Pennsylvania Papers Will Turn Over Reporters' Notes to Federal Judge

By: (AP) A federal judge Thursday asked to review notes and other source material of two freelance newspaper reporters subpoenaed in a lawsuit over a school district's inclusion of "intelligent design" in the ninth-grade biology curriculum.

Attorneys for the Dover Area School District board want the reporters to give sworn testimony in connection with the lawsuit. They also want to examine the reporters' records from two June 2004 meetings in which board members discussed "intelligent design," which holds that the universe is so complex, it must have been created by some kind of guiding force. The Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., is defending the school board.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III agreed to a suggestion by a lawyer for The York Dispatch and the York Daily Record/Sunday News that he examine the materials privately to determine whether they are relevant to the case before ruling on the lawyer's request to quash the subpoenas.

The lawyer, Niles Benn, said he would turn over notes and story drafts from Heidi Bernhard-Bubb, a correspondent for the Dispatch, and e-mails from Joe Maldonado, a correspondent from the Daily Record/Sunday News, by the end of the day on Tuesday.

"We think the court's going to find that the notes aren't relevant," Benn said after the court hearing.

The school district was believed to be the first in the United States to require students to be told about intelligent design during biology lessons on evolution when the board adopted changes to the science curriculum in October.

A Sept. 26 trial has been scheduled for the lawsuit, in which eight families argue that intelligent design is merely biblical creationism disguised in secular language and has no place in a science classroom.

An attorney for the Thomas More Law Center said the reporters' testimony and notes were essential to clearing up questions about the accuracy of their stories about the school board meetings.

In sworn testimony in January, school board members denied or said they did not remember making statements about creationism during the meetings, which both reporters included in their stories.

"Creationism was a term that was put in their mouths," Thomas More attorney Patrick Gillen said.

The plaintiffs' attorneys also had subpoenaed the reporters, but later agreed to accept affidavits from them and their editors attesting to the accuracy of the stories. Benn argued that the defense lawyers could get their questions answered by interviewing members of the public who attended the meetings.

"We have to be the court of last resort," Benn said.

Witold Walczak, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the reporters' affidavits would suffice for now, but he wanted to reserve the right to seek their sworn testimony if Jones decided not to quash the defense's subpoenas.

If the reporters are ordered to testify, Benn said he wants Jones to issue an order that would limit their testimony to what was published and prohibit questioning about sources, notes or other materials used in their reporting.