News Release "Children's Health"
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jackie Lindenbach—808/965-2112; tetra@tetrahedron.org
Hawaii Court Restrains Health Dept. TB Skin-Testing: Student Wins Religious Freedom and School Access
Hilo, HI —A Judeo-Christian minister’s daughter won her freedom to return to public school today by order of the Third Circuit Court of Hawaii after being expelled for more than a month. The 14-year-old was ordered to homeschool by health officials due to her family’s religious conviction to abstain from TB skin testing and vaccinations.
The restraining order, which has an immediate effect on the Dept. of Health and Dept. of Education in Hawaii, sends a message nationally. The final outcome of the case may set an American precedent as a victory for religious freedom and body sovereignty.
Alena N. Horowitz, a straight “A” student, Varsity athlete, and author of a children’s book extolling the virtues of love and natural healing, was effectively “quarantined” from Hilo High School in early September for failing to comply with the State’s TB skin testing mandate. The expulsion violated several state and federal laws according to the meritorious complaint scheduled for preliminary hearing on October 12.
Like Rowe vs. Wade, the outcome of this controversial action may set a national precedent restoring choice and religious freedoms. Both religious and health freedoms are increasingly being violated and restricted nationally by health department officials demanding TB skin tests and vaccinations for employment and school admission.
Two Hilo judges excused themselves for potential conflicts before Judge Elizabeth A. Strance ordered Dept. of Health officials and school administrators to cease harming the student while the case moves through the courts.
The student “is sustaining immediate and irreparable injury, loss, damage and such would be continuing in nature by being kept from classes and activities,” Judge Strance wrote. “Said injury is irreparable given the nature of the educational process which requires timely completion of assignments and examinations, the increasing nature of the burden over time, the importance of attendance for full learning opportunity, and that there appears an inadequate remedy at law.”
“It is further ordered that defendants desist and refrain from denying admission to Alena N. Horowitz to Hilo High School classroom and extracurricular activities,” the order stated.
The court’s decision may help determine how far health officials can go in curtailing civil rights and religious freedoms while administering to public health risks in an age of bioterrorism and threatened outbreaks.
In Hawaii, TB skin testing has been mandatory only for secular students for a decade. This entire time authorities have misrepresented the threat of an outbreak, and claimed no religious exemptions exist for the TB test. To the contrary, state laws evidence allowable religious exemptions and, in fact, TB levels statewide have remained nearly the same low risk level since the legislation took effect in 1996.
“If there truly was an imminent danger of a TB epidemic on the Big Island of Hawaii then officials are additionally negligent,” Dr. Leonard Horowitz, Alena’s father said. “Health officials are required by law to provide weekly reports on a proclaimed outbreak, or lift their quarantines within 72 hours. We weren’t given any notice, never anything in writing, and their quarantine has been illegally in effect for more than a month.”Alena was certified "TB free" by her medical doctor last spring, but was forced from school anyway by Hilo, Hawaii’s Health Department Director, Judy Akamine because of the lacking TB test. Akamine disallowed all possible alternatives to the skin test including chest x-rays, sputum analysis, and a new blood test deemed superior by federal authorities. According to the family’s attorneys, Akamine’s actions violated several state and federal laws by denying the student’s bona fide religious exemption from the test. The test is obviously a form of “medical examination;” legally considered an “immunization” by the State’s clear definitions. Both require health officials to honor religious exemptions according to a half dozen State laws.
Akamine and other officials had routinely claimed that TB skin testing was not an “immunization,” but a careful review of their own “Administrative Rules” book evidences otherwise. The plantiffs’ attorneys say that officials misrepresented clear definitions, were grossly negligent in dishonoring legislated religious rights, and criminally liable for breaking laws considered a felony under State statutes.
Akamine rejected the Administrative Rules governing health officials’ behavior when Dr. Horowitz brought these laws to her attention. She told him she didn’t understand the laws, and then referred the matter to the State’s attorney general’s office. There the decision was made to force the teen’s home schooling.
“This is a great civics lesson for Alena and our community,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Gary Zamber of North Hilo “I’m very proud of Alena for standing up for her rights and for those who may be persecuted in the future for holding different religious convictions. She is also serving to bring justice to those who have disrespected the body temple as a sovereign.”
