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Wednesday, April 18, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Religious use of peyote not a right, court says stirring local views
Bv Kathrvn Lancaster
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence residents expressed concern about yesterday's Supreme Court ruling that there is no constitutional right to take peyote for religious use.
"I feel real sad," said Orville Rice, a member of the Kansas chapter of Native American Church. "I really hurts to hear that. It's like taking our church away from us."
The practice of using peyote, a cactus button containing the hallucinogen mescaline, in religious ceremonies is equivalent to Christians reading the Bible, said Rice, who works for facilities management at Haskell Indian Junior College.
Supreme Court justices, voting 6-3, said Oregon officials could deny unemployment benefits to two fired drug counselors who ingested small amounts of peyote in Native American religious ceremonies.
can religious beliefs. Justice Antonin Sealia, writing for the majority, said the First Amendment did not permit people to break the law in the name of religious freedom.
"We have never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting the conduct that the state is free to regulate," he said.
In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Harry A. Blackman accused the judge of not knowing or the first time as a luxury rather than an essential element of liberty.
He was joined by Justice William
Brennan and Thurgood Marshall.
Yesterday's ruling sends a signal to Native Americans that religious freedom for unorthodox practices is an unfulfilled and hollow promise, Blackmun said.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Byron R. White, John Paul Stevens and Anthony M. Kennedy concurred with Scalia's opinion.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor provided the sixth vote to deny the unemployment benefits to the fired drug counselors.
Orville Rice
But she said in a separate concurring opinion that the five justices went too far in limiting religious freedom.
'I feel real sad. It really hurts to hear that. It's like taking our church away from us.'
Peyote, considered a sacrament, has been used in Native American Church ceremonies since pre-Columbus days, said Rob Daugherty, a social science instructor at Haskell.
Orville Rice member of the Kaneas Chapter of Native American Church.
"Until this ruling, both Congress and the courts had treated its use as entitled to protection," he said. "This is a sad day not only for Indian people but for religious people everywhere."
For the second consecutive year, Kansas bald eagles have hatched on the banks of Clinton Lake.
"It's a grim day for religious freedom," Miller said. "And it is a major blow to the Native American culture."
Smith, a Klamath Indian, is a recovering alcoholic who said he had not taken a drink since 1957.
Bv Mark McHugh
Watchers spot more bald eagles
not taken a criminal action. Black is not an American Indian but converted to the Native American Church. He worked for the rehabilitation program while recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.
State officials never disputed that both men sincerely believed peyote was a part of the church's religious practices.
culture.
The fired workers, Galen W. Black and Alfred C. Smith, were counselors with the Douglas County, Ore., Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment.
The organization since has changed its policy and now permits employees to use peyote in religious services.
Lawyers for both men said using small quantities of peyote in a church service was comparable to the sacramural use of small quantities of wine in Christian religious ceremonies.
Kansan staff writer
Dave Rheodes, park manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Clinton Lake, said yesterday that bird watchers spotted two eaglets in early April near the middle of the Rock Creek arm of the lake. This is the same spot where two eaglets were born last year.
But state officials said that if peyote was permitted in church ceremonies, it would create a wedge for allowing other drugs, such as marijuana, to be used by other religious groups.
Tim Miller, KU assistant professor of religious studies, said that exemption had been recognized in Kansas.
The Associated Press, contributed information to this story.
Unlike Oregon, the federal government and most states exempt religious use of peyote from their criminal drug laws.
spot where two eagles
Rhoades said he did not know if the two adult eagles in the nest were the same that gave birth to last year's offspring.
He said this was a positive sign for the existence of bald eagles, an endangered carnivore in the food cycle.
Since the banning of DDT, a colorless insecticide that kills on contact, more cases of successful hatchings have been documented in the Midwest.
Galen Pittman, board member for the Jayhawk Audubon Society, said that because the eagles needed living space without human disturbance, any intrusions, such as boats coming through the area, would be detrimental to their existence.
Rhoades said that people entering the protected area would be issued a citation and could be punished by up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
A public viewing area has been set up across the water from the nest, about 200 yards away, to keep humans from disturbing the eagles.
Rhoades said that anyone interested in seeing the eagles should go to the Army Corps of Engineers Office at the north end of the dam for information about how to get to the site.
"It's important that we protect the nest site at the lake, even if it does compete with recreational activities," he said.
