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Mural at issue (School board members applaud burning a depiction of evolution: Dover trial day 5)
York Daily Record ^ | 9/30/05 | LAURI LEBO

Posted on 09/30/2005 8:31:26 AM PDT by Right Wing Professor

Two members applauded the burning of a depiction of evolution, Casey Brown testified.

HARRISBURG — When he painted a mural depicting the ascent of man, Zach Strausbaugh had no idea that evolution was a controversial topic.

"At the time, I really didn't give it a second thought," he said. "I believe in fact, and there are so many facts that support evolution."

For his graduation requirement at Dover Area High School, the then-senior spent almost a semester working on the detailed 4-foot-by-16-foot painting of man evolving from his apelike ancestors. In 1998, he donated the work to his science department.

But Strausbaugh was more of an art student than a science major. So when the now 25-year-old design engineer learned that Larry Reeser, the high school janitor at the time, burned his artwork two years ago because it offended him, well, he was a little disappointed.

"I think it's kind of ignorant," said Strausbaugh, who lives in Dover. "Even if he didn't believe in it, it wasn't nice to destroy someone else's work."

But in testimony Thursday in the fourth day of the Dover school district's federal trial over intelligent design, board members Bill Buckingham and Alan Bonsell were said to have defended the burning of Strausbaugh's painting. The testimony came in U.S. Middle District Court as the plaintiffs' attorneys were trying to show that board members had religious motivation when they approved intelligent design as a "balance" to the theory of evolution in the biology curriculum.

Former school board member Carol "Casey" Brown said Reeser destroyed the work because he thought it was full of lies, it offended his faith and he didn't want his granddaughter exposed to the graphic nature of the painting, something he considered to be "an obscenity."

Brown said Buckingham later told her that what Reeser did was right and the district should not be accepting such donations of artwork.

Brown's husband, Jeff, also a former board member, recalled that in 2003, Bonsell also said he was offended by the mural.

"I remember him snorting through his nostrils," Jeff Brown testified Thursday. "And saying something about kids shouldn't be exposed to this sort of thing."

Reeser said Thursday night he agreed with Casey Brown's characterization of why he burned the mural.

"Did you see the monkey's genitals hanging out?" Reeser asked. "How would you like your granddaughter to sit next to that?"

Casey Brown said she had been told Reeser had been reprimanded "and subsequently retired," but the 67-year-old said he had not been punished in any way.

The Browns were the day's primary witnesses. The husband and wife served on the school board together but quit in protest after a majority of the board voted in October to change the biology curriculum to include intelligent design.

After Casey Brown submitted her resignation, she testified that both Bonsell and Buckingham questioned her belief in God. She said Buckingham called her an atheist that night and accused her and her husband of destroying the school board.

Months later, board member Alan Bonsell also questioned her faith, Casey Brown testified. "He told me I would be going to hell," Brown said.

Bonsell denied making that remark. "That's an outright lie," he said. "I never said anything like that — anything like that."

While the Browns both testified that board members consistently ignored established district policies to push through the revised biology curriculum, they also admitted that at times they played a role in the changes.

Jeff Brown said he was the first one to actually use the phrase "intelligent design" at a June meeting in an effort to steer the debate from creationism.

However, in January depositions, Bill Buckingham said he first heard it mentioned by Bonsell in 2003.

Brown also testified he was the one who proposed a motion at an Oct. 18 meeting to add "Note: Origins of Life will not be taught" to the biology curriculum change that includes intelligent design. But upon cross-examination, one of Dover's attorneys, Patrick Gillen, showed that it was actually Bonsell who proposed the addendum.

Additionally, when curriculum committee members issued a proposal to change the biology curriculum to point to "problems" of evolutionary theory, Casey Brown suggested changing the word "problems" to "gaps."

Biologist Ken Miller testified this week that the use of the word "gaps" is misleading to students.

Dover's lead attorney, Richard Thompson, said the Browns' participation shows that the board did follow a democratic process. He said the fact that Bonsell, who the defense has been presenting as the chief architect of the curriculum revision, was willing to propose the motion showed a willingness to compromise with teachers and other board members.

Plaintiffs will continue making their case today in a trial that is expected to continue for another five weeks.

Despite the daily headlines and television coverage, Strausbaugh has not been following the case closely. And even though he doesn't think intelligent design belongs in science class, he thinks the issue has been blown out of proportion.

