The court case of 2005 in Dover, Pennsylvania, (Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District) over the teaching of intelligent design within American schools, resulted in a major setback for the creationists.
It is a story that has since been widely reported on and analysed in great detail by many sources (such as those discussed on the Dover web page), many of which do a good job of summarising the various issues involved.
However, for those wishing to examine events in greater detail, there is probably no better source than the news reports produced at the time by the local newspaper, the York Daily Record, which reported on both the trial and events leading up to it.
The York Daily Record amassed a large number of reports on the various stories and events, cataloguing them under a page called Dover Biology.
Unfortunately, this page has since disappeared and many of the links to the various articles no longer appear active. Given the historical importance of these news reports, I have attempted here to reconstruct the Dover Biology page using the relevant articles from the York Daily Record, where I can find them, and from an internet archiving service known as the Wayback Machine
The original Dover Biology index page can be found on the Wayback Machine here. However, somewhere along the line the York Daily Record changed its web address, as a result many of the links shown are now inaccessible.
The Wayback Machine can be a little slow, so please be patient.
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MIKE ARGENTO
Article Launched: 1 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - On the witness stand during Monday's session of the Dover Panda Trial, Dover Area School Board member Alan Bonsell accused the press of just making things up.
Keeping that in mind, here's a description of what happened Monday afternoon. - More
Wayback Machine
Plaintiffs ask: Why choose Thomas More?
Dover Area's counsel advertised itself as a defender of Christian beliefs.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 1 Nov 2005
Dover Area School Board member Alan Bonsell testified he would be offended if plaintiffs' attorney Steve Harvey was implying he chose Thomas More Law Center's counsel based on information from its Web site.
During cross-examination in U.S. Middle District Court Monday, Harvey read the following line from the center's site: "Our purpose is to be the sword and shield for people of faith, providing legal representation without charge to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square." - More
The judge's questioning of Alan Bonsell centered around a check used to buy books.
By LAURI LEBO - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 1 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - After Alan Bonsell finished his testimony Monday, in which he accused two local newspaper reporters of making up the information that drove the Dover Area School District into a First Amendment lawsuit, Judge John E. Jones III demanded to see a copy of Bonsell's previous sworn statements.
Steve Harvey, the plaintiffs' attorney who had cross-examined the Dover Area school board member, offered to provide a clean copy later in chambers. - More
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Dover CARES members said they plan to stay
They criticized the incumbent board for claiming CARES was linked to the ACLU.
By TERESA MCMINN - For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 2 Nov 2005
No matter the outcome of next week's election, Dover CARES school board candidates will continue to follow the school district's meetings and try to improve the community, they said. The candidates spoke to reporters and a group of about 50 people at a news conference Tuesday at the Dover Township Fire Hall.
"Dover CARES won't go away," said school board candidate Rob McIlvaine. "We're going to be that thorn in the side forever." - More
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Argento: Did we mention that Dover's clueless?
MIKE ARGENTO
Article Launched: 3 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - Before I resurrect my effort to get the Dover Area schools to teach the theory that cows think in Spanish, let's take a look at exactly how that particular school district decides what to teach its kids.
OK, maybe not teach. Mention. All right, not mention. Make aware. - More
Wayback Machine
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 3 Nov 2005
Defense attorney Patrick Gillen called Robert Linker, a dover biology teacher, to show how Dover schools Asst. Supt. Michael Baksa came to the understanding that creationism was talked about in the classroom.
Linker testified to mentioning creationism to Baksa, but he said it wasn't talked about in the classroom. - More
Wayback Machine
Origin of board decision probed
Dover school officials were asked about a creationism seminar, board discussions.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 3 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - Not long into his cross-examination Wednesday, Dover schools Asst. Supt. Michael Baksa talked about a seminar he had attended about creationism in public schools.
The typically calm and confident administrator started his testimony with shaky hands and a weak voice as he explained to plaintiffs' attorney Eric Rothschild that Supt. Richard Nilsen sent him to the Messiah College seminar on March 26, 2003. - More
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It's all about bacterial flagella
MIKE ARGENTO
Article Launched: 4 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - Scott Minnich loves the bubonic plague. He loves talking about it. Just loves it.
And Thursday, during the University of Idaho microbiologist's testimony as an expert witness on Day Whatever of the Dover Panda Trial, he mentioned the plague, I believe, at least three times. - More
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Judge hears how Dover teachers reacted to dispute.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 4 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - Two Dover biology teachers stripped extra activities from their lesson plans to avoid causing trouble after school district officials questioned how teachers presented evolution.
