SPIRITUAL RIGHTS: JUDGE SAYS BOY MUST NOT INGEST PEYOTE

TC Child, Both Parents Must Choose Right Age

WHITE CLOUD (AP) - A judge ruled Tuesday that a 4-year-old boy must be older
before he can take peyote at American Indian spiritual ceremonies.

In his 31-page decision, Judge Graydon W. Dimkoff of Newaygo County Family
Court wrote that "peyote is dangerous, and in general should be avoided."

He also ruled against the contention of the boy's father, Jonathan Fowler,
who claimed that prohibiting his son from ingesting peyote infringes upon
Fowler's religious freedom.

In dispute was a portion of Dimkoff's custody ruling in the couple's divorce
case.

After granting physical custody of the boy to his father, the judge ordered
Fowler not to allow the child to receive peyote under any circumstances.

Fowler, 36, a Traverse City resident and member of the Grand Traverse Band
of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, asked Dimkoff to reverse part of the earlier
child-custody ruling and allow his son to ingest peyote with him at Fowler's
church.

Kristin Hanslovsky, the boy's non-American Indian mother and Fowler's
ex-wife, fought the request. The 31-year-old Whitehall woman feared that
peyote could harm her son.

Dimkoff ruled that the child can attend his father's church, the Native
American Church of the Morning Star. As long as the boy is a minor, however,
he cannot ingest sacramental peyote during the church's all-night services
until he is fully aware of the implications, is physically and emotionally
ready and has permission from both parents.

"It's a good decision," said Hanslovsky's attorney, Martin Holmes, whose
practice is in North Muskegon. "It's certainly based on the law and the
facts. I commend the judge for a very thorough job. ... I don't think the
judge really had any choice, given the nature of the facts."

Hanslovsky, a Roman Catholic, said she has no interest in stifling anyone's
religious freedom and no problem with her son being taught traditional
Indian ways.

"The biggest issue is, I want my son to be able to choose. He needs to make
the choice, not me, not his father," she said. "He needs to be the one, when
he is an adult - that is the appropriate age for him to make an informed
decision."

Dimkoff wrote that he would prefer the boy to be at least 16 "before he
partakes of peyote." But instead of setting an arbitrary age, the judge said
the parents must jointly decide when he is ready, "with some consideration
being given to the child's desire."

"It obviously was not a favorable ruling for our side," said Fowler's
lawyer, Thomas Myers of Michigan Indian Legal Services Inc. in Lansing.

Myers said his organization has not yet decided whether to handle any appeal
of the judge's ruling. But Fowler said there will be an appeal, though
another rights group may end up handling it.

"For American citizens, including Indians - at least in this state -
religious freedom has been reduced to the whims of a Family Court judge,"
Fowler said.

The ruling angered and disappointed him but did not surprise him.

"We've been experiencing these things for 515 years now," Fowler said. "So
what did I expect, really?"

The state has a duty to intercede on behalf of a child's welfare, Dimkoff
wrote.

"Mr. Fowler would have the court rule that ingestion of peyote by children
is a matter of personal decision by a tribal member over his own children,
based upon his religious-liberty argument, and would preclude any
intervention whatsoever by the state," the judge wrote.

The peyote cactus, which is indigenous to southern Texas and northern
Mexico, has been part of Indian culture for thousands of years. Those who
ingest the plant for religious reasons believe it provides enlightenment and
other spiritual and physical benefits.

Fowler has said he believes his use of peyote at church helped him to find
God and stay sober for 10 years. He says his son has never been given any
peyote.

At his church, which meets six to 10 times per year in different locations,
members sing, pray and consume peyote as a tea and a paste. The federal
government has outlawed the use of peyote except in certain Indian churches,
like Fowler's, where it is a sacrament.

Among the plant's chemical ingredients is mescaline, a hallucinogen. The
U.S. criminal code classifies peyote as a controlled substance and a person
caught with more than 4 ounces faces the possibility of a 20-year prison
sentence.