ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
Tennessee Senate kills evolution bill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Senate killed a bill Thursday that would have let teachers be fired for teaching evolution as fact.
The bill would have allowed, but not required, school boards to fire such teachers for ``insubordination.'' It was defeated in a 20-13 vote.
Sen. Tommy Burks insisted his bill was a simple attempt to clear up confusion in classrooms where overzealous teachers present evolution as more than a theory. Other senators said the bill was unnecessary and an intrusion by the Legislature into school curriculum.
The most famous legal battle over evolution took place in 1925 when Dayton, Tenn., biology teacher John Scopes was convicted in the so-called Monkey Trial. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality.
The law under which Scopes, a substitute biology teacher, was convicted was tougher than the one rejected by the state Senate: It outright prohibited any teaching of evolution that conflicted with the biblical creation story.
- Associated Press
Public housing to evict 'criminals'
WASHINGTON - President Clinton, declaring gangs and drug dealers ``no longer have a home'' in public housing, ordered a ``one strike-and-you're-out'' policy Thursday to oust suspected and convicted criminals from 3,400 housing complexes.
The president gave the Department of Housing and Urban Development wider authority to force public housing authorities to evict violent offenders who afflict the daily lives of many residents.
``This policy today is a clear signal to drug dealers and to gangs: If you break the law, you no longer have a home in public housing,'' Clinton declared. ``One strike and you're out.''
HUD officials maintain that existing law empowers local housing authorities to evict tenants for criminal activity regardless of whether they have been arrested or convicted. HUD's new guidelines require all future leases to specify that ``arrest and conviction are not necessary to trigger eviction.''
- Hearst Newspapers
Dishonorable discharge upheld
WASHINGTON - A federal judge Thursday rejected a request to reverse Army Spc. Michael G. New's dishonorable discharge for refusing orders to wear a blue United Nations beret on a peacekeeping mission in Macedonia.
The 22-year-old medic was convicted Jan. 24 of disobeying a direct order and was given a bad-conduct discharge. He is now working as an Army file clerk in Germany, awaiting final military review of his discharge proceedings.
Lawyers for New, of Conroe, Texas, appeared in U.S. District Court here March 18, arguing that civil court review was needed ``to ensure an independent, judicial determination and give a full hearing'' to New's defense. They said the Army, by requiring the medic to serve with the U.N. force, had broken its enlistment contract with him.
Judge Paul L. Friedman rejected that contention. ``While the matter is pending, Specialist New remains on active duty ... and is receiving his standard pay, clear indication that his status has not changed even if, as he asserts, his enlistment contract has been breached,'' Friedman wrote in his decision.
- Hearst Newspapers
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