Source: The News-Gazette

[news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=14087]

On July 2, 2003 The News-Gazette reported that "citing an atmosphere of intolerance, and fear for their safety, Wiccan leaders said they are abandoning their dream of opening a school that teaches the alternative religion in Hoopeston... The meeting drew about 100 residents, most of whom vehemently opposed the project... 'We're not giving up (on East Central Illinois) yet,' continued Hubbard, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Telepathic Media, which...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

[sptimes.com/2003/06/21/Pasco/For_Wiccans__a_time_o.shtml]

On June 21, 2003 the St. Petersburg Times reported that "For Linda Hazen and her coven, today is Litha, a time for thanksgiving, bonfires and celebrating the start of the harvest season... At Hazen's house on Lake Patience Road, she and her coveners will gather for a religious ritual around a circle in the back yard. They will wear long robes and bare their feet, give thanks for the harvest and light a fire to represent the long...

Source: Times Leader

[timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/6127878.htm]

On June 20, 2003 the Times Leader reported that "self-proclaimed witch's talk this week about Wicca at College Misericordia's Diversity Camp was so popular with high school students that it was expanded by a half-hour... Others, however, say Tom Jarmiolowski's discussion about his religion on Monday should not have taken place at the camp... Dallas Baptist Church pastor Ernest Jackson said Wicca should be classified with other 'occultlike religious...

Source: The News-Gazette

[news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=13094]

On June 20, 2003 The News-Gazette reported that "First Apostolic Church Pastor Kenneth Murray is not hiding his distaste for the new Wiccan school in Hoopeston. His church on 205 E. Penn St. is directly across from the school, which is set to open in the fall... Members of the Hoopeston religious community might have different levels of knowledge of the alternative religion, but the four clergymen interviewed on Thursday said they relied on their faith in...

Source: The News-Gazette

http://www.newsgazette.com/story.cfm?Number=13089

On June 19, 2003 The News-Gazette reported that "the world of Wicca will become more accessible in East Central Illinois because Chicago-based Telepathic Media has purchased the former town hall building in Hoopeston for use as a school to teach Wiccan principles, which include a belief in a god and goddess of nature... The staff envisions the school at 200 E. Penn St. eventually becoming a four-...

Source: Beliefnet

Source: News Net 5

[newsnet5.com/news/2207932/detail.html]

On May 15, 2003 News Net 5 reported that "Mark and Elizabeth Sommerer, adoptive parents of four cats, are self-described 'regular people...' 'We shop like everybody else does. We go to the Laundromat. We play with our kids. We pay taxes, work jobs,' Elizabeth said... And Lee said they cast spells... They contacted News Channe l5 after seeing news reports of so-called Satan worship linked to the discovery of two animal carcasses in LaGrange Township [OH]... While...

Source: Casco Bay Weekly

http://www.cascobayweekly.com/cbw2003/cover/cover05.08.03-7.stm

On May 8, 2003 the Casco Bay Weekly reported that "Maine’s Pagans are part of one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the U.S. Columbia University’s American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) found in 2001 that nearly 300,000 Americans identify themselves as Pagan, Wiccan or druid; all terms that Pagans use to describe themselves."

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

On May 8, 2003 the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "Harvard scholar Diana Eck calls America the most religiously diverse nation in the world – and San Diego is no different, home to faiths ranging from Baha'i to Wicca... Here is a look at representatives from four of these other faiths – a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Sikh and a Jew. They talk about their devotion to their beliefs – and how they feel about attempts to convert them."

Source: St. Petersburg Times

[sptimes.com/2003/05/07/Southpinellas/Spring_loving_Wiccans.shtml]

On May 7, 2003 St. Petersburg Times reported that "in St. Petersburg, some Wiccans celebrated [Beltane] several days before the traditional May 1 date by dancing around the maypole in the courtyard of the Unitarian Universalist Church near Mirror Lake. Thursday through Sunday, many more are expected to converge on Boyd Hill Nature Park at the behest of a cyberspace invitation issued on www....

Source: The Southern

[southernillinoisan.com/rednews/2003/05/04/build/local/LOC003.html]

On May 3, 2003 The Southern reported that "the Southern Illinois Pagan Alliance will host an open Beltane Celebration at noon today at the Giant City State Park Shelter 2 near Makanda... Fire, light and fertility are the focus of Beltane as it celebrates longer days, the return of spring and summer warmth, and the creative splendor of nature as flowers bloom and everything turns green in contrast to the bleak landscape winter......

Source: The Cincinnati Post

[cincypost.com/2003/04/28/pagan042803.html]

On April 28, 2003 The Cincinnati Post reported that "the 10-year-old boy was listening in Sunday school... But David Gordon-Johnson wasn't learning about the Bible -- he was learning how to become a good Pagan... David's Sunday school class is part of Earthspirit, the St. John's Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans in Clifton... The lesson for David and other youngsters in Clare Iverson's class for third- and fourth-graders was about a Pagan...

Source: Knox News

[knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1886670,00.html]

On April 14, 2003 Knox News reported that "the family of a 14-year-old girl embroiled in a lawsuit with the Union County school system over religious freedom said Sunday they endured years of harassment before taking legal action... India, her older siblings, Tyla and Garrett, and their mother, Sarajane [Tracy], described how years of alleged verbal taunts, veiled threats and then finally physical abuse over their religious differences...

Source: The Argus

On April 13, 2003 The Argus reported that "even though this is only its second year, today's Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade will have an old soul... The theme is 'Ancient Voices,' honoring nature-based traditions throughout history that have 'revered the Earth as a church itself, the divinity within and around,' said parade organizer Micha Dunston... 'In Interfaith dialogue, the word pagan represents people who follow indigenous, tribal, polytheistic, nature-based and Earth-based beliefs,' Dunston said. 'So you have anything from...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On April 10, 2003 The Times-Picayune reported that "members of First Unitarian Universalist Church are celebrating their congregation's 170th year in New Orleans as a small bastion of spiritual liberalism embedded in conservative New Orleans... Continuing a recent tradition, members of the congregation of 100 or so ended a regular Sunday service March 23 by laying a wreath on the grave of the Rev. Theodore Clapp, a robust, colorful figure who in 1833 founded what would become First Unitarian Universalist after being expelled as a...