DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997               TAG: 9703180329

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   96 lines

PERSISTENT ACTIVIST PUTS EASTER DISPLAY ON VA. GOVERNOR'S ``HOLY TABLE''

The scratched and wobbly ``holy table'' in Gov. George F. Allen's office once again holds symbols of Rita Warren's unshaken commitment to publicly celebrate the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Warren, the feisty 69-year-old Italian immigrant who has battled state and Fairfax County officials for the right to erect religious displays, placed a foot-tall statue of Jesus in Allen's office Monday to celebrate Easter.

The porcelain figure is flanked by a picture of a movie actor portraying Jesus and a photo of the Easter display she puts annually on the U.S. Capitol steps: 170 lilies, one for each country in the world, arranged in the shape of a cross.

Plastered below the latter picture is a small ``Happy Passover'' sign - a message to the Jewish people that ``I respect their rights too,'' Warren told reporters.

The display occupies the same table Allen made available to Warren in December after the legislature's Joint Rules Committee refused to let her erect a Nativity scene elsewhere in the statehouse.

Allen, who under state law has control over his own office space, declared at that time: ``This is a new tradition - the holy table.''

``He realized the office belongs to the people,'' Warren said Monday.

She said the governor's office is an even better site for her display than the dim first-floor corridor where she was allowed to place a creche in December 1995, before lawmakers decided to ban all displays.

``The executive office is where Jesus Christ belongs, not in the cellar,'' Warren said.

Nevertheless, she is still steamed at the Joint Rules Committee for refusing to vote on a bill that would have set aside an area of the Capitol for public displays. The bill was introduced on her behalf by Sen. Warren E. Barry, R-Fairfax, but the Joint Rules Committee never took it up.

For the last 17 years, Warren has been erecting Christmas and Easter displays on public property in Washington, Virginia and a few other states - and fighting back when government tries to stop her.

She filed suit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria last month challenging Fairfax County's policy allowing only county residents to place displays outside the county government center. Warren lives in Fairfax City.

Before the residency requirement became an issue, Warren sued the county for requiring that her Nativity scene not be left unattended. A judge dismissed that lawsuit because Warren, acting as her own attorney, did not meet a deadline for filing the proper paperwork.

Her work even prompted a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which was denied permission to erect a First Amendment display at the statehouse. The ACLU cited the precedent set in 1995, when the creche was allowed in the Capitol corridor.

The ACLU dropped the lawsuit after the Joint Rules Committee voted to ban all displays. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HER CRUSADE

Highlights of religious activist Rita Warren's crusade for

religious expression in Virginia:

Dec. 11, 1995: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors refuses to

allow Warren to erect a Nativity scene at the county government

center.

Dec. 13, 1995: Without permission, Warren places a Nativity

scene outside the Fairfax County government building. County workers

remove it hours later.

Dec. 15, 1995: Fairfax County officials approve Warren's

application for a permit to put the creche back up.

Dec. 21, 1995: The clerks of the state Senate and House of

Delegates allow Warren to place a Nativity scene in the Capitol.

Dec. 22, 1995: The American Civil Liberties Union tells the House

and Senate clerks that by allowing Warren to erect her creche, they

have created a public forum that requires them to allow other

displays.

April 1, 1996: To celebrate Easter, Warren erects a cross

outside the Fairfax County government center and places a small

statue of Jesus on a table at the state Capitol.

April 26, 1996: Fairfax County Circuit Judge Gerald B. Lee

dismisses Warren's lawsuit against the county because she failed to

meet a deadline for filing the necessary paperwork.

Nov. 18, 1996: The ACLU sues the state Senate and House of

Delegates clerks and the legislature's Joint Rules Committee after

they refuse to allow the organization to erect a First Amendment

display at the Capitol.

Dec. 10, 1996: Gov. George Allen allows Warren to display a

Nativity scene in his office waiting room after the legislature's

Joint Rules Committee votes 9-0 to bar all displays from other areas

of the Capitol. The committee action prompts the ACLU to drop its

suit.

Jan. 28, 1997: The ACLU and Warren file suit in U.S. District

Court in Alexandria challenging Fairfax County officials' ruling

that she could not display exhibits on the courthouse lawn because

she is not a county resident.

March 17, 1997: Warren places her Easter display in Allen's

office.

Source: The Associated Press

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