State Says Nevada Soldier's Plaque Can Include Wiccan Symbol

The widow of a Nevada soldier killed in Afghanistan a year ago won state approval Wednesday to place a Wiccan religious symbol on his memorial plaque, something the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to do."I'm just in shock," Roberta Stewart said from her home in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno.Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, was killed in Afghanistan last Sept. 25 when the Nevada Army National Guard helicopter he was in was shot down. He was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize and therefore prohibits on veterans' headstones in national cemeteries.The new development came Wednesday when state veterans officials said they had received a legal opinion from the Nevada Attorney General's Office that concluded federal officials have no authority over state veterans' cemeteries.

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