Court upholds Wiccan-Boscov's ruling
Superior Court says store discriminated when it canceled pagan classes
BY JAMES MERRIWEATHER, The News Journal
Updated Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 6:34 pm
DOVER -- A Superior Court judge has upheld a religious discrimination finding that requires Boscov's to pay a $5,000 fine and $21,000 to two Christians, two Wiccans and a pagan.
In May, the state Human Relations Commission found that the Reading, Pa.-based department store chain caved in to pressure from church people and illegally dropped classes the complainants planned to teach in October 2005 at the Campus of Classes at the Dover store.
Boscov's had argued in its defense that the classes -- including sessions on tarot, talismans, candle magic and the pentagram -- were called off for lack of diversity.
In an order decided Monday and issued Wednesday, Judge Robert B. Young of Kent County Superior Court agreed with the commission that Boscov's diversity argument was "unworthy of credence" and instead was a pretext to discrimination.
Donna Jackson, 57, organizer of the dumped classes and the lead complainant, said she was particularly gratified that Young quoted Thomas Jefferson in his conclusion in the case.
'"Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry,'" Young wrote.
"The commission was charged with ensuring that we Delawareans uphold similar ideals. After examination of the record, the court is satisfied that the decision of the commission, finding a violation ...
and ordering damages, is supported by substantial evidence and free from legal error."
Reached Thursday, Jackson, a spiritualist who lives in the Camden-Wyoming (Delaware) area, was hard-pressed to contain herself.
"I'm so excited about this," she said. "I think it's awesome. This is a big thing because we're in a conservative state. I'm just thrilled."
Jackson's son, Jason Russell, 26, also was among those who intended to teach classes at the Campus of Classes. He hailed the judge's order as a landmark constitutional ruling.
"Freedom of religion is what this case was pretty much about," he said, "and we'll [complain formally] again if we have to."
Jeffrey K. Martin, attorney for Boscov's, said Thursday that he had not had time to review the ruling, but said an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court could not be ruled out.
"I'm hoping to take it home and tonight and look at it," he said of the ruling. "I'm disappointed to have lost, but I'm going to look at it and see where we should go from here."
In its appeal, Boscov's took issue with the discrimination finding, arguing that it was not supported by substantial evidence and accusing the commission of running a rigged hearing. Judge Young rejected all arguments.
Jackson, who's not a lawyer, successfully put on the complainants' case last February in a two-day hearing before the Human Relations Commission. After Boscov's appealed the commission's May decision, Julia M. Graff, staff attorney for the ACLU of Delaware, and three other lawyers -- C. Malcolm Cochran IV, Elizabeth C. Tucker and K. Tyler O'Connell, all of the Wilmington firm of Richards, Layton & Finger -- signed on to represent the complainants.
"Certainly, we're pleased," Graff said in an interview. "Public accommodations play a very special role in terms of whether or not people feel welcome to the club as equal members of society."
As the lead plaintiff and coordinator of the canceled classes, Jackson is slated to get $4,500 from the department store chain. Payments of $4,125 each will go to her co-complainants -- her son, Jason, a
Christian from Dover; witches Marla Kepner and Chantel Henderson of the Camden-Wyoming area; and Norene Hamilton of Dover, a pagan.
Local practitioners describe paganism as any nature-based polytheistic spirituality, including Wicca, Buddhism, Druid beliefs and gnostic Christianity. Wicca is widely described as an Earth-based religion that finds the spirit of God in the wind, rain and other aspects of nature, drawing on the best traditions of witchcraft.
In its ruling, the Human Relations Commission traced the root of the case to fliers distributed at Pagan Pride Day, held on Dover's Legislative Mall in August 2005, to get out word on the upcoming
classes at Boscov's.
At the time, Pastor William Jeffcoat of Capitol Baptist Church, and some of his followers noted that some of the classes would be taught by practitioners of Wicca, which the pastor described in testimony before the commission as "very, very dark."
Jeffcoat and Boscov's officials testified that the decision to cancel the classes was made before his complaint was lodged, but the commission found that other church people had complained about the classes.
According to testimony, the cancellation decision was made on the same day that an advertisement intended to attract participants to the classes was published in a local newspaper.
While the case was pending before the commission, expressions of support for the complainants came in from pagans, Wiccans and as far away as Sweden, Italy, Spain and Australia.
Contact James Merriweather at 302-678-4273 or jmerriweather@delawareonline.com