Dr. Horowitz, the Overseer of The Royal Bloodline of David ministry, has been at the forefront of defending religious freedom internationally from the threat of “genocidal contaminations” from vaccinations. His website www.DrLenHorowitz.com, offers a controversial view of vaccinations that have been linked to many new diseases, and articles written for the ecclesiastic community including one entitled, “What Jesus and Moses Would Say and Do About Vaccinations.”
Horowitz’s family involvement in this case he says, “obviously came by Divine appointment.” Someone with his credentials was needed to “take these devil-doers to task,” he said, referring to his doctorate in medical dentistry from Tufts University and a Master of Public Health Degree from Harvard. “Intelligence is needed to stand up for sanity in public health policy, particularly since autocrats are violating state, federal, and Biblical laws.” . The expulsion caused Alena to be targeted with substantial persecution as evidenced on the Hawaii Herald-Tribune’s top Blog.
“When I asked to get my homework from my teachers the vice principle told me that the problem was my religion was keeping me from going to school,” Alena said. She was then told that principal Robert Dircks would need to approve of the way in which she got her assignments since she was not even allowed to step foot on school property.
“When I confronted Dircks about this deplorable treatment he said this problem should not have happened, homework assignments should have been readily available, and that he would investigate why Alena had been misinformed,” Dr. Horowitz said.
The court order for Alena to return to school “is a fine example of how the legal system can work to resolve disputes,” attorney Zamber said. “This case may lead everyone to recognize religious exemptions to medical examinations and 'immunizations' including TB skin testing as a constitutional right, not a privilege to be carelessly overlooked by health officials.”
Too often parents have been coerced into accepting unwanted medical procedures based upon their ignorance of the law.
“There is a strong individual right to privacy, liberty, and religious expression,” Zamber explained. “Our eternal vigilance is the price we all must pay for our constitutional freedoms.”
http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/Press/press_releases/tuberculosis/release10_hawaii_case.html
Contact: Jackie Lindenbach—808/965-2112; tetra@tetrahedron.org
Hawaii Court Restrains Health Dept. TB Skin-Testing: Student Wins Religious Freedom and School Access
Hilo, HI —A Judeo-Christian minister’s daughter won her freedom to return to public school today by order of the Third Circuit Court of Hawaii after being expelled for more than a month. The 14-year-old was ordered to homeschool by health officials due to her family’s religious conviction to abstain from TB skin testing and vaccinations.
The restraining order, which has an immediate effect on the Dept. of Health and Dept. of Education in Hawaii, sends a message nationally. The final outcome of the case may set an American precedent as a victory for religious freedom and body sovereignty.
Alena N. Horowitz, a straight “A” student, Varsity athlete, and author of a children’s book extolling the virtues of love and natural healing, was effectively “quarantined” from Hilo High School in early September for failing to comply with the State’s TB skin testing mandate. The expulsion violated several state and federal laws according to the meritorious complaint scheduled for preliminary hearing on October 12.
Like Rowe vs. Wade, the outcome of this controversial action may set a national precedent restoring choice and religious freedoms. Both religious and health freedoms are increasingly being violated and restricted nationally by health department officials demanding TB skin tests and vaccinations for employment and school admission.
Two Hilo judges excused themselves for potential conflicts before Judge Elizabeth A. Strance ordered Dept. of Health officials and school administrators to cease harming the student while the case moves through the courts.
The student “is sustaining immediate and irreparable injury, loss, damage and such would be continuing in nature by being kept from classes and activities,” Judge Strance wrote. “Said injury is irreparable given the nature of the educational process which requires timely completion of assignments and examinations, the increasing nature of the burden over time, the importance of attendance for full learning opportunity, and that there appears an inadequate remedy at law.”
“It is further ordered that defendants desist and refrain from denying admission to Alena N. Horowitz to Hilo High School classroom and extracurricular activities,” the order stated.
The court’s decision may help determine how far health officials can go in curtailing civil rights and religious freedoms while administering to public health risks in an age of bioterrorism and threatened outbreaks.
