C.M.A. Texas '97 |
Blessed Be and welcome to the... - 1998.iso/wvoice/wwwwit~1.com/wren/wn_ima~1/clear.gif){kind=spacer} Craft Related News from Planet Earth January 1998 c.e.
|
 - 1998.iso/wvoice/wwwwit~1.com/wren/wn_ima~1/wrencma.jpg)
|
Sunday, January 11, 1998 at 11:15:31 (EST) "The Devil on Main Street" explores Satanism in small town America. 48 Hours looks at troubled teenagers dabbling in devil worship. The consequences are horrific. In Pearl, Mississippi, shootings by a self-professed satanist teenager resulted in the deaths of two people and the wounding of two others. And in Keokuk, Iowa, it was satanic-related suicides. 48 Hours delves into this startling phenomenon. Watch 48 Hours on Thursday, January 15 at 10:00 PM ET/Pt. Check your local listings. 48 Hours Site at: 48 Hours Contact Info: 48 Hours 524 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019 (212) 975-3247 To order a transcript, call: (800) 777-TEXT To order a videotape, call: (800) 338-4847 Sunday, January 11, 1998 at 11:13:06 (EST) Sons of slain tattoo shop owner to reopen store Associated Press, Boston Globe (01/10) EAST WALLINGFORD, Vt. (AP) - Two sons of the murdered owner of an East Wallingford tattoo shop have moved to Vermont to take over their father's business. Ken Bernier, 22, and David Bernier, 24, have reopened the Dragon's Leyr Tattoo Emporium & Gift Shoppe on Route 103. But the two sons will not be doing any tattooing or body piercing until each has been trained in the art. Ken Bernier, who had been living in Florida when his father Dwayne was killed, said he would carry on his father's business. David Bernier had been living in Nebraska. David Bernier is training to give tattoos while Ken is learning body piercing. The shop is currently open seven days a week, selling the same products it carried when their father was in charge, David Bernier said. Dwayne Bernier sold role playing games, magic cards, figurines, New Age literature, jewelry, drug paraphernalia and tobacco products. The Berniers plan to have a reopening sale Jan 15 to Jan. 30. Dwayne Bernier was found in his shop in November after a customer with an appointment noticed blood on the snow in the front of the store. Bernier was killed with what police have called a ``bladed weapon.'' ``It's been tough a couple of times, tough working with my dad's stuff,'' Ken Bernier said. ``I broke down before I came up here.'' Ken Bernier said his father had ``put too much blood, sweat and tears'' into the shop and he didn't want to lose it. ``I want to make sure his name doesn't go in vain.'' Police are still actively seeking Wayne Bernier's killer or killers, said Vermont State Police Lt. Myles Heffernan. They are in contact with a number of out-of-state agencies, but right now they have ``nothing concrete.'' Police have said that one of the difficulties with the case is that Dwayne Bernier ``was into a lot of unusual activities - white witchcraft, paganism, tattoos - that create a lot of potentials.'' OCCULT RELATED BOOKS UNDER FIRE BY OK GROUP LETTER To The Editor (Oklahomian Times 1/8): Oklahomans For Children And Families (OCAF) has received a lot of unfair treatment because of its work to have sexually provocative library materials reshelved where youngsters can't reach them. The so-called parental preference option initiated by the Metropolitan Library System does nothing to protect the majority of children from sexually explicit, violent and witchcraft-promoting materials. It's illegal in Oklahoma to sell pornography such as ''Penthouse'' to minors, but the Metropolitan Library System lets children check out materials that are as bad and sometimes worse. Children have no business checking out library pornography such as ''Boys And Sex,'' ''The Grandmother of Time,'' ''It's Perfectly Normal'' and ''The Grind: Hip Hop Aerobics.'' It's time for all people who care for children to take the lead from the traditional conservative group OCAF and say no to library pornography and to the open access policy.--writen by Kathy O'Toole, City UFO'S IN N.H.? What Was It?--Associated Press, Boston Globe (01/10) EXETER, N.H. (AP) - A Newmarket man was nearly blinded by a bright light in the sky last month, and he's on a mission to find out what it was. Dave Jackson said the mysterious brilliant blue flash lit up the sky over Exeter on Dec. 28 as he drove along Route 88. ``It was brighter than anything I've ever seen,'' he said. Jackson said he's heard from a Hampton Falls woman who saw a similar blinding flash in the same area about a month earlier. He plans to meet with a UFO investigator near the site. Peter Geremia, director of the state chapter of a group called the Mutual UFO Network, saids an investigation begins by ruling out explainable causes such as aircraft or the weather. He said some UFO investigations take several months, but most last only a couple of weeks. Friday, January 09, 1998 at 10:15:16 (EST) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Janet Reno urged Congress to pass legislation expanding the scope of hate crimes Thursday as the FBI reported 8,759 such incidents in 1996. Law enforcement agencies across the country reported 5,396 hate crimes based on race, 1,401 based on religion, 1,016 on sexual orientation, 940 on ethnic background and six for multiple reasons. Of 11,000 victims of hate crimes, 7,000 were attacked because of their race. That included 4,600 racially motivated attacks on blacks, 1,445 on whites and 544 on Asians and Pacific Islanders. ``These statistics show what we long believed is true: Hate crimes have long gone underreported,'' Reno said at a news conference. Intimidation accounted for 39 percent of reported offenses, followed by destruction of property and vandalism at 27 percent, simple assault at 16 percent and aggravated assault at 13 percent. There were 12 murders associated with hate crimes. California reported 2,723 offenses, one-fourth of the national total of 10,700, followed by New Jersey with 947 and New York with 920.