Rhodes said the area where the eagles had roosted was optimal because their nest was right above the water. Fish will begin spawning within the next few weeks, which will facilitate food gathering.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Gala
Continued from p. 1
The group met to show solidarity and to share experiences as oppressed people. The vigil, which lasted about 45 minutes, is an annual part of GALA Week.
About halfway through the vigil,
Mayor Shirley Martin-Smith joined
the group.
Liz Tolbert, member of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, said it was significant that the vigil took place outside City Hall because Lawrence did not include any protection for gay men and lesbian women in its ordinances.
"Although it may be our pain that unites us, it is also our pain that makes us strong." Tolbert said.
Russell Dickison, Lawrence senior,
eched Tolbert's thoughts.
"It is really significant to me that this is here tonight, because I was in that room a little over two years ago when the City Commission decided we didn't deserve protection," he said.
In 1988, city commissioners voted against a proposal to amend the city's human rights ordinance to
prohibit discrimination based on sex pupil orientation
When Martin-Smith arrived, Tolbert said, "I think as mayor of this town you need to know that gay and lesbian people are very disheartened because of what happened two years ago. This is a concern of ours. This should be a concern of everyone. I hope that you will bring that issue before the commission again and support it."
After the vigil, Martin-Smith said she joined the group because as mayor, she had the responsibility to see what was happening in front of City Hall.
Martin-Smith thanked Tolbert and said she would give it some thought.
"I will do what they asked me to do," she said. "I will pull the commission minutes and review them for myself. I'd like the opportunity to review the former commissioners' views. That's really all I can say at this point."
Martin-Smith said it was sad that people's civil rights were still being
violated in the 1990s
"I think we do need some awareness and sensitivity," she said.
Michael Diggs, Wichita senior, told the group that when he first came to the University of Kansas, he was homophobic and didn't realize that all people deserved to be treated with dignity.
"I started to grow and understand that gay and lesbian people deserved respect like all people," Diggs said. "I walked from darkness into light."
The candlelight vigil took place after a speech by Sue Hyle, director of the privacy project for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. Hyde spoke to about 50 people at the Pioneer Room in the Burge Union about issues that affect gay men and lesbian women.
"We really are changing the world." Hyde said during the speech. "We really are making it a safer place for the people we love. And by having Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week at the University of Kansas, you make yourselves visible."
Jeans
them not to wear jeans.
"For one day, all these people on campus who are homophobic, who are afraid they might be mistaken that they are gay, will go to all sorts of means to wear something different," Tolbert said.
Kansas to get Indian bones artifacts back
Amy K. Myers, director-elect of GLASK, said Wear Blue Jeans If You're caged Day and GALA Week caused much more commotion at Lawrence High School. She said some students' parents instructed
Tolbert said, "Homophobia is what causes the violence, and homophobia is what causes the huge reaction to people wearing jeans."
Continued from p. 1
The Associated Press
Myers said the best possible thing that could happen would be for people to hold their blue jeans in their hands and think, "It's Wear Blue Jeans If You're Gay Day. Why should I care if people think I'm gay?" then go ahead and wear the jeans.
'We knew nothing about this, and at this moment it's a great feeling to learn they are coming home.'
WALLINGFORD, Conn. — A collection of bones and artifacts that were taken from Indian burial grounds more than 75 years ago and ended up in the attic of the Wallingford Historical Society will be returned to Kansas.
She said the day personalized people's homophobia. Homophobia is the irrational fear of homosexuals or homosexuality.
Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas sponsors the day as a part of Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week.
Liz Tolbert, member of GLSOK,
said the group chose blue jeans
because they were very accessible
and because people wore them
almost every day.
— Steve Cadue tribal leader for the Kickapoo Indian Nation
The bones, pieces of pottery and an Indian necklace will be returned to their home state this week, Tom Witty Jr., archaeologist for the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, said Monday.
The bones were given to the society by a relative of Wallingford resident Harold Stearns, who acquired them sometime before 1917, said society member May Wooding.
"We knew nothing about this, and at this moment it's a great feeling to learn they are coming home," said Steve Cadue, tribal leader for the Kickapoo Indian Nation.
The Wallingford Historical Society has a copy of a letter sent to Stearns on Jan. 17, 1917, from George J. Remsburg who, with his brother Claudel, conducted a dig of burial mounds and Indian graves in northeastern Kansas in 1907.
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