Posted on 01/03/2006 12:12:37 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Also today, Dover's board might revoke the controversial intelligent design decision.
Now that the issue of teaching "intelligent design" in Dover schools appears to be played out, the doings of the Dover Area School Board might hold little interest for the rest of the world.
But the people who happen to live in that district find them to be of great consequence. Or so board member James Cashman is finding in his final days of campaigning before Tuesday's special election, during which he will try to retain his seat on the board.
Even though the issue that put the Dover Area School District in the international spotlight is off the table, Cashman found that most of the people who are eligible to vote in the election still intend to vote. And it pleases him to see that they're interested enough in their community to do so, he said.
"People want some finality to this," Cashman said.
Cashman will be running against challenger Bryan Rehm, who originally appeared to have won on Nov. 8. But a judge subsequently ruled that a malfunctioning election machine in one location obliges the school district to do the election over in that particular voting precinct.
Only people who voted at the Friendship Community Church in Dover Township in November are eligible to vote there today.
Rehm didn't return phone calls for comment.
But Bernadette Reinking, the new school board president, said she did some campaigning with Rehm recently. The people who voted originally told her that they intend to do so again, she said. And they don't seem to be interested in talking about issues, she said. Reinking said it's because they already voted once, already know where the candidates stand and already have their minds made up.
Like Cashman, she said she was pleased to see how serious they are about civic participation.
Another event significant to the district is likely to take place today, Reinking said. Although she hadn't yet seen a copy of the school board meeting's agenda, she said that she and her fellow members might officially vote to remove the mention of intelligent design from the school district's science curriculum.
Intelligent design is the idea that life is too complex for random evolution and must have a creator. Supporters of the idea, such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, insist that it's a legitimate scientific theory.
Opponents argue that it's a pseudo-science designed solely to get around a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that biblical creationism can't be taught in public schools.
In October 2004, the Dover Area School District became the first in the country to include intelligent design in science class. Board members voted to require ninth-grade biology students to hear a four-paragraph statement about intelligent design.
That decision led 11 district parents to file a lawsuit trying to get the mention of intelligent design removed from the science classroom. U.S. Middle District Court Judge John E. Jones III issued a ruling earlier this month siding with the plaintiffs. [Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al..]
While the district was awaiting Jones' decision, the school board election took place at the beginning of November, pitting eight incumbents against a group of eight candidates opposed to the mention of intelligent design in science class.
At first, every challenger appeared to have won. But Cashman filed a complaint about a voting machine that tallied between 96 to 121 votes for all of the other candidates but registered only one vote for him.
If he does end up winning, Cashman said, he's looking forward to doing what he had in mind when he originally ran for school board - looking out for students. And though they might be of no interest to news consumers in other states and countries, Cashman said, the district has plenty of other issues to face besides intelligent design. Among them are scholastic scores and improving the curriculum for younger grades.
And though he would share the duties with former opponents, he said, he is certain they would be able to work together.
"I believe deep down inside, we all have the interest and goal to benefit the kids," he said.
Regardless of the turnout of today's election, Reinking said, new board members have their work cut out for them. It's unusual for a board to have so many new members starting at the same time, she said.
"We can get to all those things that school boards usually do," she said.
Of course you're right about this, highball. But that is not what the language of the second clause envisions. It means non-coercive exercise, exercise respectful of other religious faiths, and of people who hold to no religious tradition, without the government endorsing one faith as against all the others (that's what the establishment clause means).
I wish the atheists could grasp this concept -- and I do consider atheism to be a form of religious expression. But your typical atheist wants all religious expression (but especially Christianity) wholly concealed from public view (except for his own, of course, which is the anti-God religion). religion is something, apparently, that can only be tolerated in the privacy of the home. (For now.)
These folks tend to be very coercive individuals, I've noticed....
Germs are parasites, like democrats.. and other socialists.. almost like Unions.. but more like predators, like RINOS.. and other stealth democrats.. They live on the products of the productive.. or on the productive themselves.. Thru a miroscope or a telescope germs are all around us.. You might be a germ.. Who knows..
Keep checking, please. I believe the speed of light to be slowing down, and your experimentation may support this belief. That means you'll need greater quantities of cheese each time around, right? Slower speed = longer waves?
Evidenticary mountains is what drives Sisyphus nutz..
And don't do the dung beetle any favors either.. Locked into the supposed truth of a mountain of 2nd reality evidence.. Well, theres metaphorical structures (like above) invented to highlight that/those error(s).. The dung beetle is no doubt Gods attempt at humor.. and it worked too... LoL..
No. Didn't you see my reply to you?
Yes. Perhaps that's why the courts are so sensitive to this issue when they review the actions of governmental officials. Example, gathering students into an auditorium and recommending that they go to the library to read a creationist tract -- like that Pandas book which figured so prominently in Judge Jones' opinion.
Ummm... Nope.
Hee hee.
I was compelled to substitute "individual human" for "you," as it would be troublesome to suggest such a practice on an entity that is not only far more than an agglomeration of particles but also a person with whom I have been corresponding.
Thanks. Otherwise, that would puree nonsense.
So how many times have you checked the speed of light in your world, and for how long?
In my world? All the time.
There is a reason the speed of light is called a constant.
We have been thru this numerous times Chester. I am sorry you just cannot seem to grasp these basic concepts.
hehe :-)
But its O.K. or read in a textbook that Evolution is a FACT in toto implying any other concepts are(as) pure fantasy.. guided by a "teacher"(conservative probably) that will get fired for trying to equal out or display alternative ideas.. =OR= a lefty teacher that will NOT allow even discussion on alternative ways of believing about this stuff..
As usual you protest too much..
You're one of the few people with whom I correspond who lives in a vacuum. How long have you been living there?
Yes. However, due to spacecraft circling the Moon, we can see a side that was not visible to folks prior to spaceflight.
Now you are being silly.
Like the voices in your head?
sorry, that was too juicy to pass up... Bad, tortoise, bad!
LOLOL Slut Puppy Pat
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