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company GERMANY TO ALLOW BUGGING OF HOMES-- By The Associated Press(1/8) BONN, Germany (AP) -- In an effort to fight organized crime, Germany is set to allow electronic surveillance of people's homes for the first time since the Nazi era. The agreement, reached late Wednesday by Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling coalition and the opposition Social Democrats, caps years of debate over whether rising crime justified amending the German constitution's ban on state snooping in private residences. The accord clears the way for the law's passage, expected Jan. 16. The compromise legislation, approved after seven hours of debate, makes priests, defense attorneys and lawmakers bug-proof. For all others, police will need approval from a judge and will only be allowed to eavesdrop while investigating certain serious crimes. Conversations with doctors, tax advisers and journalists may be bugged, but a court must then decide afterward whether the results can be used. The same goes for close relatives of a suspect. The head of the German Journalists' Association said the measure would hurt reporters. ``No source will now be sure that he can talk confidentially at the journalists' workplace or private home,'' he said. --Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company AUSTRALIA: NO APOLOGY TO ABORIGINES--By The Associated Press(1/8) SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Despite renewed pressure, Australia refused Thursday to match Canada's gesture to its native peoples and apologize to Aborigines who were forcibly removed from their families as children. Like Canada, Australian governments for decades enforced policies that took native children from their families in an effort to assimilate them into white society. The Canadian government apologized Wednesday to Indian and Inuit communities for past acts of oppression, including setting up boarding schools aimed at severing youths from their culture. It also pledged $245 million to fund counseling and treatment programs for victims of abuse at the schools. From the 1910s to the early 1970s, about 100,000 part-Aboriginal children and babies were placed in government or church care in the belief that the Aborigines would die out. After hearing testimony that many of the children were sexually and physically abused and faced widespread discrimination, a Human Rights Commission concluded that the policies amounted to attempted genocide.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company SPANISH COPS ARREST SECT LEADER--By The Associated Press SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) -- Police arrested a German psychologist hours before she allegedly planned to lead followers of her religious cult in a mass suicide, officials said today. Heide Fittkau-Garthe, 57, was arrested late Wednesday on charges of attempting to induce suicide and was being held at a Tenerife police station, said Antonio Lopez Ojeda, an Interior Ministry representative on the Canary Islands. Authorities said 30 members of the cult planned to kill themselves sometime before 8 p.m. today, when they believed the end of the world was coming. They told police a space ship would then pick up their bodies from Teide mountain on Tenerife, one of seven islands in the Canary archipelago. Lopez Ojeda said police believed the sect was an offshoot of the Order of the Solar Temple, whose followers have carried out mass suicides in Canada,France and Switzerland. However, he said police were still investigating.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company IS THERE SUCH A THING AS FAX HARASSMENT?--Associated Press, (01/08) BOSTON (AP) - Fax machines can be a pain in the neck, but can they actually be used for harassment? The state's highest court considered that question Thursday in the case of a man charged with harassing a local TV station by faxing threatening messages. The Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments for and against allowing the crime against making harassing phone calls to include faxes. The court took the arguments under advisement. ``I don't think that it's that big a leap to say that a fax is a telephone call, it's a technological evolution,'' said Assistant District Attorney Brett Harpster, following the half-hour court hearing. He told the court that the Legislature did not include faxes in the 1964 legislation barring harassing phone calls because the technology was not in use. But, he said, since faxes are in a sense a phone call, faxes need not be specified. But defense attorney Margaret Wermer said no, the fax is more like a letter. ``The Legislature didn't intend to prohibit writing,'' she said. ``Basically what I'm doing here is urging you to leave to the Legislature whether or not the statute should be amended,'' Wermer said, noting that stalking laws had been revised to include faxes and e-mail.--Boston Globe INTERESTING RANDOM FACTS: A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'Libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as"pounds/shillings/pence" abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius). Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. Camel's milk does not curdle. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere. Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants. The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used. All porcupines float in water. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases. Non-dairy creamer is flammable. The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.) The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar. Thursday, January 08, 1998 at 12:01:59 (EST) 800,000 Quebeckers Without Power--By The Associated Press(1/8) MONTREAL (AP) -- Quebec residents filled emergency shelters or shivered at home today, trying to stay warm in a new ice storm that left 800,000 households without power. About 150,000 of the homes were in Montreal, the area hit hardest by the first storm late Monday, which left about 750,000 homes without power. More than half of those were still without power when more freezing rain began to fall Wednesday evening, accompanied by strong winds that downed more transmission lines. `We're doing what we can to improve the situation,'' said Martin Guimond, a spokesman for Hydro-Quebec, the area power company. ``But, with the storm, we're back up to 800,000 clients without power. ``We've lost almost the entire south shore of Montreal.'' Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard, who pledged disaster aid to the area, was among those who have been without power since the first storm. He said if the outage continued tonight, he would check into a hotel, many of which are already booked with people in the same plight. Other Quebec residents were spending nights at emergency shelters and with friends. More freezing rain and strong winds were forecast today. One death was blamed on the power failure -- an 82-year-old man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after turning on a gas-powered generator for electricity. More than 100 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported, as people tried to heat their homes with camp stoves and other devices. Hydro-Quebec has brought in 120 crews from the United States to help clear Quebec of thousands of fallen trees. Thursday, January 08, 1998 at 09:58:11 (EST) NEW YORK (AP) - There is no denying Michelle Ganzy had premarital sex - her 18-month-old daughter Nyla is the proof. The question is whether Ms. Ganzy was fired from her job as a math teacher at a religious school for fornication - or because she became pregnant as a result. Ms. Ganzy, 28, is suing the Allen Christian School in federal court, claiming she was dismissed because she was pregnant, in violation of her rights as a woman. A lawyer representing the Queens school's head, Elaine Flake, said Wednesday that Ms. Ganzy knew that Christian values are part of the school's teachings - and that the church did not consider an unmarried mother an appropriate teacher. ``We're dealing with a very strong constitutional issue of protection of freedom of religion,'' said Michael E. Pressman. Ms. Ganzy said in a telephone interview that her contract with the school included no prohibition on premarital sex, only a general ``statement of belief'' in which she pledged that her ``temperament and lifestyle are in accordance with the will of God and the Holy Scripture.'' She said she was hired to teach math to grades 3 through 8 in September 1995. She became pregnant by her boyfriend, Anthony Cromer, in October, but did not tell a supervisor until February. A day later, Ms. Ganzy said, she was called into a meeting with Elaine Flake and the supervisor and fired. She said she and Cromer had planned to marry in 1996, but the firing strapped them financially. The couple now both teach in the Brooklyn public schools and plan a wedding this spring. `They were right to fire her,'' said Dorothy Darby of Hollis, Queens, as she picked up her grandson. ``How do you teach the girls, as role models, to abstain when you have unmarried, pregnant teachers?'' A man who declined to give his name had even harsher words for Ms. Ganzy. ``I don't know about this hellified behavior,'' he said. ``If you can't behave, how can you teach children?'' Kevin Hasson, head lawyer for the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the Ganzy case has no place in the courts. ``The government has its hands full trying to keep its own schools from falling apart. They're the last people that should be telling church schools how to run themselves,'' he said. Ms. Ganzy does not regret her pregnancy. ``They made me feel that what I was doing was wrong, but she (Nyla) is the best thing that could ever happen to me,'' she said. ``And there's nothing I would change about my situation, even though it was hard.'' NAZI-PROCLAIMING COUPLE FINED $90G--By The Associated Press MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- A couple who terrorized their black former landlords with racial epithets and Nazi salutes were ordered to pay them $90,000 in damages. Sean Steven Hale and his girlfriend, Bari Alyssa Betterman, were evicted in 1995 from property in Gainesville they had rented from James and Winifred Owens-Hart. In November 1995, Hale was sentenced to six months in jail on a charge of stalking the Owens-Harts, according to Circuit Court records. He also was convicted in a lower court of cursing and abusing the landlords, but records indicate that charge was dropped when the case went to Circuit Court. The Owens-Harts filed a $2 million lawsuit in November 1995, saying Hale and Ms. Betterman claimed they were advocates of white superiority and were preparing for a Nazi revolution. ``It was extremely outrageous behavior,'' said Catherine V. Beane, an attorney for the Owens-Harts. Circuit Judge Richard B. Potter's ruling, issued Monday, included a permanent restraining order against Hale and Ms. Betterman, whose last known address was inWoodbridge. They were not in court for the ruling and could not be located for comment.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company TEEN AT CENTER OF LEGAL BATTLE-- By The Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- How far can parents go in trying to help a child? Superior Court Judge Ken Kawaichi was asked Wednesday to determine whether the decision by Jim and Sue Van Blarigan to send their teen-age son to a highly supervised treatment program in Jamaica amounted to kidnapping and false imprisonment. Prosecutor Robert Hutchins said the Van Blarigans had 16-year-old David ``ripped out of his bed,'' stripping him of his civil rights. It is not a criminal case. David was removed from his home in November, driven 700 miles to a private adolescent hospital in Utah and then sent on to Tranquility Bay, a teen rehabilitation camp in Jamaica. The case was reported to police by a neighbor whom David called after getting to an airport telephone. Hutchins asked Kawaichi to order David back to California, though it isn't clear what would happen after that. Hutchins said even if David's banishment wasn't kidnapping, he should still be returned so he can speak for himself in court. Family attorney Dan Koller countered that the Van Blarigans were only trying to be good parents when they hired a two-man escort service to remove David from their home and get him into the treatment program to resolve unspecified problems. ``These parents care,'' he said. Koller accused prosecutors of ``trying to come into the house and tell them how to raise their child.'' Hutchins read from contracts signed by the Van Blarigans authorizing camp officials to get medical treatment for David, restrain him and, if necessary, use mace, pepper spray or an ``electrical disabler.'' He said camps should have the child's consent or a court order. Defense witnesses said they had never seen pepper spray or other extreme measures used on program participants. Kawaichi said he will issue his ruling Jan. 20.