The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 15, 2003, Page 6, Image 6
Supreme Court takes on new
fight over Pledge of Allegiance
BY ANNE GEARAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The Supreme
Court agreed Tuesday to decide
whether it’s unconstitutional for
Children in public schools to
pledge their allegiance to “one
nation under God.”
The Pledge of Allegiance case
pushes the court into an emo
tional argument over religion, pa
triotism and schools. Activists on
both sides of the church-state di
vide immediately predicted one
of the most significant,.and
wrenching, rulings in the court’s
modem history.
Generations of schoolchildren
have begun each day by standing,
hand on heart, to recite the oath that
begins, “I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of
America.”
Sometime next year, the high
court will hear the case of a
California atheist who objects to
the pledge his 9-year-old daugh
ter’s teacher leads daily. The 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco agreed with
■ Michael Newdow last year, and
the ruling set off a national uproar.
Democrats and Republicans in
Congress criticized the decision
and quickly passed a law affirm
ing references to God in the pledge
and the national motto, “In God
We Trust.” President Bush, who
signed the measure, called the ap
peals court decision ridiculous.
The ruling is on hold pending
the court challenge.
Newdow, a doctor and lawyer
representing himself in the case,
was pleased the court agreed to
hear the appeal.
“As a father, it’s important that
my child should be able to choose
which religious beliefs are most
in anotner surprise, Justice
Antonin Scalia said he will not
take part in the case. He did not
explain why, but Newdow had
challenged Scalia’s impartiality
based of remarks Scalia made at
a “Religious Freedom Day” ob
servance this year. Scalia said
the issue would be better decid
ed by lawmakers than judges.
Scalia’s absence sets up the
possibility that the remaining
eight justices could deadlock 4
4. That would affirm the 9th
Circuit’s ban on the religious
reference, which would apply
to 9.6 million schoolchildren in
the nine states the court over
sees: California, Oregon,
Nevada, Montana, Washington,
Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii and
Alaska, plus Guam.
Public schoolchildren else
where in the country could still
recite the “under God” version.
God was not part of the orig
inal pledge written in 1892 and
adopted by Congress 50 years
later as a wartime patriotic trib
ute. Congress inserted the “un
der God” phrase in 1954, when
the world had moved from hot
war to cold and U.S. religious
leaders sermonized against
“godless communists.”
STATE
Sanford asks to cut
agency travel costs
COLUMBIA (AP) - Gov. Mark
Sanford asked state agencies on
Tuesday to save money by cut
ting travel expenses.
Sanford asked agency heads
in his monthly Cabinet meeting
to cut costs by sharing hotel
rooms and following federal
guidelines for how much to
spend for lodging. He also wants
the state Budget and Control
Board and the General
Assembly to adopt regulations
placing a cap on room rates.
South Carolina spends $32
million a year on government
travel, and $6 million of that is
for hotel expenses, Sanford said.
“I think we can tighten up on
the culture,” said Sanford, who
is known for his frugality —
from his days of sleeping in his
office while in Congress to the
inaugural barbecue he held in
January.
State gets money
for gifted education
COLUMBIA (AP) - The state
Education Department has re
ceived more than $700,000 from
the U.S. Department of
Education to study the state’s
gifted education programs and
train teachers.
The state agency, working
with Converse College and the
College of Charleston, will use
the three-year grant of $723,659
to establish four regional train
ing centers for teachers.
The agency also plans to use
the grant to develop more per
formance assessments to help
identify gifted students.
South Carolina schools serve
64,000 gifted and talented stu
dents in grades three through 12.
Passenger of plane
wreck unidentified
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -
Berkeley County authorities
were working Tuesday to iden
tify the remains found in the
wreckage of a small plane that
crashed in the Francis Marion
National Forest.
The Federal Aviation
Administration’s regional office
in Atlanta said a Piper 27 with a
single occupant went down at
7:58 p.m. Monday about 13 miles
northeast of the Charleston
International Airport.
