told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month that the application was being processed but there was no new information on whether it will be approved.
Stewart enlisted in the Army after he graduated from Reno's Wooster High School in 1989 and served in Desert Storm and in Korea. After completing his active duty, he enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in 2005 and went to Afghanistan with Task Force Storm.
no equality if you re not a fucking christian!!
Driver Has 18 Times Legal Alcohol Limit
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 5:57 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By LIUDAS DAPKUS
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) Lithuanian police were so astonished by a breath test that registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit, they thought their device must be broken. It wasn't.
Police said Tuesday 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices after he was pulled over Saturday for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 60 miles from the capital, Vilnius.
Lithuania's legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter.
"This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record," Saulius Skvernelis, director of the national police traffic control service, told the AP. "He was of high spirits and grinning the whole time he was questioned."
Medical experts say anything above 3.5 grams per liter of alcohol in the blood is lethal for most people.
"A person this intoxicated should be in an intensive care unit, not behind the wheel," said Tautvydas Zikaras, head of the dependence illness center in the country's second-largest city, Kaunas. Zikaras said he had never heard or read of someone being so drunk.
Sungaila, who was slapped with a $1,110 fine and the loss of his license for up to three years, told police he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast.
Lithuania has one of the worst road safety records in the European Union. Last year, 760 people died in traffic accidents in this country of 3.5 million residents. Most were alcohol-related.
Woman Gets 'DO NOT RESUSCITATE' Tattoo
Thursday, May 18, 2006 7:27 PM EDT
The Associated Press
DECORAH, Iowa (AP) Mary Wohlford has made it perfectly clear what her final wishes are: it's written in ink on her chest. Wohlford, 80, had the words "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattooed on her chest in February.
Wohlford hopes she's made her wishes perfectly clear should she become incapacitated. She also has a living will hanging on the side of her refrigerator.
"People might think I'm crazy, but that's OK," she said. "Sometimes the nuttiest ideas are the most advanced."
But Wohlford's decision to have her final wishes imprinted on her chest have raised some legal issues.
Some medical and legal experts doubt that Wohlford's tattoo would be binding in the emergency room or in court. But they give her credit for originality.
"I'll be darned," said Bob Cowie, a Decorah lawyer and chairman of the Iowa Bar Association's probate and trust law section.
"There are easier ways to do it than that," said Cowie, who suggested people sign a living will or authorize a medical power of attorney.
Wohlford said she knows some people might find the tattoo amusing. But she said her motive is serious.
"This is a modern day and age," she said. "You have to advance with the times. We never even had a living will 20 years ago. Now I think we've got to go to the next step."
So, will Wohlford's tattoo stop an Iowa doctor from resuscitating her? No, said Dr. Mark Purtle, who works at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
Purtle said Iowa law defines when caregivers are permitted to end life-sustaining measures. A tattoo isn't enough, he said.
He recommended a living will or an advanced directive, with a copy placed in the patient's medical charge. He also said people should discuss their wishes with family members.
Piano Found Near Summit of Mountain
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:35 PM EDT
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) Volunteers tidying up Britain's highest mountain have found a piano near the summit, a conservation group said Wednesday.
The instrument was discovered at the weekend under a pile of stones near the top of the 4,418-foot Ben Nevis, according to the John Muir Trust, which owns part of the Scottish mountain.
"Our guys couldn't believe their eyes," trust director Nigel Hawkins said. "At first they thought it was just the wooden casing, but then they saw the whole cast iron frame complete with strings.
"The only thing that was missing was the keyboard, and that's another mystery," Hawkins said.
A cookie wrapper with an expiry date of Dec. 12, 1986, was found underneath the piano, suggesting it may have been there for 20 years.
Hawkins said he suspected the piano was carried up as part of a charity fundraising effort by a group who decided it was easier to bury it under a pile of stones, or cairn, than carry it back down.
"People have played rugby up there, and someone drove up a herd of llamas," Hawkins said. "It does attract a lot of wacky things."
Volunteers, who were also clearing trash left by some 120,000 people who visit the mountain every year, have broken up the piano and carried down the pieces.
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
bebe:
thanks, lost of bands on your list that I have not heard of, but will check out as I like all the bands on your list that I do recongnize...
bowie:
Thank you so much for commenting on my set!