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company JUDGE ORDERED DEFENDANT TO MARRY--By The Associated Press CANTON, Ga. (AP) -- A man who threatened to kill his girlfriend and their daughter was ordered to marry the woman as part of his sentence. Darrell Meadows, 26, agreed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct rather than face a more serious charge of threatening to kill Angela Whaley and their 2-year-old daughter, Nicole. Judge Clyde Gober ordered Meadows to marry Ms. Whaley by mid-February as a condition of probation. Ms. Whaley asked for the ruling, but critics said it was the wrong approach. ``You can't make people get married,'' said Teresa Nelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. Meg Rogers, executive director of the Cherokee Family Violence Center, said marriage can give an abusive man even more power over a woman and her children. ``Judge Gober knows better. He knows that this is not going to solve the problem,'' she said. The judge said in court last month that he chose the unusual sentence so that Meadows would have a legal obligation to support the child. Gober could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that, as of Wednesday, the couple had not applied for a marriage license either in Cherokee County, where they were visiting friends, or in Fleming County, Ky., where they live. Sheriff's deputies said they began arguing after Ms. Whaley saw Meadows smoking an unknown substance in a pipe. Meadows ``began threatening Whaley, stating that he would kill her, kill the baby and kill himself,'' the police report said.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOGS & CATS A dog thinks: Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me... They must be Gods! A cat thinks: Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me... I must be a God! Thursday, January 08, 1998 at 09:02:34 (EST) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Looking to shed its legal woes and add political clout, the Christian Coalition's new leaders are exploring whether to form a political action committee and collect membership dues. The review is part of an aggressive effort to restructure the political powerhouse after the departure of Ralph Reed, a media savvy operative credited with building the religious conservative operation founded by Pat Robertson. Reed's successors, former congressman Randy Tate and former Reagan Cabinet official Don Hodel, announced plans last month to cut staff and eliminate the highly publicized minority outreach program. A Coalition official, speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday, said Tate and Hodel plan to make bigger changes. They want to bolster their sagging fund-raising and political operations while eliminating controversy over the group's tax-exempt status. The IRS is investigating whether the Coalition has violated its tax-exempt status with thousands of dollars worth of voting guides and get-out-the-vote efforts that benefit conservative candidates. The Federal Election Commission has sued the Coalition, accusing it of makingillegal corporate donations, and the agency has urged the group to form a PAC and legitimize its political efforts. Hodel and Tate recognize the general public was confused during Reed's tenure when the Coalition argued that it was not advocating for specific candidates yet its actions gave the opposite appearance, the official said. ``We want to get out of that box,'' he said. One option would be to change the Coalition's tax status from a 501(c)4 to IRS Section 527(c), which covers political action and campaign committees. These groups pay taxes on interest income and must file reports with the Federal Election Commission listing donors. Tax-exempt groups are beginning to take advantage of an IRS interpretation of 527(c) and are skirting FEC oversight by claiming they advocate issues but not candidates. But the Coalition official said that if the group formed a PAC it likely would support specific candidates with endorsements or money. That would force the Coalition to file donor lists with the FEC. The official did not know how much money would fuel the PAC, but the Coalition raised close to $20 million last year. That was a drop from a record-breaking $26.5 million in1996; Hodel and Tate are trying to find ways to raise more money. One option is to become what the FEC calls a ``membership organization,'' letting the Coalition support candidates and collect dues. The official said Tate and Hodel are considering the PAC and dues-paying options as ways to signal to religious conservatives and the political community that the group, which claims 1.7 million members, is still a force. Aggressive up-and-coming conservative organizations predominately the Washington-based Family Research Council, are threatening to make inroads on the Coalition's base. Coalition spokesman Arne Owens declined to confirm talk of a PAC, but said, ``We have a number of ideas under consideration for the way the Christian Coalition will organize itself and function in the future but at this point no decisions have been made.''--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company Wednesday, January 07, 1998 at 10:18:08 (EST) A woman accused of killing her boyfriend and flushing some of his remains into a septic tank pleaded innocent Tuesday to first-degree murder. Amy Joyce Weir, 33, a waitress and mother of four, entered her plea before Clark County Superior Court Judge James Ladley. Trial was set for Feb. 17. Defense lawyer James Dunn told the judge he is studying the possibility of an insanity defense. Weir is accused of killing and dismembering boyfriend Scott Lee Weisenborn on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1 and flushing at least some of his remains into the septic tank of his home five miles east of Battle Ground, Clark County. She was arrested Dec. 17 and has been held in Clark County Jail on $750,000 bail. Sheriff's detectives, in search warrant documents filed in court, said Weir had talked before of poisoning or blowing up a previous boyfriend. In their search of Weir's car, apartment and a storage locker, investigators said they found hair in the wheel well of her car, toilet plungers and books on hypnosis and witchcraft. FULL TEXT AT: KILLING WREN'S NOTE: Gee, did she have a dictionary or a bible in the house, too? Maybe a manual on "Home Plumbing Repair?" This isn't a joking matter. Many times when a situation like this occurs, if there are any occult related books or objects found on the site, they are specifically mentioned. Why not the entire library or other contents? O.K...they DID mention the plunger... The fact the murder took place on Samhain, the potential for an insanity plea and the mention of Witchcraft books all inserted together in this article makes for a very subtle, yet potentially damaging journalistic slant. We will continue to monitor this case. There is a forum for your comments on the full text page. Tuesday, January 06, 1998 at 19:31:04 (EST) ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- Aborigines have sued the South Australian state government to reclaim at least 10,000 graves on the bed of Lake Victoria, believed to be the world's largest ancient cemetery. The lawsuit could evolve into a landmark Aboriginal land claim case, raising questions for