PAUR Report
Programs ~ Announcements ~ Updates ~ Resources
Friday, July 13, 2007
North Dakota Human Rights News
www.ndhrc.org
Hello members and friends of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition!
Select individual headings to view specific content. Thank you for reading.
In this PAUR Report:
Announcements
Events
Reminders
NEWS:
Native American Nicknames / Mascot News
Tribal News
Race & National Origin News
Sexual Orientation News
Women's Issues
Disabilities
Religion
Miscellaneous
Do you have a Program, Announcement, Update or
Resource that you would like shared on our weekly PAUR report? If so, please
send an email to
HumanRights@NDHRC.org
and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Please Note: The NDHRC distributes a weekly PAUR report to inform our members
and friends about news, events, and other human rights related information
around the state. The opinions expressed within the articles are those of the
authors and are not endorsed by the NDHRC.
We need your help and support to make a
difference. Your individual advocacy is invaluable. Please consider
making a monetary donation to help support the NDHRC's work. Send your
donations to NDHRC, P.O. Box 1961, Fargo, ND 58107-1961 or make a donation
online by visiting
www.ndhrc.org. Free memberships are
also available.
New NDHRC members: as a membership benefit you
have received an e-mail subscription of our weekly e-mail newsletter, the NDHRC
PAUR Report. If you would like to be removed from the PAUR Report mailing
list, please send an email to
humanrights@ndhrc.org.
NEW: Minimum Wage
To Change July 24th
North
Dakota employers will be required to raise their minimum wages to $5.85 per
hour, effective Tuesday, July 24, 2007. The increase is in accordance with state
and federal laws passed earlier this year to increase the minimum wage gradually
to $7.25 per hour in 2009.
Download pdf.
**NDHRC lobbied in favor of this bill, just one of
the victories for the human rights movement this session.**
PEPP: Voter Collaborative Recruitment
Why do you care about who is running? Why should we have a voter
collaborative? Why do you vote at all?
We are looking for new folks to help with the voter collaborative. We are
also seeking past collaborative members to join in the efforts for the Get
Out The Vote campaigns and Candidate Forums for the 2007 Moorhead City Council
and school board elections. We will also start to talk about 2008 and
elections happening in June for Fargo and Cass county leading us into the
November elections.
Our first challenge together will be to craft a message that will move even
the most apathetic person out there to at least think about getting to the
polls. If you are interested, please call the PEPP office at 218-236-5434.
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New guides are available on the new minimum
wage changes. Two new issue briefs from the Institute for Community
Inclusion review how the minimum wage increase is relevant and provide guidance
for both people with disabilities and service providers. These briefs assist
service providers and people with disabilities through the minimum wage change
and its effect on benefits and other issues. The guides are available by
clicking the link below:
*
A Guide for Disability Service Providers
*
What It Means for People with Disabilities
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Research Survey for LGBT teachers,
counselors and specialists
Participate in an important research study or to forward it to people you know
who can participate. In recent years, valuable information has been obtained
regarding school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
students. To our knowledge, however, there is no quantitative data reporting
how LGBT teachers, counselors and specialists perceive the school climate for
themselves.
Please invest the time (approximately 30 minutes) and give us your
perceptions at the website below. The website is available between April 1 and
June 30, 2007.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=16823376263
Your responses are totally confidential. They can not be traced to you or
your email address. We do, however, give you the opportunity to indicate
whether you wish to receive results of the study and tell us where to send them
or the website address where they are posted. Please help us by forwarding this
message to others. Feel free to contact any of us for further information.
Please help us
by forwarding this message to others. Feel free to contact any of us for
further information. Nancy J. Smith:
Nancy.Smith@millersville.edu - Jennifer Esposito:
epsjre@langate.gsu.edu - Tiffany Wright:
tewright27@hotmail.com - Cole Reilly:
czr114@psu.edu
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Are you a woman who has served in war and combat? Would you be
willing to discuss your experiences?
