RELIGIOUS BOOKS REMOVED FROM DRUG ITEMS DISPLAY AFTER INQUIRY

MURFREESBORO - Until last week, a glass case in the Rutherford County
Sheriff's Department lobby displayed books related to the Wicca religion
and Celtic lore alongside drug paraphernalia.

No labels explained why the bongs, pipes and drug-related items were in the
case with books, including Living Wicca, Celtic Lore, The Witches' Almanac
and Celtic Magic.

The religious items, which had been on display for at least most of 2003,
were removed after The Tennessean asked where the items had come from and
why they were on display.

Civil liberties experts and those familiar with the Wicca religion
expressed concern when they were shown photos of the original display. They
later praised the department for removing the items.

"Is this supposed to be a message that these items are contraband?" asked
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the Tennessee chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, upon seeing the photographs.

"The written materials are all accessible, available to the public and
protected under the First Amendment. Don't they recognize they're legal and
protected? It sends a very bad message to link books and bongs."

Deputy Chief Virgil Gammon said the assembly of the confiscated items by
deputies was not directly supervised and once the ranking officials were
made aware there might have been offensive items in it, they were removed.
He said the department had not received any complaints from the public
about the display.

Wicca is described as an earth-based religion, whose basic principle is "do
as you will, harm none." The religion has some roots in pre-Christian times.

John Ferguson, an attorney and scholar who looks at religious issues for
the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said the
original display raised constitutional issues.

"Anytime the government puts up a display containing religious items, they
need to make sure they're not promoting or denigrating them," he said.
"With no description or context, the average viewer could interpret it as
having a negative connotation."

Willie Jones, the owner of Magical Journey, a spiritual reality store on
Louise Avenue in Nashville, said he didn't want to pass judgment on the
display, but called it "uninformed."

He offered to give a presentation on Wicca to the department and donate a
copy of the book, The Law Enforcement Guide To Wicca, which was written by
a Wiccan police officer to explain the religion to his peers.

After learning that the display had been changed, he said, "It always
impresses me when someone re-evaluates their thinking."

"I want to commend them for doing the right thing," the ACLU's Weinberg said.

And Ferguson agreed: "I think it's a positive thing they decided to revisit
the message they wanted to send the community."

The case now contains the remaining drug-related items, over-the-counter
energy supplements (sometimes called "trucker speed"), two issues of High
Times marijuana magazine and the book The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The
Authoritative Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against
Marijuana.