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Finally some good news for evolution.

"Work hard to find something that fascinates you.  When you find it you will
know your lifework" -- Richard Feynman

Dennis Schatz
Vice President for Education
Pacific Science Center
200 Second Ave. No.
Seattle, WA 98109
phone - 206-443-2867
fax - 206-443-3631

Pacific Science Center
A non-profit bringing science and kids together
in every county of Washington State
> 	
> The New York Times -- November 9, 2005 
> School Board:  Evolution Slate Outpolls Rivals 
> By LAURIE GOODSTEIN 
> 
> All eight members up for re-election to the Pennsylvania school board that
> had been sued for introducing the teaching of intelligent design as an
> alternative to evolution in biology class were swept out of office
> yesterday by a slate of challengers who campaigned against the intelligent
> design policy.
> 
> Among the losing incumbents on the Dover, Pa., board were two members who
> testified in favor of the intelligent design policy at a recently
> concluded federal trial on the Dover policy: the chairwoman, Sheila
> Harkins, and Alan Bonsell.
> 
> The election results were a repudiation of the first school district in
> the nation to order the introduction of intelligent design in a science
> class curriculum. The policy was the subject of a trial in Federal
> District Court that ended last Friday. A verdict by Judge John E. Jones
> III is expected by early January.
> 
> "I think voters were tired of the trial, they were tired of intelligent
> design, they were tired of everything that this school board brought
> about," said Bernadette Reinking, who was among the winners.
> 
> The election will not alter the facts on which the judge must decide the
> case. But if the intelligent design policy is defeated in court, the new
> school board could refuse to pursue an appeal. It could also withdraw the
> policy, a step that many challengers said they intended to take.
> 
> "We are all for it being discussed, but we do not want to see it in
> biology class," said Judy McIlvaine, a member of the winning slate. "It is
> not a science."
> 
> The vote counts were close, but of the 16 candidates the one with the
> fewest votes was Mr. Bonsell, the driving force behind the intelligent
> design policy. Testimony at the trial revealed that Mr. Bonsell had
> initially insisted that creationism get equal time in the classroom with
> evolution.
> 
> One incumbent, James Cashman, said he would contest the vote because a
> voting machine in one precinct recorded no votes for him, while others
> recorded hundreds.
> 
> He said that school spending and a new teacher contract, not intelligent
> design, were the determining issues. "We ran a very conservative school
> board, and obviously there are people who want to see more money spent,"
> he said.
> 
> One board member, Heather Geesey, was not up for re-election.
> 
> The school board voted in October 2004 to require ninth grade biology
> students to hear a brief statement at the start of the semester saying
> that there were "gaps" in the theory of evolution, that intelligent design
> was an alternative and that students could learn more about it by reading
> a textbook "Of Pandas and People," available in the high school library.
> 
> The board was sued by 11 Dover parents who contended that intelligent
> design was religious creationism in new packaging, and that the board was
> trying to impose its religion on students. The parents were represented by
> lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for
> Separation of Church and State, and a private law firm, Pepper Hamilton
> LLP.
> 
> 

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