Christina Weber, an Assistant Professor of
Sociology at NDSU, is conducting research on women's experiences in war and
combat. By conducting interviews with women
who have served in active duty that involved war missions, this project aims to
fill the gap in societal understanding of women's war experiences.
Participants
in this project will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire about their
military experiences, and provide a 1-2 hour interview covering experiences in
the military, particularly in regard to experiences in combat and war
situations, and experiences since that time served.
If interested
in participating or finding out more, please feel free to contact Christina
Weber at 701-231-8928 or
christina.d.weber@ndsu.edu.
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NDHRC & Professional Issues Conference
present: Jennifer Baumgardner & damali ayo
Mark your calendars today! NDHRC
and the Professional Issues conference are collaborating on a conference,
"The Human Rights Umbrella: Removing Barriers to Full Participation," scheduled for
Fri.-Sat.,
Oct. 19 & 20. The conference will feature tracks focused on human rights, GLBT,
disability, and New American issues. In those tracks, presenters will cover
topics such as education, law, diversity issues, activism, health & human
services, and spirituality.
Two keynote speakers!
We’re proud to bring you two keynote speakers for
this year’s conference. First is damali ayo,
a conceptual and performance artist known for her work on contemporary race
relations, who will address our Friday evening reception. Her work spans the
media of painting, web art, performance, sculpture, audio and video.
Jennifer Baumgardner,
best-selling author and
former Fargoan, will speak Saturday over lunch. The author of “Look Both Ways:
Bisexual Politics,” “Grassroots” and “Manifesta” will touch on a variety of
human rights issues, including her work on sexuality, feminism and activism.
Watch for e-mail updates or click
here for details
(updated as information is available).
**Online Registration Coming Soon!**
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NEW: Fargo Moorhead Area Coalition for Homeless
Persons Hosts Project Connect
August
1 the FM Homeless Coalition will conduct the first FM Area Project Connect
at the Fargo Civic Center from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Project Homeless
Connect is designed to provide housing, services, and hospitality in a
convenient one-stop model for people experiencing homelessness. It is a one day
event sponsored by Mayors and other community leaders that has been identified
by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
There
will be a variety of services available the day of the event. Volunteers are
needed to help with client support and assistance, food preparation and service,
activities, set-up, clean-up, child care and other critical services. Donations
are also needed both of cash and in-kind services. To help or make a donation
contact any of the provider agencies offering services to the Homeless.
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Free fair housing accessibility training in
Bismarck, ND - August 14
HUD presents free Fair Housing Accessibility Training August 14th :
8:30 am – 4:30 pm at the Radisson Hotel, 605 E. Broadway, Bismarck, ND 58501.
To register, visit
www.fairhousingfirst.org and click on the “CALENDAR” link or call
703.747.3963 or the FHD at 701.221.2530 or Toll-Free at 888.265.0907. *This
program is registered with the American Institute of Architects. Architects will
receive up to six (6) Health Safety and Welfare (HSW)continuing education
credits per day.
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PFLAG National Convention in Washington D.C.
Registration is now open for the national convention.
Register or learn more about PFLAG (Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians &
Gays) at
www.pflag.org. From October 11-14, 2007 in Washington,
D.C., PFLAG National will give you the support, education and advocacy training
that you need to make your goals a reality. Simply put, whether you are just
getting started or are a seasoned leader, there is no better way to gain
valuable new perspectives and powerful tools than to join us this October.
Join us for the 2007 PFLAG National Convention, presented by IBM, to be
part of the family voices moving equality forward.
Early Bird registration rates extended through June 30!
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Save the Date Please save the
date for the 2007 Children and Family Services Conference which will be
held at the Ramkota Inn in Bismarck, July 24-26, 2007. Check your email in May
and June for registration information and a complete agenda with presenters and
workshop descriptions. The conference brochure will only be sent out
electronically this year and it will also be available at
www.cfstc.und.edu.