"I can't believe our little town of Dover's making national news for something like this," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: crevolist; lawsuit; scienceeducation
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To: Central Scrutiniser; TaxRelief

Not reading, grammar, math, spelling, history, geography, Spanish, or even computer programming. Naw, none of those would help them get good jobs.


21 posted on 09/30/2005 10:19:55 AM PDT by Tax-chick (When bad things happen, conservatives get over it!)
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To: Tax-chick

Yeah, and teaching them a fable about an ark and a 5000 year old world will get them far too.

Just a tip: The Flintstones was NOT a documentary.


22 posted on 09/30/2005 10:26:44 AM PDT by Central Scrutiniser (Never pet a dog that is on fire)
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To: Central Scrutiniser
I didn't say a word about arks, etc., you'll notice. Either subject is almost entirely unrelated to useful instruction. If mandatory government education isn't going to result in marketable skills, we'd better just admit that it's incarceration under another name.
23 posted on 09/30/2005 10:29:56 AM PDT by Tax-chick (When bad things happen, conservatives get over it!)
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To: cripplecreek

Proof of an ancient, developing universe, provided by God.

24 posted on 09/30/2005 10:41:48 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: Right Wing Professor
Update from the York Dispatch, showing that that ol' Separation of Church and State thang doesn't seem to have caught on in Dover, PA.

TRIAL WITNESS: Meetings were like revivals
CHRISTINA KAUFFMAN The York Dispatch

HARRISBURG -- The meeting reminded Carol "Casey" Brown of the traveling tent revivals that used to set up at the York Fairgrounds.

But it was a meeting of the Dover Area school board in June 2004, the former school board member said in court yesterday.

And behind the microphone, instead of a traveling preacher, was Charlotte Buckingham, school board member William Buckingham's wife.

Charlotte Buckingham quoted scripture from the Old Testament and said the district students would be cheated if they couldn't learn about biblical creation.

She told people how to accept Jesus Christ as their "personal savior," Brown said.

Alan Bonsell, board president at the time, allowed Buckingham to continue for about 15 minutes, three times the length of public comment permitted at the board's meetings, Brown testified.

As she sat there listening, she heard muttered amens coming from her fellow board members sitting at the table around her. She wasn't sure who, exactly. She heard the whispered affirmations rising up from both sides of her, she testified.

These were people she had once considered her friends.

Sensed own departure: But the spring school board meetings were the beginning of what Brown sensed was her inevitable departure from the board on which she had served for a decade, she said.

She said she felt things were getting out of control. She and her husband were afraid someone was going to get into trouble, she testified.

In mid-October 2004, she and her husband, Jeff Brown, resigned from the board.

The couple testified yesterday on behalf of 11 parents who filed suit against the district and its school board, claiming the school board members were religiously motivated when they voted to include a statement about intelligent design in high school biology classes.

Parent Frederick Callahan, a plaintiff in the suit, also testified as attorneys from the ACLU and Pepper Hamilton LLC continued to make the parents' case in U.S. Middle District Court in Harrisburg.

Jeff and Casey Brown testified that board member Alan Bonsell and the district's supervisor of buildings and grounds were offended by a senior art project that had been hung on the walls of the high school's science wing.

The large mural, a series of plywood sheets painted to depict an ape ascending into a man, had to be removed when the high school was undergoing renovations.

Jeff Brown testified that upon seeing the work that a student donated to the school, Bonsell began "snorting through his nostrils" and said students should not be exposed to the work because "this is not where we came from."

Casey Brown said the supervisor of buildings and grounds later burned the work because he didn't want his granddaughter, who was going to be entering the high school, to see it. Casey Brown's testimony started from memories of a 2002 board retreat when Bonsell, who had been on the board for three months, said he was "concerned with the state of morality" and that prayer and faith should be reintroduced to schools.

She testified that Bonsell told board members he wanted "fair and balanced" treatment of creationism alongside the theory of evolution.

Adoption postponed: That school year, the school district had to put off buying biology textbooks because of a tight budget. The books were already so outdated that they weren't compatible with the curriculum, Casey Brown said.

But when the school board set out to buy the books for the next school year, William Buckingham spurred a movement against the textbooks because they were "laced with Darwinism," Casey Brown testified.

Board members made several "inappropriate" comments at June 2004 meetings, ranging from comments about taking a "stand" for someone who died on a cross to arguing that the separation of church and state is a myth, Casey and Jeff Brown testified.