Groups of science teachers met with school officials twice in 2003 before the board approved a ninth-grade biology curriculum change in 2004 to include a statement about intelligent design. - More
Wayback Machine
End of long trial leaves a void
Others involved, however, said they're glad the hard work is over.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 5 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - As the Dover Area School District's case over intelligent design unfolded inside a U.S. Middle District courtroom, the leaves on the trees changed color.
Late summer simply slipped into fall as participants and spectators repeatedly returned to the ninth-floor courtroom's wooden benches and alternating-green-and-white paneled walls. - More
Wayback Machine
A ruling in the school district's intelligent-design case could come by the end of the year.
By LAURI LEBO - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 5 Nov 2005
HARRISBURG - At the end of six weeks of testimony covering the bacterial flagellum, whale ancestry and puported conspiracies to return science to the Dark Ages, Eric Rothschild summed up Dover's intelligent design battle with the words of a once-reluctant plaintiff.
In his closing arguments, the plaintiffs' lead attorney read a statement by Fred Callahan, who testified he joined the First Amendment lawsuit mostly at the behest of his wife. People called him intolerant. - More
Wayback Machine
Nation, world seek reasons this community became flashpoint for intelligent-design debate
By LAURI LEBO - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 6 Nov 2005
DOVER - The Conewago Hills section of York County remains isolated, far back from the main roads.
People live here in houses of iron-rich red sandstone, 200-million-year-old sedimentary rock pulled from hard clay soil. - More
Wayback Machine
By NICOLE FREHSEE - Medill News Service
Article Launched: 9 Nov 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Kansas State Board of Education's vote Tuesday to approve new science standards that cast doubt on evolution is the latest battle in the longstanding war over science curricula in public schools between proponents of intelligent design and advocates of evolution.
But the Kansas decision, which will allow teachers to proffer supernatural explanations for human development, has implications different from the Dover intelligent design trial that ended last week in Harrisburg. - More
Wayback Machine
Cashman ready to contest results
A voting machine might have malfunctioned in the Dover school board race.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 10 Nov 2005
York County's election office is investigating reports that a voting machine at Friendship Community Church in Dover Township malfunctioned and may not have recorded votes for an incumbent school board candidate.
Tuesday night, eight incumbents lost their seats on the Dover Area School Board to eight challengers in the opposition group Dover CARES. - More
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Reality of wins still sinking in
Some incumbents blame their losses on Republican voter apathy.
By TOM JOYCE - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 10 Nov 2005
The adrenaline rush of campaigning was giving way to weariness for Bernadette Reinking of Dover on Wednesday afternoon.
She was preparing some dinner and planning to eat it before dealing with the backlog of phone messages awaiting her. Earlier that day, she had talked to an interviewer who she believed was from Japan. - More
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Dover leaders, pastors denounced national evangelist Pat Robertson for attacking their community.
By CHARLOTTE TUCKER and TERESA MCMINN - Daily Record/Sunday News
24 Nov 2005
Though Pat Robertson might not believe it, God will stick with Dover despite voters' decision to oust the school board that supported intelligent design in its science curriculum.
That's what religious leaders in Dover said Thursday upon hearing that Robertson told Dover residents not to rely on God because of the election result. - More
Wayback Machine
But fellow school board members halted David Napierskie's attempt.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 15 Nov 2005
As his last effort on the Dover Area School Board, David Napierskie wanted to turn back time.
He asked the board to revoke the curriculum change that includes intelligent design, agree to not add it again and ask their legal representation, Thomas More Law Center, to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them. - More
Wayback Machine
Backing out possible, not simple
Dover board member's idea to render the case moot likely won't work, attorney said.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 16 Nov 2005
Monday's attempt by outgoing Dover Area School Board member David Napierskie to save the district from legal fees is not as simple as it sounded, said the district's attorney Richard Thompson.
Napierskie asked the board to revoke the curriculum change that includes intelligent design, agree not to add it again and ask their legal representation, Thomas More Law Center, to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them and pay $1 in damages. - More
Wayback Machine
An outgoing Dover school board member blames a faulty vote tally for his loss.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Last Updated: 28 Nov 2005
James Clymer, attorney for outgoing Dover Area School Board member James Cashman, said he plans to officially challenge election results for his client on Monday.
Cashman lost to Bryan Rehm, the Dover CARES candidate who won the four-year seat by 99 votes. County officials are investigating a voting machine malfunction in one precinct that might have incorrectly tallied votes for Cashman. - More
Wayback Machine
Candidate will push for revote
Dover's James Cashman will ask a judge for a new ballot for all candidates.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Last Updated: 28 Nov 2005
Outgoing Dover Area school board member James Cashman and his attorney will ask a York County judge for a new election at one of Dover's precincts for eight school board candidates who ran for four-year seats.