Authorities spotted the
wreckage late Monday and
worked to clear a path through
the woods to get to the site ear
ly Tuesday morning.
The remains found in the
plane were in poor condition,
Berkeley County Coroner Glenn
Rhoad said.
The FAA said the plane was
thought to have departed East
Hampton, N.Y., bound for
Charleston.
NATION
L.A. transportation
mechanics strike
LOS ANGELES (AP) -
Mechanics for the nation’s
third-largest public transporta
tion system went on strike
Tuesday, forcing hundreds of
thousands of commuters to
scramble for alternate trans
portation for the second time in
three years.
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority mechanics walked off
the job after midnight, and bus
drivers, train operators and oth
er workers were honoring pick
et lines. The move shut down
buses and trains that an esti
mated 500,000 daily riders count
on to get around Los Angeles
County.
Up to 9,000 union workers
could potentially honor the
strike, MTA spokesman Marc
Littman said.
“I’m just stranded,” com
muter David Strattling, 59, said
early Tuesday. “I won’t be able
to go to work today.”
7 die in fire in rural
Pennsylvania home
MAPLETON DEPOT, PA. (AP)
— Fire broke out in a rural
home, killing two adults and five
children in what appeared to be
an accidental blaze, authorities
said Tuesday.
Police said they had not de
termined the cause of the fire,
but said it appeared to be an ac
cident.
The victims were identified
Tuesday as Kevin Dean
Brechbiel, 31, and Anita Patrice .
Mayo, 34. Also killed were
Brechbiel’s daughters, Dexie, 11;
Kayla, 9; and Abby, 7; and 3
year-old twin sons, Justin and
Jason.
Police said they did not know
when the fire broke out, but the
last time the family was known
to be safe was around 8 p.m.
Sunday.
Priest, secretary
robbed at gunpoint
BALTIMORE (AP) — A man
held a gun to the head of a
church secretary and forced a
Roman Catholic priest to hand
over nearly $8,000 in Sunday col
lections, police and the woman
said.
The robber knocked on the
door of the Shrine of the Little
Flower around 9 a.m. Monday,
saying he wanted to donate
clothes, said Detective Donny
Moses, a police spokesman.
When the secretary opened the
door, the man showed her a
semiautomatic weapon and de
manded money, Moses said.
Police and the woman said
the robber got about $8,000 in to
tal, with most of it coming from
a safe that held money from the
Sunday collections.
WORLD
Businessman sworn
in to lead Liberia
MONROVIA, LIBERIA (AP) -
Businessman Gyude Bryant was
sworn in Tuesday as leader of
Liberia’s postwar government,
taking up a 2-year term meant to
guide the devastated country
into peace after 14 years of
bloodletting by ousted warlord
Charles Taylor.
Bryant, 54, took an oath as
chairman of the transitional
power-sharing government,
pledging to lift Liberia from a
“state of despair.”
Bryant placed his left hand on
a Bible held by his wife, and
swore to “faithfully, conscien
tiously and impartially dis
charge the duties of the office of
chairman of the national transi
tional government.”
Protesters call for
president to resign
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AP) -
Supplies of food, gasoline and
other essentials ran short
Tuesday as protesters demand
ing the president’s resignation
blocked roads and virtually par
alyzed the capital of La Paz and
the nearby city of El Alto.
Clashes between demonstra
tors and soldiers left at least 16
dead Monday, bringing the
death toll from two weeks of
protests to as high as 60, accord
ing to human rights groups and
local media.
Authorities have not con
firmed this figure. Many inter
sections remained blocked by
street barricades erected by
demonstrators using tires,
rocks, tree branches and other
debris.
President Gonzalo Sanchez de
Lozada, who has refused calls to
step down, remained secluded
in his heavily guarded resi
dence.
Afghan leader hails
expansion of forces s
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AP) -
The Afghan president on
Tuesday hailed a U.N. vote al
lowing an international peace
keeping force to expand beyond
the capital, a crucial boost for
Afghan efforts to rein in war
lords and prepare for historic
elections next year.
