#4 Š Wiccan widow receives plaque with emblem from state

After battling the Department of Veterans Affairs for over a year, Fernley widow Roberta Stewart was able to place a plaque with the pentacle on the memorial wall for her fallen husband at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

The pentacle is the emblem for the Wiccan faith. Wiccans, who worship the earth, number 1,800 active-duty service members, according to 2005 Department of Defense statistics.

Nevada Army National Guardsman Sgt. Patrick Stewart and four other soldiers died Sept. 25, 2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

The VA's National Cemetery Administration, which approves religious emblems for memorial plaques, has approved more than 30 symbols for various religions and even has an emblem for atheists.

In November, the Nevada Office of Veterans Services declared it had authority to issue a plaque bearing the pentacle since the Fernley cemetery is a state veterans cemetery.

Stewart, another Wiccan widow and a Wiccan church from Wisconsin filed suit against the government in early November for not allowing the Wiccan symbol on memorial markets.