ROBERTA STEWART AND THE VA
By Christopher Blackwell

It's been six months since Roberta Stewart started the application to the Veterans Administration get the pentacle approved for her Husband Patrick's memorial plaque. She began the process after he died in Afghanistan on Sept. 25 while serving in the National Guard.

As of 2005, the military statistics showed that there were 1,800 Wiccans in active service. Other Wiccan groups have sought approval of the pentacle for the last nine years. On May 22 the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Rev. Selena Fox, senior minister for Circle Sanctuary that has been helping Stewart, said that no other emblem has taken so long for approval. Fox met with the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs earlier this year to urge him to reach a decision.

The Sikh emblem was the last to be approved. It was approved in just a few weeks in 2004. Stewart wonders why the same can't be done for the pentacle.

POSSIBLE COURT CASE

On May 18, the Stars and Stripes reported that Stewart was considering taking the VA to court after months of waiting for them to make a decision.

Stewart said, "I'm getting sick from the stress of all of this. I'm spending six hours a day on this. I just want to put it to an end."

She has contacted a lawyer and is preparing a discrimination claim adding, "I'm tired of waiting for final approval. It doesn't take this long to review an application."

Now far past their promised Feb. 21 deadline for reaching a decision, the VA will not say when it might be made.

STEWART NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK AT MEMORIAL DAY EVENT

She had planned to attend the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery where her husband's space on the memorial wall is. Stewart had said that if she had not heard from the VA by then she was considering staging a protest at the ceremony.

However, Bill Chrystal, the retired navy chaplain of Patrick Stewart's unit, was told by Nevada State Veteran Affairs official that Roberta would not be allow to speak at the service because of the controversy over her application.

Chrystal backed out of the event and took part in an alternate memorial service and protest held by Stewart. He belongs to the United Church of Christ.

He said "What the VA has done is the very thing that the founding fathers were opposed to. It seems to me the whole point of our system is that the government stays out of religion, but here they aren't. It's not the government's job to second-guess the value of a religion."

The whole process is upsetting to members of her husband's National Guard unit, who had returned home in March. Stewart said several were outraged that Patrick still had not been properly honored and continue to complain as the issue drags on.

ALTERNATE MEMORIAL SERVICE

Stewart held the "Sgt. Patrick Stewart Freedom for All Faiths" memorial service in the Out-of-Town Park 90 minutes before the official veteran's ceremony at Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

Prior to the service, Stewart told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Everybody is invited. We're going to raise the flag Pat sent home from Afghanistan."

As reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal, Chrystal told the gatherers that Sgt. Stewart took seriously his right to worship as he chose and that he and others died to protect that right for all Americans. "Let us honor them by fighting for the rights they held so dearly. In Pat's case especially, may we never tire until all are free to worship as they please and, when the time comes, to rest under the symbol of the faith that sustained them in life and gave them hope in death."

Members of Stewart's Company D, 113th Aviation Regiment, did not wear their uniforms at Monday's memorial.

Stan Smith of Reno, Stewart's former platoon sergeant in Kandahar, Said, "A soldier is not allowed to protest in uniform. I didn't know if this was going to be a protest; but I didn't want to have to leave in the event it turned into one, so I didn't wear my uniform."

Speaking of her husband, Roberta Stewart said, "He was a compelling and passionate man, a brave person who stood tall and proud. He was strong in his convictions, and he loved his country. He loved the freedom of the great outdoors, of the mountains and the wide-open skies. He loved the freedom that was the foundation of America." She ended the service with a moment of silence.

After the ceremony Stewart placed a wreath with a pentacle at the blank spot in the Veteran's Cemetery where Patrick's plaque will hopefully someday be. Members of Nevada's Congressional delegation and the National Guard have reached out in support of her attempt to to get the pentacle approved.

Yahoo News reported on May 25 that Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services, said "Every veteran and military member deserves recognition for their contributions to our country."

Tetz working on the matter in cooperation with Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Tetz said, "It's unfortunate the process is taking so long, but I am certain Sgt. Patrick will ultimately receive his marker with the Wiccan symbol.