Nevada war widow wins battle with government

WASHINGTON — The widow of a Nevada soldier killed in Afghanistan won a legal battle with the federal government when the Department of Veterans Affairs agreed to engrave the symbol of the Wiccan faith on grave markers and memorials.

In a lawsuit settlement announced Monday, the department agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle, a five-point star inside a circle, to its list of symbols of belief that can be displayed on markers in national cemeteries.

Roberta Stewart, the widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, a Nevada Army National Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan on Sept. 25, 2005, filed the lawsuit in November along with Karen DePolito, widow of a Utah serviceman, and Wiccan leaders.

They charged the VA’s refusal to allow the pentacle on grave markers violated religious, speech and due process rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

"I have waited for this day for so long, and today I have relief, comfort and happiness in knowing this quest for religious freedom has prevailed," Stewart said during a news conference Monday.

Stewart, who is from Fernley, wore a necklace displaying a modified pentacle pendant, along with her husband’s dog tags that identified him as a Wiccan.

The government agreed to the settlement "in the interest of the families concerned and to spare taxpayers the expense of further litigation," VA spokesman Matt Burns said in an e-mail.

Additionally, Burns said, the agency settled after it became clear that the Wiccan pentacle would be deemed acceptable under new rules the VA has proposed for recognizing "emblems of belief."

About 1,800 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccan, according to 2005 Defense Department statistics.

The Wiccan faith is based on nature and emphasizes respect for the earth and its processes.

Stewart petitioned the federal government for more than a year after her husband’s death to have the pentacle engraved on his memorial plaque at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.

The space allotted for the plaque remained blank until last November when the state of Nevada sidestepped the federal government and allowed the use of the symbol.

Since then, Stewart has continued her campaign to add the pentacle to the VA’s list of 38 "symbols of belief," which includes those associated with Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other religions.

"My husband would want the Constitution upheld and all his fellow soldiers to receive the same honors" that he received, Stewart said.

Selena Fox, Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., another party to the lawsuit, said she knows of at least 11 families that have requested the pentacle be engraved on gravestones of fallen U.S. soldiers.

"It is a major victory for the larger quest for religious freedom for all," Fox said.

A judge must approve the settlement to dismiss the lawsuit and formalize the agreement, said Richard Katskee, a lead lawyer in the case and assistant legal director for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Both parties agreed to the settlement on Friday, Katskee said, and he expects a judge to approve it in the next few days.

Patrick Stewart and four other soldiers died after their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. His remains were cremated, his widow said, and some of the ashes scattered. The rest of the ashes were interred at Circle Sanctuary’s cemetery in Wisconsin.

As a result of the settlement, the government will provide a granite marker with a pentacle for the Wisconsin grave site, she said.