For more information you can also contact the Children and Family Services
Training Center at 701 777-3442 or email
petetunseth@mail.und.nodak.edu. We hope to see all of you at
the conference this summer.
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Bismarck-Mandan GLBT Pride Fest
July 27-29, 2007 :: GLBT Pride Event to be Themed “United for Equality”
Bismarck, ND – Dakota OutRight, a non-profit organization
that serves as a community resource and provides gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender (GLBT) diversity education, has announced that they will celebrate
their fourth GLBT Pride Fest July 27-29, 2007 at Eagles Park, Bismarck. Pride
Fest is a unique time to celebrate unity within the GLBT community and allies in
western and central North Dakota. All friends and family of the GLBT community
are invited to join in any of the activities during the weekend festival.
Eagles Park is located north of Bismarck along the historic
Missouri River on Highway 1804. The park offers camping for the weekend, and
various activities for all ages. For those camping at the campground, there will
be a themed campsite decorating contest.
Pride Fest begins with a Friday night bonfire and entertainment.
Saturday there will be various outdoor activities, information/vendor booths,
food concessions, a GLBT Pride Award presentation, entertainment, and a dance
hosted by Dakota Good Friends. Pride Fest will conclude with a Sunday morning
worship service followed by snacks and fellowship.
Make the journey this summer to Bismarck-Mandan to celebrate your
GLBT pride! For updated information regarding Bismarck-Mandan GLBT Pride Fest
2007, visit
www.DakotaOutRight.org or email
hosts@dakotaoutright.org.
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Minnkota Center GLBT Social/Discussion
Group
The Minnkota Center hosts bi-monthly social/discussion groups that are open to
men who identify as Gay, Queer, MSM, or Bisexual and to women who identify as
Gay, Lesbian, Womyn Loving Womyn, or Bisexual. Groups are held on the first and
third Wednesday of each month at the PEPP Building (116 South 12th Street,
Moorhead, MN).
For more information, please contact Katie at 287-4636 or toll-free
at 1-877-871-4636, or by email at:
katie@pepp.org
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Pride Collective & Community Center now
accepting Board Member applications
The Pride Collective & Community Center is currently receiving applications for
an open position on its board of directors. Board terms are currently for one
year, renewable for a total of five consecutive terms. Please contact the Pride
Collective at
info@pridecollective.com
if you're interested in completing an application.
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NAACP chapter starting in ND:
A group out of Grand Forks has laid the
groundwork for a North Dakota chapter of the NAACP. North Dakota is one of only
two states in the United States without a chapter of the organization. Stay
posted for notices of future meetings and events. Right now, the group needs
members in order to get a charter from the national NAACP. The membership is
$30.00, and checks can be made out to, and sent to: Northern Lights Chapter of
NAACP, P.O. Box 12142, Grand Forks, ND 58208-2142. The Mission Statement of the
NAACP: "...to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality
of rights for all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial
discrimination."
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The Arc of Bismarck & The ND
Protection & Advocacy Project staff are collaborating to offer training and
support to groups or individuals wishing to participate in the legislative
process. For more details or to schedule a workshop that includes information on
how a bill becomes a law and how to draft and deliver legislative testimony,
please use one of the contact points listed below to schedule an appointment.
Please share this in your circles - Thank you! 701-258-7949.
joyce@apsimail.com
#
arcbis@midconetwork.com #
tlarsen@nd.gov
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Nonprofits Assistance Fund Launches Blog
A newly launched blog by Kate Barr, Executive Director of the Nonprofits
Assistance Fund, can be found
here . The blog focuses particularly on
nonprofit organizations, large and small, that must work to raise funds each
year. In a weekly one-pager, Kate shares her thoughts and insights on nonprofit
management. The subscription is
free and you’ll find very practical, relevant information on what all
NPO’s face every day to help make your organizations successful.