In Hawaii, TB skin testing has been mandatory only for secular students for a decade. This entire time authorities have misrepresented the threat of an outbreak, and claimed no religious exemptions exist for the TB test. To the contrary, state laws evidence allowable religious exemptions and, in fact, TB levels statewide have remained nearly the same low risk level since the legislation took effect in 1996.
“If there truly was an imminent danger of a TB epidemic on the Big Island of Hawaii then officials are additionally negligent,” Dr. Leonard Horowitz, Alena’s father said. “Health officials are required by law to provide weekly reports on a proclaimed outbreak, or lift their quarantines within 72 hours. We weren’t given any notice, never anything in writing, and their quarantine has been illegally in effect for more than a month.”Alena was certified "TB free" by her medical doctor last spring, but was forced from school anyway by Hilo, Hawaii’s Health Department Director, Judy Akamine because of the lacking TB test. Akamine disallowed all possible alternatives to the skin test including chest x-rays, sputum analysis, and a new blood test deemed superior by federal authorities. According to the family’s attorneys, Akamine’s actions violated several state and federal laws by denying the student’s bona fide religious exemption from the test. The test is obviously a form of “medical examination;” legally considered an “immunization” by the State’s clear definitions. Both require health officials to honor religious exemptions according to a half dozen State laws.
Akamine and other officials had routinely claimed that TB skin testing was not an “immunization,” but a careful review of their own “Administrative Rules” book evidences otherwise. The plantiffs’ attorneys say that officials misrepresented clear definitions, were grossly negligent in dishonoring legislated religious rights, and criminally liable for breaking laws considered a felony under State statutes.
Akamine rejected the Administrative Rules governing health officials’ behavior when Dr. Horowitz brought these laws to her attention. She told him she didn’t understand the laws, and then referred the matter to the State’s attorney general’s office. There the decision was made to force the teen’s home schooling.
“This is a great civics lesson for Alena and our community,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Gary Zamber of North Hilo “I’m very proud of Alena for standing up for her rights and for those who may be persecuted in the future for holding different religious convictions. She is also serving to bring justice to those who have disrespected the body temple as a sovereign.”
Dr. Horowitz, the Overseer of The Royal Bloodline of David ministry, has been at the forefront of defending religious freedom internationally from the threat of “genocidal contaminations” from vaccinations. His website www.DrLenHorowitz.com, offers a controversial view of vaccinations that have been linked to many new diseases, and articles written for the ecclesiastic community including one entitled, “What Jesus and Moses Would Say and Do About Vaccinations.”
Horowitz’s family involvement in this case he says, “obviously came by Divine appointment.” Someone with his credentials was needed to “take these devil-doers to task,” he said, referring to his doctorate in medical dentistry from Tufts University and a Master of Public Health Degree from Harvard. “Intelligence is needed to stand up for sanity in public health policy, particularly since autocrats are violating state, federal, and Biblical laws.” . The expulsion caused Alena to be targeted with substantial persecution as evidenced on the Hawaii Herald-Tribune’s top Blog.
“When I asked to get my homework from my teachers the vice principle told me that the problem was my religion was keeping me from going to school,” Alena said. She was then told that principal Robert Dircks would need to approve of the way in which she got her assignments since she was not even allowed to step foot on school property.
“When I confronted Dircks about this deplorable treatment he said this problem should not have happened, homework assignments should have been readily available, and that he would investigate why Alena had been misinformed,” Dr. Horowitz said.
The court order for Alena to return to school “is a fine example of how the legal system can work to resolve disputes,” attorney Zamber said. “This case may lead everyone to recognize religious exemptions to medical examinations and 'immunizations' including TB skin testing as a constitutional right, not a privilege to be carelessly overlooked by health officials.”
Too often parents have been coerced into accepting unwanted medical procedures based upon their ignorance of the law.
“There is a strong individual right to privacy, liberty, and religious expression,” Zamber explained. “Our eternal vigilance is the price we all must pay for our constitutional freedoms.”
http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/Press/press_releases/tuberculosis/release10_hawaii_case.html
posted by Dani @ 7:42 AM
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