The 15-member U.N.
Security Council voted unani
mously late Monday to allow
the 5,500-strong force to fan out
to key cities in some of
Afghanistan’s most lawless
provinces, where feuding war
lords hold sway and Taliban
rebels are engaging in an ever
fiercer insurgency. iy
The International Security
Assistance Force is under
NATO command, with Germany
and Canada supplying the most
troops.
BRIEFLY
USC names director
of library school
Dan Barron has been named
director of USC’s School of
Library and Information
Science. Barron was a faculty
member in the school and in the
former College of Library
Information Science, which in
2002 merged with the College of
Journalism and Mass
Communications, founded in
1976.
Governor to honor 9
S.C. organizations
Nine S.C. organizations will
be recognized for their commit
ment to the environment at the
Governor’s Pollution Prevention
Awards Dinner on Oct. 16 at
Springmaid Beach Resort in
Myrtle Beach. The awards are
presented through USC’s
Institute for Public Service and
Policy Research and recognize
pollution-prevention efforts by
private and public groups.
Recipients include BMW
Manufacturing Corp., Keep
America Beautiful of Anderson
County, Voridian and 3M
Company, among others.
Theatre to present
Irving tale in drama
“Sleepy Hollow on the River”
will be presented at the West
Columbia Riverwalk
Amphitheatre beginning
Thursday. The show will pre
sent Washington Irving’s tale in
dramatic form, complete with
period costumes, music and spe
cial effects. Day-of-show tickets
eye $10 for adults and $5 for chil
dren under 12. Advanced tick
ets can be purchased at the box
office, 799-0918, and are $8 for
adults and $4 for children. The
show will be performed at 8 p m.
on the following dates: Oct. 16
19,23-26 and 30-31 and Nov. 1-2.
VOTE FOR COOKY AT
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Wofford
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
on his immigration status before '
applying for medical school.
If he is allowed to stay in the
U.S., he says it will take time for
him to learn to live life without a
dark cloud looming.
“If everything goes OK and goes
great, it’s, like, ‘Oh my gosh, what
am I going to do with myself?”’
Hitesh Tolani said. “If my case sets a
precedent, I hope nobody has to go
through what I’ve gone through.”
An immigration appeals board
*
dismissed the Tolanis’ case with
out a hearing in 2002 after an im
migration judge had ordered
Hitesh and Jaya deported to India
a year earlier.
The Tolanis’ problems started
when Hitesh’s father fell ill and died
before paperwork for them to be
come citizens was completed. His
death left the family without a close
relative who could sponsor his wife
and son for U.S. citizenship.
Hitesh Tolani and his family
have been fighting deportation for
the past six years. Hitesh Tolani’s
15-year-old brother, Ravi, who was
bom in New York, could be left be
hind if Hitesh and his mother re
turn to India.
The U.S. Justice Department de
cided to rehear the case only after Vel
political pressure from the late
Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond
and Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings.
The immigration bureau is
comparing the Tolani case to an
other, similar case in California,
known as Recinas.
In the Recinas case — which
Thurmond brought to immigra
tion officials’ attention last
October—a Mexican mother was
granted citizenship because her
U.S.-born children would be split
from her and her Mexican-born
children.
X
appropriate without the govern
ment weighing in,” he said.
The Constitution guarantees
there will be no government “es
tablishment of religion,” word
ing that has come to mean a gen
eral ban on overt government
sponsorship of religion in public
schools and elsewhere.
The line between God and gov
ernment can be fuzzy, however, as
attested by recent public furor and
legal debate over display of the bib
lical Ten Commandments in court
houses and on public squares.
Most lawyers who watch the
court had predicted the justices
would not take on the highly divi
sive pledge case. The court could
have resolved the matter without
hearing the case on its merits.
The court still could do that, if
it should find that Newdow lacks
proper legal footing to bring the
case.
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