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The Local chapter of the
national campaign for the creation of a cabinet level Department of
Peace is looking for a few good men and women volunteers, across the
state, to team up to lobby for this bill. Please contact State Coordinator
and District Team Leader Paddy McLaughlin to see how you might become involved
with this powerful bill for peace. Meetings in Fargo at the Center,
every 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month, 8 p.m. Call
701-232-0694 for details.
www.thepeacealliance.org
Local Peace Circle takes place
every Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. at The Center for Peace,
411 11th St. N., Fargo, ND. Please join us as
we meditate on, prayer for and envision the conditions necessary for healing and
peace on Earth. Contact Paddy McLaughlin, 701-232-0694
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Costs top half-million in Sioux
nickname case
By Joseph Marks, Herald Staff Writer - 07/10/2007
UND's legal costs in its courtroom battle against the NCAA topped a half-million
dollars in June ... UND is suing the NCAA over the association's ban of the
Fighting Sioux team nickname and Indianhead logo in postseason play. The two are
scheduled to meet in court in December.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=43364§ion=News
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Program offers chance to
succeed
J. Shane Mercer, The Forum - 07/02/2007
Jennifer Hernandez had bounced in
and out of shelters and between the homes of family members ... “I was really
depressed because it was kind of hard for me to find places to stay,” she
said. “Sometimes there’s a limit on how many days you can stay in the shelter.
Then you have to leave, and you’re worried about where you’re going to go
after that and even if you’re going to get a full meal that day.”
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=170621§ion=news
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School would emphasize
American Indian culture
Associated Press - 06/29/2007
MENDOTA, Minn. – Members of the
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community want to create a charter school along the
Mississippi River, in hopes of preserving their language and culture.
If plans continue, the Wakanyeza
Charter School – Wakanyeza means “sacred little ones” – would open in the fall
2008 in Mendota, close to the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota
rivers and Fort Snelling. The school would serve students in grades K-5 and
would emphasize Dakota tradition and American Indian culture.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170281
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Refugees find modern living
new challenge
Sherri Richards, The Forum - 07/08/2007
From the day he was born, Caliton
Ntahompagaze was a refugee. The label was an insult in Africa, he said ...
Then he arrived May 25 in the United States. Here, the 31-year-old is called a
“new American.” ... “That made me to be (proud) and to be glad,” said
Ntahompagaze, who now lives in a sparsely furnished West Fargo apartment with
his wife and 19-month-old daughter.
He is one of about 50 Burundian
refugees being resettled here in the coming weeks from Tanzanian refugee
camps.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=171217
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Governor: Add Indian to
committee
By Joseph Marks, Herald Staff Writer - 06/29/2007
In a phone conversation Monday,
Gov. John Hoeven told State Board of Higher Education President John Paulsen
that he personally supports adding an American Indian member to the search
committee that will choose UND's next president, according to Don Larson, a
spokesman for the governor.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=42229§ion=homepage
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MATTERS AT HAND: Oversight
shows troubling attitude about race in N.D.
Mike Jacobs - 07/01/2007
As Independence Day approaches, I'm
feeling a little guilty ... This has to do with something I didn't say on a
radio program ... Of course, I've been in trouble a time or two for something
I did say on the air. This time, though, I'm only in trouble with my
conscience ... Here's what happened: On Friday afternoon, I took part in
Prairie Public's monthly roundtable in which editors talk about the news. Not
surprisingly, one of the topics was the committee searching for a new UND
president, and the pending decision to expand it to include an American
Indian.
The panelists agreed that there
wasn't any attempt to keep an American Indian off the committee. Instead, it
was “an oversight.”
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=42469§ion=homepage
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Former state Indian Affairs
official named to UND search panel
The Associated Press - Tuesday,
July 03, 2007 BISMARCK, N.D.