the first time about native title rights over land leased from the government for ranching. Phillip Lawson, a member of the Barkandji people, asked the Federal Court last Friday to recognize the Barkandji as the true owners of Lake Victoria in southwestern New South Wales. Dating back possibly 10,000 years, the graves had been flooded for more than 70 years since Lake Victoria was created as a reservoir, until 1994 when the lake was drained for maintenance work. The lake is managed by South Australia Water, and supplies up to 90 percent of the state's water. After 1994, it was refilled to 60 percent capacity, to 78 feet deep, leaving the graves on dry land. But South Australia Water is considering raising the water level to 88 feet -- a move Aborigines say would desecrate the site and submerge the graves. An environmental impact study into the plans is due out within weeks. South Australia Museum anthropologist Colin Pardoe said raising the level of the lake would deprive Australians of a unique archaeological link to the region's original inhabitants. ``It's terribly important from a purely archaeological sense because I think we can't emphasize enough the amount of information that comes from human remains,'' Pardoe said Tuesday.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company Monday, January 05, 1998 at 09:25:43 (EST) LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The question of whether the Boy Scouts in California can bar homosexuals and atheists will be argued before the state Supreme Court today. The outcome could change the entire fabric of the organization because it could also lead to the admission of girls. The key question on barring atheists and homosexuals is whether the Boy Scouts are a business. If they are, they have to obey a broad state anti-discrimination law. Lower courts have contradicted each other on the question. One court has even ruled different ways at different times. By definition, the Boy Scouts don't admit girls. But if they are found to be a business, that, too, could change. A case involving that question is pending.--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company Monday, January 05, 1998 at 09:21:53 (EST) GAMBAGA, Ghana (AP) -- Stopping for a moment from grinding her small ration of millet, the young woman smiles nervously and says, no, she's not sure exactly what she did to come to this place. All she knows is a little boy died. And she was blamed. And with accusations of witchcraft seething in her village, she was attacked by former friends and neighbors. Eventually, her family turned against her, and her husband brought her to Gambaga, a dusty town 30 miles from the nearest paved road that offers refuge to more than 100 women accused of witchcraft. They live in a cluster of mud-walled compounds out on the edge of town, hoping to reclaim someday a little piece of their lives. ``I don't know what happened,'' says the woman, who goes only by the name Banga and who now believes that she somehow did put a curse on her nephew, making him sick and finally killing him. `Only God can tell. I don't know how I did it,'' she says. In a country where cellular phones and satellite TV mix freely with age-old beliefs in the supernatural, where everyone from Cabinet ministers to missionaries believes in witchcraft, the ``witch villages'' of northern Ghana have become the center of a debate over how a modern government should deal with sometimes brutal traditions. If the witches of Gambaga live in abject poverty, forbidden from leaving without permission, their ghetto is also one of the few places where they are safe. ``If I go back I would not survive,'' says one woman, Hawa, who came to Gambaga a few months ago. ``The father of the baby I bewitched would hunt me down.'' For centuries, witchcraft has been used in this part of the world to explain natural phenomenon, from polio to impotence. The accused often are elderly women, the weakest members of African village life. Many times it is a jealous neighbor or another wife in a polygamous household who makes the witchcraft accusation. Women accused of sorcery have few choices but to seek protection in a witch village. There, the chief is believed to have the ability to drain a witch's powers before shunting her off to live in the sorcerers ghetto, where most of the women eventually come to believe they really are witches. Gambaga, a collection of mud-and-thatch huts and colonial-era fieldstone buildings, is one of the three known witch villages remaining in Ghana. During the last century, nearly every village in the region had its own witch ghetto, but they gradually disappeared under pressure from missionaries and British colonial authorities. Gambaga has a population of a few thousand, about 130 of them accused witches. It looks pretty much like every other town -- except that the witches' camp is spotlessly neat. ``No men,'' one woman explains. The alleged witches of Gambaga, most of them in their 40s and 50s, are mostly uneducated and come from small, rural villages, where fear of witchcraft runs deepest. Many will spend decades in the camp, living there until they die. Most are desperately poor. While the chief offers the women protection and the eventual promise of a proper burial, he provides them with little food. Instead, they rely on charity, the sale of firewood and the food they receive from working in the chief's fields. Ruling over Gambaga is Chief Yahaya Wune, a sometimes benevolent autocrat with a firm belief in the righteousness of the witches ghetto. ``It's not by magic that I keep them,'' he says through a translator. ``It's merely a tradition handed down from generation to generation to provide sanctuary.'' The witches ghetto stands near the humble, thatch-roofed dwelling that the chief calls his palace, Yahaya's rule has changed little from the days when his forefathers ran Gambaga. Here, his word is law, and he is greeted with bows and hand-clapping when he walks through town with his black, wooden staff. He becomes angry when he talks about the accusations leveled against the witch villages from hundreds of miles away in Accra, the capital. ``What crime have I committed?'' he demands. ``Those that actually did it -- are proved to be witches -- I accept,'' he says. ``But we settled them here to prevent them from being attacked.'' Still, after existing quietly for at least 150 years, the witch villages have become a political issue. Government officials, rights activists and church groups decry them as inhumane prisons where elderly women languish unless the chief decides they no longer pose a