Jeff Brown testified that when he expressed doubt about the board's apparent religious agenda, William Buckingham accused him of cowardice and said that if Jeff Brown had fought in the American Revolution, "we would still have a queen."

By the last week of July 2004, the board was divided, and William Buckingham had begun rallying for the intelligent design book "Of Pandas and People."

At the next board meeting, William Buckingham told his opposing board members that he and his political allies would vote for the biology textbook if they could also buy the "Pandas" book, Casey Brown said.

But William Buckingham's opponents found enough votes to buy only the biology textbook.

Push for 'Pandas': A frustrated William Buckingham started to collect donations to buy the "Pandas" books, Jeff Brown said.

Forgoing much of the board's typical protocol for policy adoption, William Buckingham and his supporters rushed the book's approval for an Oct. 18 meeting, Jeff Brown testified.

"I felt that we were being way too hasty," he said.

After a contentious discussion leading up to the vote that night, Jeff and Casey Brown, along with board member Noel Wenrich, voted against adopting the policy to read a statement about intelligent design and refer to the "Pandas" books. The policy passed 6-3.

Disappointed with the board's decision and fearful of an impending First Amendment lawsuit, Jeff and Casey Brown announced their resignations immediately after the vote.

Casey Brown said that Bonsell called her an atheist and that William Buckingham told her she was "going to hell."

In her resignation letter, Casey Brown said two of her fellow board members -- William Buckingham and former board member Jane Cleaver -- had asked her if she was "born again."

On cross-examination, school board attorney Patrick Gillen set out to debunk the relevancy of the questions because they weren't asked at board functions and the board members were her friends.

Casey Brown testified that the questions were posed during a visit to Cleaver's house and a ride home from a school board meeting in William Buckingham's car.

25 posted on 09/30/2005 10:47:43 AM PDT by Right Wing Professor
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To: Right Wing Professor

Just speechless.....in this case, I see little difference between the Nazis' book burning and this incident here. Ignore science and art....just burn it if you don't like it.


26 posted on 09/30/2005 10:57:09 AM PDT by indcons (How about rooting for our side for a change, you liberal morons?)
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To: Right Wing Professor

And behind the microphone, instead of a traveling preacher, was Charlotte Buckingham, school board member William Buckingham's wife.

Charlotte Buckingham quoted scripture from the Old Testament and said the district students would be cheated if they couldn't learn about biblical creation.

She told people how to accept Jesus Christ as their "personal savior," Brown said.

Alan Bonsell, board president at the time, allowed Buckingham to continue for about 15 minutes, three times the length of public comment permitted at the board's meetings, Brown testified.

As she sat there listening, she heard muttered amens coming from her fellow board members sitting at the table around her. She wasn't sure who, exactly. She heard the whispered affirmations rising up from both sides of her, she testified.

These were people she had once considered her friends.

Sensed own departure: But the spring school board meetings were the beginning of what Brown sensed was her inevitable departure from the board on which she had served for a decade, she said.

She said she felt things were getting out of control. She and her husband were afraid someone was going to get into trouble, she testified.

Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
27 posted on 09/30/2005 11:06:49 AM PDT by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: my sterling prose)
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To: Right Wing Professor
What these people do not understand is that the theory of evolution is a scientific theory and therefore can never be proven either true or false.

What we do know, however is:

"Historically speaking, almost every theory in science eventually becomes discarded as wrong."

The same will eventually happen to the theory of evolution.
28 posted on 09/30/2005 11:34:17 AM PDT by microgood
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To: jennyp
Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.


Actual photo taken at Dover school board meeting

29 posted on 09/30/2005 11:37:58 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: microgood
What we do know, however is:

"Historically speaking, almost every theory in science eventually becomes discarded as wrong."

The same will eventually happen to the theory of evolution.
So, the electron cloud theory of chemistry will eventually be discarded as wrong? Should we then teach the angels-moving-the-electrons-around theory of chemistry alongside the mainstream theory?

Will Heliocentrism eventually be "discarded as wrong" too? Should we give geocentrism equal time in high school?

(Wow, that geocentrism guy is in rare form this month!)

30 posted on 09/30/2005 11:54:48 AM PDT by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: my sterling prose)
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To: jennyp
So, the electron cloud theory of chemistry will eventually be discarded as wrong? Should we then teach the angels-moving-the-electrons-around theory of chemistry alongside the mainstream theory?