A former director of North Dakota's
Indian Affairs Commission has been appointed to the committee that will recruit
the University of North Dakota's new president.
http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_7981.shtml
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Committee may diversify after all
By Joseph Marks, Herald Staff Writer - 06/28/2007
The search committee charged with fielding candidates to be UND's next president
may include an American Indian member after all, according to State Board of
Higher Education President John Paulsen.
https://secure.forumcomm.com/grandforks/articles/index.cfm?page=purchase&id=42124&user_id=182820&CFID=11557894&CFTOKEN=55973623&jsessionid=8830fd9e353f33337a52
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OUR OPINION : Board president
right to expand search
06/29/2007
Our view::
John Q. Paulsen, president of North Dakota's State Board of Higher Education,
has shown courage by changing his mind.
Second thoughts often are better
thoughts, and that clearly is the case in John Q. Paulsen's thinking.
https://secure.forumcomm.com/grandforks/articles/index.cfm?page=purchase&id=42245&user_id=182820&CFID=11557894&CFTOKEN=55973623&jsessionid=8830a25168c76a4817a7
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Please send any related items to
mitchmarr@ndhrc.org
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Organizations get $2,000 in
grants
Forum Staff Reports, The Forum - 07/10/2007
Young women participating in the
fifth session of the Women’s Fund’s Habits of the Heart Program granted a
total of $2,000 to the following local organizations: Fraser Inc., Make a Wish
Foundation, Nokomis Day Care, Red River Valley Children’s Advocacy Center and
WIC of Fargo and Moorhead.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=171357§ion=news
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VIEWPOINT : Bold movie
turns shy on abortion
By Sue Hutchison ,
Published Monday, June 25, 2007
SAN JOSE, Calif. - It's not often
that I go to see a comedy that makes me laugh so hard I almost blow Diet Coke
and popcorn through my nose, and yet frustrates me so much that I leave the
theater wrung out and let down. That's how I felt after I saw the
much-heralded “Knocked Up,” a movie that is far smarter and funnier than its
central premise. In case you haven't seen the reviews, “Knocked Up” is the
story of an attractive young TV reporter who gets pregnant after a drunken
one-night stand with a good-natured slacker whom she meets in a bar - and she
decides to have the baby. The option of having an ...
https://secure.forumcomm.com/grandforks/articles/index.cfm?page=purchase&id=41829&user_id=200382&CFID=22617304&CFTOKEN=58821468&jsessionid=8830d1db9ec3805b2168
[Ed. note: There were many letters in response to this article, far to many
too include them all. However, the letters, along with the original article,
should be searchable online.
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Deb Ness:
Policing with honor, humanity
Jun 27, 2007 -
04:09:12 CDT
Deb Ness has it totally right in
saying that whoever takes over from her as chief of the Bismarck Police
Department will be walking into a good situation ... She was being modest,
meaning the job is a good situation.
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/06/27/news/opinion/editorials/doc4681c2e3c75c1783631893.txt
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The
transformation of Justice Ginsburg
By Ellen Goodman -
June 29, 2007 - The Boston Globe
NOW, in the season of
her discontent, it is well to remember that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was always
called a moderate. The word dangled from her wrist like an ID bracelet. In
fact, when she was nominated to be the second woman on the Supreme Court,
there were feminists who added another adjective to that word: too moderate.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/29/the_transformation_of_justice_ginsburg/
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[Ed. note: All of the articles below concern Fargo's Ten
Commandments/monument issue. The amount of letters and comments related to the
issues is incredible, but most are not included here. If you'd like to here more
public opinion on the issue, most letters should be searchable at
www.in-forum.com]
Language in petition
restricted
Mike Nowatzki, The Forum - 06/28/2007
Lady Liberty and Rollo the Viking
won’t have to worry – at least not for several years – about the effects of a
petition designed to keep the Ten Commandments monument on the Fargo City Hall
mall.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170203
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Duluth City Council moved
marker in 2004
Mike Nowatzki, The Forum - 06/28/2007
The current controversy in Fargo
over the Ten Commandments monument bears striking similarities to a decision
three years ago to move a like monument off the City Hall lawn in Duluth,
Minn.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170201
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3,300 put their opinions in
ink
Mike Nowatzki, The Forum - 06/29/2007
Opponents of moving the Ten
Commandments monument off the Fargo City Hall mall said Thursday they have
enough signatures to put it to a public vote.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170278
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We must ask hard questions
By Davis Cope - 07/01/2007
Much of the fuss about the vote to
move the Ten Commandments monument seems based on a misunderstanding. Red
River Freethinkers offered a second monument to honor the new library (we
support libraries). We did not request the removal of the present one. The
City Commission unanimously refused our monument. That decision was unfair,
but it would become fair if it were part of a uniform “no monuments” policy
(which would mean removing the present one). The commission apparently made a
well-meaning attempt to address the fairness issue, but the motion it passed
took a “move the Ten Commandments” form that immediately triggered Fargo’s
zealots and those using religion for political purposes.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170543
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Arguments illogical and
angry
by Ross Nelson - 07/01/2007
Americans may make good businessmen
and scientists, but making proper arguments is an art that seems to slip us.