threat and their home villages will take them back. Freed witches must also repay the chief for his protection, giving him a goat, some chickens and the equivalent of about $10, a sizable payment for a Ghanaian villager. ``It is obnoxious and is a violation of the rights of women,'' says Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Ghana's deputy minister of employment and social welfare, who wants to ban the villages and prosecute the chiefs. But even critics concede that in a country where an accusation of witchcraft can be a death sentence, the witch villages provide a necessary haven. The chief ``is not a cruel man,'' says the Rev. Emmanuel Arongo, the Anglican bishop for the Gambaga region and a harsh critic of the camps. ``What he's able to do, he does.'' Some activists say that instead of closing the havens, the government should improve the lives of the women by providing aid, particularly deliveries of food and clean water. As for the women, some dream of the day when their accusers die off and they can return to their own villages, but for others the witch ghettos become their real homes. ``I won't go anywhere,'' says Banga, her 3-year-old daughter standing silently beside her while she works in front of their tiny hut. She says she misses parts of the life she left behind, especially her elder daughter and her husband. They visit from time to time, Banga says, but even if given the chance, she won't return to her former village. ``I don't want to go back,'' she says. ``This is my home.''--Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company Sunday, January 04, 1998 at 13:33:05 (EST) RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- Some white parents are fighting a plan to name a new high school after Martin Luther King Jr., claiming it would be branded as a black school, hurting graduates' college chances. `It's a very difficult situation, because we're all going to come across as a bunch of racists, which is really not true,'' said parent Chris Blasnek. The school in this city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles is scheduled to open in September 1999. I would be about two-thirds white. Flyers left on doorsteps recently urged parents to speak out against the proposed name when the school board votes on the issue Monday. Some parents say that graduates of a campus named after King might be perceived as coming from a predominantly black school, which they claim could hurt their college entrance prospects in some states. ``In some parts of the country, (King is) not looked upon as somebody famous,'' said Mark Van Meter. `That's baloney,'' said Rose Mayes, founder and co-chair of the Riverside Martin Luther King Monument Visionaries Foundation. `These people need to get a life. They need to go to some cultural sensitivity training.'' The name was defended by Lew Vanderzyl, president of the Riverside Unified School District and a member of the committee that proposed the name. `Whether he was black, white, green or red, the things for which he worked so hard are things that all Americans can stand to consider,'' Vanderzyl said Friday. EGYPTIAN QUEENS' PYRAMIDS OPEN by Eileen Alt Powell-Associated Press Writer (1/2) CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- For centuries, tourists have come to marvel at the Great Pyramids of Egypt's ancient kings. Now, Egypt's queens are about to get a chance at equal time. Three small pyramids beside the massive monument of the pharaoh Cheops -- one for his mother and two for his principal wives -- are being opened to the public this month. Zahi Hawass, chief archaeologist at the pyramids, says the goal is both to preserve the 4,500-year-old ruins and to give visitors more to see at the Giza Plateau on Cairo's western edge. The three queens' pyramids are dwarfed -- and sometimes shaded -- by the nearby pyramid of Cheops, which soars to 452 feet. The largest of the trio, the pyramid for Cheops' mother, Queen Hetepheres, once rose to a height of about 100 feet. But its smooth, limestone casing has been scavenged, exposing the jagged and crumbled underlying stones. The other ruined structures belong to Cheops' wives Henutsen and Meryetes, who probably was the mother of Pharaoh Chephren. Almost nothing is known about these ancient queens except their names. ``One description of Meryetes said she had blonde hair,'' Hawass said, adding she may have come from Libya. ``But we don't even know that for sure.'' The queen's main role ``was to provide male heirs'' for the pharaoh and, probably, to tend the shrines of the family ancestors, Hawass said. FULL TEXT AT: QUEENS TRIAL SET FOR RELIGIOUS COMMUNE MEMBERS By JOHN CANALIS, Special to The LA Times NEWPORT BEACH--Members of a Costa Mesa religious commune pleaded not guilty at Municipal Court in Newport Beach on Friday to charges that they violated city codes at their crafts store and warehouse. Judge Susanne S. Shaw denied a request from the Piecemakers, who also call themselves the Body of Christ Fellowship, to dismiss the charges. Shaw ordered them to stand trial Feb. 10. Marie Kolasinski, 76, and Anne Sorensen, 68, are charged with failing to secure permits for a September performance of the musical "Big River" in the Piecemakers Country Store parking lot and an unrelated crafts fair. The case also involves charges that group members illegally blocked a city sidewalk in October and illegally hosted a peddlers' market in November. A separate pretrial hearing will also be held on Feb. 10 on 11 additional allegations that city regulations--including those relating to safety signs and plumbing--were violated at the Piecemakers' warehouse on Logan Avenue. Sorensen and Jim Merklin, 60, are the defendants in that case and have pleaded not guilty. The Piecemakers are fighting all the charges, arguing that the laws are unconstitutional and contrary to orders from God. They insist they should be allowed to do what they like on their own property and deny that safety was ever overlooked. The Piecemakers plan to represent themselves during the trial. "The more we can stay away from the lawyers, the better we feel it will go for us and the country,"Kolasinski said. WREN'S NOTE: This is another conflict between zoning laws and religious rights. In this case it seems that the group felt not so much that the zoning ordinances were restrictive, but that the group had the right to ignore them altogether. Remember that any events that you may hold-even on your property-may be considered "public events" or church services and so be restricted by local zoning ordinances. If in doubt, check with your