I think you misunderstood me or I was not clear enough.

What I am saying is that the people who burned the depiction of evolution should not have done so and should not be intimidated or frightened by the theory of evolution because of the reasons I stated. It will eventually be replaced by some other theory, as almost all have been historically. Plus it can never be proven, so why feel threatened by it?

Actually, one of the things that makes evolution theory suspicious is that it has not been replaced yet, as virtually all other theories have.
31 posted on 09/30/2005 12:05:43 PM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
"Actually, one of the things that makes evolution theory suspicious is that it has not been replaced yet, as virtually all other theories have."

So in your logic one of the flaws of evolution is it's staggering success. lol
32 posted on 09/30/2005 12:13:30 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
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To: CarolinaGuitarman; microgood
LOL!

Any port in a storm.

33 posted on 09/30/2005 12:16:31 PM PDT by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: my sterling prose)
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To: CarolinaGuitarman
So in your logic one of the flaws of evolution is it's staggering success. lol

It is not necessarily a flaw, but it is unusual.
34 posted on 09/30/2005 12:23:37 PM PDT by microgood
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To: CarolinaGuitarman
It's almost a candidate for inclusion in my THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON CREATIONISM section. But it's already getting too long.
35 posted on 09/30/2005 12:47:36 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: cripplecreek; Right Wing Professor
"Reeser destroyed the work because he thought it was full of lies, it offended his faith and he didn't want his granddaughter exposed to the graphic nature of the painting, something he considered to be "an obscenity."

Didn't the Taliban say something similar about the ancient statues they blew up in Afghanistan?

That was exactly my thought as well. This is outrageous.

This is the kind of thing that a janitor should have been fired for. He destroyed school property because it offended his delicate religious sensitivities, and he doesn't get punished in any way?

Worse yet, we run the risk of all conservatives being lumped in with this thug. The only good news I see here is that the Dover School Board's lie is now fully exposed for what it is.

36 posted on 09/30/2005 1:04:17 PM PDT by highball ("I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -- Thomas Jefferson)
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To: microgood
"It is not necessarily a flaw, but it is unusual."

I see you really are going to argue it. lol Amazing mental gymnastics.
37 posted on 09/30/2005 1:33:25 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
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To: CarolinaGuitarman

This actually ranks up there with "My ignorance is my strength."


38 posted on 09/30/2005 2:04:23 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: CarolinaGuitarman
Reminds me of the problem with the case against OJ. There was so much evidence against him that it just had to be a police fraud.
39 posted on 09/30/2005 2:06:14 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: DesertSapper
"God will return and we will all know just how he created everything and how accurately "natural selection" fits into the picture He painted."
Then we will know if Darwin was right or not. Maybe Odin will say, Darwin was a jerk. That is one way how Darwins theory can be falsified.

"Personally I believe the Bible's version:"
That is a good statement.

"The idea that we can be both 'in the image of God' and a chimp derivative is rediculous."
Oh, why? Do you know what 'image' refers to? Maybe the whole nature is an image of Ahura Mazda?

" That said, I agree that Creationism should NOT be taught in public schools as science."
Apsu and Tiamat will be ashamed.

"However, a teacher mentioning that Darwinism has flaws that some resolve with the idea of Intelligent Design is NOT an attack on science!"
Flaws? What is your definition of "flaws" in a scientific context? The limitation that Darwin didn't try to explain the origin of life and just the origin of species?
And Intelligent Design is a stupid attack on science. That doctrine just says "Sorry, but we are to dumb to understand. But you don't need to search for an answer because the answer to everything is Atum!"

By the way, what story of Creation did your boys learn about - Coatlicue, Pan-gu or Brother Izanagi and Sister Izanami?

"how parts of Darwinism don't fit."
It's possible some parts of Evolution don't fit with Brahmas work.

"Yep, my boys are home-schooled and aren't missing a thing in science."
I think they have a big gap in understanding difference between a scientific theory and beliefs. I recommend to fill that gap with Sir Karl Popper and his definition of a scientific theory.


And here is the link to other creation tales: http://www.livescience.com/history/top10_intelligent_designs-10.html
40 posted on 09/30/2005 2:17:52 PM PDT by MHalblaub (Tell me in four more years (No, I did not vote for Kerry))
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