
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 25, 1993                   TAG: 9311250251
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

COURT FORBIDS RELIGIOUS LEAFLET BANS

Schools cannot flatly bar students from distributing religious leaflets on school grounds, a federal appeals court panel ruled.

But the three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in Tuesday's ruling that schools could curtail the distribution of such material.

At issue was a warning by the principal of Wauconda Junior High School three years ago that a student couldn't hand out copies of the evangelical Christian newspaper "Issues and Answers."

The student, Megan Hedges, said the policy violated her First Amendment rights.

Lawyers for both sides said the ruling shows that school officials cannot prohibit students from handing out religious tracts they have written themselves, if school policy allows them to hand out other student-written material. - Associated Press

by CNB