town or city hall's clerk's office. Ignorance of the law is never a valid legal defense. Friday, January 02, 1998 at 12:59:07 (EST) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The teen-age years can be confusing- sometimes you seem like a child, other times you seem like an adult. And guess what? The legal system sees you the same way. Some laws treat teen-agers as children, making them subject to curfews and school locker searches that could not be imposed on adults. Other laws treat teen-agers as adults, giving them protection against on-the-job discrimination but also subjecting some murderers as young as 16 to the death penalty. How to sort out the confusion? A new book by an Arizona juvenile court judge called ``What Are My Rights?'' aims to help teen-agers understand their legal rights and responsibilities in a fast-changing world. Surprisingly, some youngsters think laws do not apply to them until they turn 18, says author Thomas A. Jacobs, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge. ``We hear so often, `I didn't know that' or `if I had known I would have acted differently,''' Jacobs said in an interview. But teen-agers need to be informed, Jacobs said, because many laws now impose more serious consequences on what used to be viewed as youthful pranks, such as scrawling graffiti on public property. Some need to consider what will happen to them if their parents divorce, the judge said. They also should understand that if they become a parent, they will face the very adult responsibility of supporting their child. ``The more you know about your rights, the better equipped you'll be to help yourself and others,'' says the book, issued by Free Spirit Publishing in Minneapolis. Many laws treat children differently simply because they are young. ``The theory is that we need to work with our children,'' Jacobs said. ``They need guidance; they need protection.'' Consider: --Teen-agers with jobs have almost the same rights as adults, including protection against discrimination because of race or sex. However, child labor laws restrict the hours youths can work, and hazardous jobs often are off-limits. --Youngsters in public schools have some right to privacy and free expression, but courts say those rights can be balanced against the need for a positive learning environment. Therefore, schools can impose dress codes, search the lockers of students suspected of breaking rules or require drug tests for athletes. --Young people who commit crimes usually are sent to the juvenile justice system, where the scales are tipped more toward rehabilitation than punishment. But an increasing number of young people who commit serious crimes are being sent to adult court, where they can wind up in prison or even on death row. Children have legal protection against abuse or neglect by their parents or guardians. But parents have the authority to discipline their children, within reason. Also, parents can decide what school their children will attend, when they can get a job, and what religion they will be raised in, if any. ``The bottom line ... is that you're required to follow the rules set by your parents,'' the book says. ``While some of these rules may seem too strict or unfair, they're designed to protect you,'' Jacobs wrote. ``Understanding your rights and responsibilities at home can bring you closer to reaching your goals in life.'' EDITOR'S NOTE -- Laurie Asseo covers the Supreme Court and legal issues for The Associated Press. Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company Thursday, January 01, 1998 at 09:39:23 (EST) Archie Bunker had his chair. Danielle Steele has her writing attic. Kendall English teacher Jennie Olaguibel has her altar. On that altar -- a small round table in Olaguibel's bedroom -- a lighted candle keeps vigil over a rosary, an angel photograph, some crosses. `I light a different candle as I see the need, depending on where I need to draw the strength from,' said Olaguibel, 26. `Most often it's St. Barbara, my patron saint, a very strong female. When I light candles, I pray. Sometimes I might have a particular purpose, and I'll write it down and place it under the candle. Lately, I've put down meditative words.' Those words include peace, joy and simplicity -- emotional states that many people strive for in today's ever-increasing load of work, family, friends. As such, a growing number are designating sacred space in their homes: a quiet corner, a place to meditate, a room of one's own. The space varies per person, but certain items recur: candles, incense, crystals, flowers and family photographs, objects that touch an inner chord. Barbara Biziou, author of a forthcoming book on rituals for healing, has observed a definite trend in people creating altars in their homes over the last year. ``It seems to cross all demographics, although I find women are more interested,'' she said. ``They're the ones going to workshops and buying the books about it. The men I work with are usually overstressed brokers and attorneys with health scares. They might also be seeing their peers and mentors having health problems, and they want to do something before it gets to them.'' While Biziou's clients make a conscientious effort to create sacred space in their homes and offices, very often it evolves naturally and instinctively. Enhancement of religion: Such was the case with Olaguibel, who is a practicing Roman Catholic. ``I think I first started collecting sacred things when I was about 13 or 14,'' she said. ``There was always a little corner in the room where I put special things -- not necessarily religious things, but things that are special to me or hold special meaning for me. ``Even now I don't see my altar as affiliated with any set religion. They were gifts that were given to me out of love, and they're special to me because they hold peace for me when I look at them.'' Biziou sees sacred space as an enhancement of most, if not all, religious beliefs. From Catholic priests to Jewish rabbis, many advocate setting aside space in the home for meditation and prayer, she said. `It seems to be in harmony with what anyone's doing, and it doesn't have to be about statues. It can be about flowers, which are not of any one religion,'' she said. Altars in closet: Freelance translator James R. Jones, 40, of South Miami, keeps three altars in a large walk-in closet. His main altar features representations of a female goddess and male god, a crystal from his home state of Arkansas, several incense burners, two candle holders, consecrated salt and water. His second altar is set up for