They plan to contest the election results Monday in York County Common Pleas Court. Earlier this month, Cashman lost by 99 votes to challenger Bryan Rehm. - More
Wayback Machine
District in new hands (WB Machine only)
New Dover Area board members took their posts, but one seat remains open.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 6, 2005 — New Dover Area School Board members received a standing ovation from most of the crowd while a group of former board members sat at one side of the room.
Plaintiffs and witnesses from the federal intelligent design trial sat among the crowd at the meeting, which brought media from the BBC, Fox News Channel and local outlets to cover the handoff Monday evening. - Wayback Machine
Smackdown in evolution ruling (WB Machine only)
MIKE ARGENTO
Dec 21, 2005 — Just wait until Pat Robertson gets a load of this.
If you thought the election and the removal of that inflamed boil on democracy that was the Dover school board had doomed Dover to an eternity of perdition, filled with pain and suffering and the lamentations of the damned echoing over a Muzak-like soundtrack of Britney, Clay and other soulless pap, you ain't seen nothing yet.
You should take a few minutes - well, an hour or so - to read federal Judge John E. Jones III's ruling in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover. - Wayback Machine
Some hoping for wide impact
By LAURI LEBO - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 21, 2005 — Lawyers for the 11 parents who sued the Dover Area School District over intelligent design said they hope a federal judge's decision sends a message to districts across the country.
While the decision is not legally binding outside the Dover district, Judge John E. Jones III ruled Tuesday that intelligent design is religion, not science, and cannot be included in public school science class curriculum. - More
Wayback Machine
Book is in limbo (WB Machine only)
'Of Pandas' remains in Dover's library, but it's unclear where it will be shelved.
By LAURI LEBO - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 22, 2005 — With the words of Judge John E. Jones III's decision still sinking into their brains, members of Dover's new school board say they haven't determined the fate of a pro-intelligent design textbook sitting in their library.
The book "Of Pandas and People," which figured prominently into the school district's six-week court battle over intelligent design, remains on the shelves of the Dover Area High School library. - Wayback Machine
Reactions to testimony mixed (WB Machine only)
The judge said two former board members lied during the Dover trial.
By TOM JOYCE - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 22, 2005 — Mike James of Dover has no doubt that if he stood on a witness stand in a courtroom and lied, he would be prosecuted.
So if two former members of the Dover Area School Board did indeed lie during the recent federal court trial about the teaching of intelligent design, as the judge ruled they did, he believes they should be prosecuted. - Wayback Machine
After ruling come verdicts on the judge (WB Machine only - under reader's thoughts)
Article Launched: 25 Dec 2005 12:56:44 AM
When federal Judge John E. Jones III issued his ruling in the Dover Area School District case last week, many found its tone nearly as noteworthy as its content.
The case concerned an attempt by former school board members to introduce the mention of "intelligent design" into a high school biology class. - Wayback Machine
Group accuses Santorum of switch
Conservative association says senator made '180-degree turn' on intelligent design
By Lauri Lebo - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 25, 2005 — A conservative organization that touts itself as a supporter of traditional values blasted Sen. Rick Santorum for his withdrawal of support for the Dover Area School District's unconstitutional intelligent design policy.
"Senator Rick Santorum's agreement with Judge John Jones' decision ... is yet another example of why conservatives can no longer trust the senator," the American Family Association of Pennsylvania said in a news release Friday. - More
Wayback Machine
Verdict on intelligent design judge:
By TOM JOYCE - Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 30, 2005 — Federal Judge John E. Jones III's ruling in the Dover intelligent design case has already made him something of a hero among civil libertarians and evolutionary biologists.
Now he's achieved a new type of distinction - one that might make him a source of hope and inspiration among habitues of chess clubs, Star Trek conventions and online fantasy role-playing games.
The Web site "Wired News" has included Jones on a list of "2005's 10 Sexiest Geeks." - More
Wayback Machine
Also today, Dover's board might revoke the controversial intelligent design decision.
By TOM JOYCE - Daily Record/Sunday News
Jan 3, 2006 — Now that the issue of teaching "intelligent design" in Dover schools appears to be played out, the doings of the Dover Area School Board might hold little interest for the rest of the world.
But the people who happen to live in that district find them to be of great consequence. Or so board member James Cashman is finding in his final days of campaigning before Tuesday's special election, during which he will try to retain his seat on the board. - More
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Community, board and teachers discussed the future of the biology curriculum.
By MICHELLE STARR - Daily Record/Sunday News
Jan 4, 2006 — The Dover Area school board voted intelligent design out of the district during Tuesday night's board meeting.
In accordance with federal Judge John E. Jones III's decision last month that intelligent design could not be in science class, board members rescinded the curriculum change from Oct. 18, 2004. - More
Wayback Machine
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