While the fierce debate over the intelligent design issue continues in federal court in Harrisburg, there is another, more subtle separation taking place. A separation not of church and state, but of families, neighbors and friends.

		Alex Muller is a journalism major at Penn State and a reporter for The Daily Collegian, adm219@psu.edu.

Who would have thought the sleepy town of Dover, my hometown, would be upheaved the way it has been in recent months.

Dover, a community of 18,000, where the construction of a new Giant grocery store seems to have been the biggest news in recent history, suddenly has Newsweek and People magazine reporters hounding residents for interviews. Associated Press reporters wait across the street from Dover Area High School to intercept students on the way to their cars. This is because of a decision by the school board in October 2004: that students should be made aware of a theory other than Darwinism in their biology classes. They mandated that students should at least be exposed to the intelligent design theory -- the belief is that, structurally, life on our planet is too complex to have developed through means of evolution, and that some higher power must have had a hand in our creation.

Pandemonium ensued. School board members stepped down and openly criticized the plan. A faction of 11 parents sued the school board to stop them from mandating teachers to read a four-paragraph statement at the beginning of the biology curriculum, which points students toward the school library, where they can find copies of "Of Pandas and People," a text on intelligent design.

In jumped the American Civil Liberties Union to defend the parents. In jumped countless reporters, photographers and talk-show hosts. Needless to say, the sleepy town of Dover received a shot of adrenaline.

Just as the two theories appear to clash head-on with each other, so do the factions of teachers, parents, preachers and students over this issue.

During the spring school board primary election, Dover residents were pulling signs supporting incumbents out of their neighbors' lawns in the middle of the night. Some decided just to leave the signs and instead vandalize them. School board meetings turned into virtual media circuses. Heated arguments took place at the grocery store, at the mall, at sporting events.

What do the high school students say about all this? A lot are embarrassed by the situation and want it to disappear completely. My own sister and her friends were ridiculed at a high school football game by the opposing team's student section who started chanting "Evolution!" when they walked by.

Not all students are trying to ignore the debate. Some are on their soap boxes as well. The members of the school board, as well as those suing the school board, have children in the school system, and their children have been vocal in support of their parents. What else would anyone expect?

This, inevitably and sadly, leads to yet another split in the community. Children who have been lifelong friends are suddenly on opposing sides, not unlike the way brothers and friends were pitted against each other during the Civil War.

While this battle involves no physical violence, casualties still ensue.

Last year a teacher was put on a week-long suspension. The reason? She criticized the school board in front of her class.

The teachers at Dover Area High School represent the most tragic victims, suddenly thrown into a raging debate for which they were left completely unprepared.

The real shame is that Dover employs some fine educators. These teachers care about students and go to great lengths to ensure their well-being. They are not only concerned with improving education, but also with improving character. These are teachers whose primary concern is preparing students for the real world, and they take great pains to ensure that no student is lost in the fray.

One physics teacher went so far as to leave the school because he was so disgusted with the way the school board was running things. He was a fine educator who worked hard to make learning fun. I know this because I took his class my senior year. Never have I had as much fun in a science class.

Now he's showing his dedication to the students by financing his own campaign and running for the school board so that he can help make changes to ensure the students receive the kind of education they deserve. He's a perfect example of the kind of teachers the Dover schools employ.

This seems to be lost in the media portrayal of Dover. The media, whose primary concern is the church-and-state controversy, often fails to mention these hard-working educators.

But what about the people in Dover who just don't care about this national debate in their own backyards?

A large faction just wants everything to go back to the way it was, two years ago, before this controversy. They want to be left alone. They're tired of fielding questions from reporters, from family members, from random people who notice their Dover Area High School varsity jackets.

The sad truth, of course, is that they won't be left alone, not anytime soon anyway. While the battle continues, they will just have to sit, and wait, and hope that Dover will be sleepy once more.