Witness the stir over removing Fargo’s Ten Commandments monument from city
property.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170542
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Politics poisons monument
debate
Jack Zaleski - 07/01/2007
Fargo’s Ten Commandments debate
thus far has been defined as an alleged dispute between people of faith and
atheists/agnostics. That’s the shallow view. The conflict is deeper. The
interests arrayed on the so-called “right” side of the debate – to keep the
granite commandments monument on public property – are more political than
faithful.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170541
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Marker to stay on mall
Mike Nowatzki, The Forum - 07/03/2007
The Fargo City Commission on Monday
reversed its decision to move the Ten Commandments monument off the City Hall
mall and took the first step toward cementing the marker’s location in city
law.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170727
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Comfortable Christian
majority can’t comprehend persecution
By Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier - 07/11/2007
There was a time when I thought
Fargo was progressive when compared to the rest of North Dakota. Granted, I
was much younger and more naive about many things at that time, but it was
something I truly believed. As I grew older and the rose-colored glasses
cracked, I still believed that, relative to the rest of the state, Fargo was
indeed a more accepting place.
http://www.in-forum.com/Opinion/articles/171413
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Public education needs more
of the unusual and unorthodox
By Tom Heuerman - 06/28/2007
Moorhead School District
Superintendent Larry Nybladh is upset that Moorhead City Manager Bruce Messelt
– soon to be president of Oak Grove Lutheran School in Fargo – sent an e-mail
to parents of Moorhead students asking their input and opinions about the
possibility of a Spanish immersion program at Oak Grove that would pick up
where the Moorhead program leaves off. Messelt has two children in the
Moorhead program.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/printer.cfm?id=170155
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Editorial: Justice Denied
July 5, 2007 - New York
Times
In the 1960s, Chief Justice
Earl Warren presided over a Supreme Court that interpreted the
Constitution in ways that protected the powerless — racial and religious
minorities, consumers, students and criminal defendants. At the end of its
first full term, Chief Justice John Roberts’s court is emerging as the
Warren court’s mirror image. Time and again the court has ruled, almost
always 5-4, in favor of corporations and powerful interests while slamming
the courthouse door on individuals and ideals that truly need the court’s
shelter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/opinion/05thu1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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Do you have a Program, Announcement, Update or
Resource that you would like shared on our weekly PAUR report? If so, please
send an email to
HumanRights@NDHRC.org
and we will do our best to accommodate you.
If you are not yet a member of NDHRC, what are
you waiting for? Sign up now! The membership form is available on line at
http://www.ndhrc.org/Membership/membership_form_revised.htm.
Not getting the PAUR Report directly in your
email? It's so easy to be added to the PAUR mailing list! Email
HumanRights@NDHRC.org and be sure to add us
to your address book to avoid missing the report.
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