remembrance, with seven glasses of water for spiritual guides. One of the glasses is dedicated to relatives and friends who have passed away. ``This comes from a Cuban spiritualist tradition, a way of showing ancestors respect,'' said Jones, who practices Wicca, a religion based on nature worship and witchcraft. Jones was raised as a Methodist, a departure from the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, the inspiration for Jones' third altar. Santeria is a loose amalgam of Catholicism and religious beliefs developed over time from African spiritualism. As is the case with those who set aside sacred space in their homes, Jones incorporates it into his daily life. ``I go to my altar every day and acknowledgedivinity,'' he said. ``I usually have a standardized prayer, which varies from day to day, depending on whether I'm in a hurry. There are days when I remember my loved ones who passed away. I'll light candles and incense and say special prayers for them.'' Energy of prayer: Cheryl Richardson, owner of the Mystical Amulet store in South Miami, defines sacred space as any area that has been energized by prayer. ``To me, the whole earth is sacred space, but what determines one area to be more special or sacred than another comes from prayer,'' she said. ``If you take a piece of land and say prayers over it, the land absorbs those energies. If you do it enough over a period of time, it would generate its own energy.'' The sacred space, as its name implies, is a part of the home that's off limits to others. ``It's not just a table,'' said Olaguibel, referring to her altar. ``A friend used to come into my room all the time and put her keys on it. I from wherever I was sitting, walk over, immediately take them off, and tell her it wasn't a place for her keys. Even my brother and nephew know that they don't play with or touch anything on it.'' While each person's space is personal, Richardson recommends a setup that honors the four elements: air, water, fire, earth. Fire can be represented with a candle, air with incense, water with a glass of water and earth with crystals. The idea is that nature's elements balance the turbulence of the man-made world. Biziou, a part-time Boynton Beach resident, suggests placing a picture of a spiritual teacher or a close friend in your space. A bowl of cinnamon sticks represents prosperity, chocolate is sweetness, oranges are joy and roses mean love and romance, she said. ``The important thing is that it has meaning for you,'' she said. ``Do not clutter your space and be sure to change it every week or two to keep the energy flowing and fresh.'' A quiet corner: Olaguibel is fully aware of the possible criticism of her keeping an altar. ``I can tell you that in some institutionalized religions, this would be considered sacrilegious to have a mini-altar in the home. It could be considered taking religion into my own hands or interpreting it for myself instead of having an authority interpret it for me.'' But she doesn't see it that way. ``To me, it's a quiet corner, focusing on things that make you feel happy, whole and at peace. If a person can find a little corner away from the frantic pace of the world that makes you feel at peace, what's wrong with that?''--Copyright ⌐ 1997 The Miami Herald Thursday, January 01, 1998 at 07:57:52 (EST) Right before Thanksgiving, there was a segment run on National Public Radio (NPR) about common elements in various low crime neighborhoods. The thesis of the piece was that where people cared about children and believed that their neighbors also cared about the neighborhood children, a sense of community sort of grew. This is an extreme abbreviation and really doesn├t do justice to the story, but an interesting thing happened. NPR has a really big audience locally. People began smiling and waving passing each other on our street the day the story ran. Seizing the opportunity, I walked my dog and stopped wherever people had children on the lawn and invited the parents to stop by for our "First Saturday Open House" to talk to Santa Claus. Then, the first Saturday in December, I made a punch bowl of juice and ginger ale and set out a platter of cookies. A man from my office came dressed in a Santa Claus suit and sat in an overstuffed chair beside our Yule tree. At the very least, I reasoned, my children would have a visit with Santa. It worked. I was amazed. I really didn├t expect anyone to show up. People whose faces I had seen for over a year, but whose names I never knew brought kids to see Santa, to the double delight of my kids. The introduced themselves to each other and identified themselves by address (which house on the street) as well. Our cost - minimal. I bought the Santa suit three years ago at an "Half Price After Xmas Sale"...$22.00 (check the sales this week!). The groceries (for the snack table) were just juice, ginger ale and cookies, another $25.00. What we got for that money was priceless. The only reason I mention costs it to prove that one doesn't have to spend a lot of money to do this. The elderly couple at the end of the cul-de-sac knocked on our door the Saturday after Christmas to ask us to Wassail later that evening. We hired a sitter and made a point of attending. "Missus Clare" admitted that she had heard the program, and wanted to make it "happen here, too." She had a pot of apple cider simmering on the stove, a small bottle of rum beside it, and coffee cups beside it on the counter. Wonderful old albums (remember vinyl?) played somewhere out of sight. This morning, when I walked the dog, the woman across the street wrapped up in a robe and coat and came out to walk and chat with me (about nothing in particular). We had met at Missus Clare's. I was stunned. I had seen this woman almost every day since we bought the house, but she had never glanced my way before. My point?? It seems to work better to be known as a good neighbor, good friend, good employee, before people associate one├s name with the "W" word (known as a witch). I never expected to be able to do that on this city street. A radio program gave me (and Missus Clare) the idea and the holiday season gave us the opportunity. Start small, but take a chance or two. People, not everyone - but enough, really do respond to a simple "neighborly" act (AKA guerrilla kindness). Rebekah Goldwin Evergreen Forest Coven familymatters@mindspring.com |
 - 1998.iso/wvoice/wwwwit~1.com/images/wvox_h~1.gif) |
 - 1998.iso/wvoice/wwwwit~1.com/images/wvox_e~1.gif) |
 - 1998.iso/wvoice/wwwwit~1.com/images/wvox_map.gif) |
P.O. Box 560157, West Medford, Massachusetts. 02156 U.S.A.