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Battalion/Page 7
November 8, 1982
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Ex-servicewoman to appeal
in sexual harassment case
United Press International
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A
former military police officer
says she will continue a legal bat
tle to get $800,()()() in damages
from four former superiors for
alleged sexual harassment at
Fort Bragg.
Kirstin Sender said Friday
she will appeal the suit’s dismis
sal by U.S. DistrictJudge W. Earl
Britt to the 4th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Richmond,
Va.
“I'm determined to go
through with it as far as I can,”
said Sender, who got out of the
Army in May 1981 and now
works in a San Antonio re
staurant. “It’s not just a case of
sexual harassment hut a matter
of whether superiors can do
.whatever they want to you.”
Sender sued the Army and
four MP superiors in 1980,
claiming two officers made sex
ual advances and later punished
her for rejecting the advances.
Britt dismissed the suit Oct.
29 on the recommendation of a
U.S. magistrate who said mem-
hers of the military have no legal
right to seek monetary damages
from superior officers.
The suit claimed two platoon
sergeants, Sgt. 1st Class Ralph
Blumenhagen and Staff Sgt.
Walter Johnson, solicited sexual
favors from Sender in 1979 and
1980. Both men took disciplin
ary action against her when she
refused the advances, Sender
claimed.
Johnson was found guilty in a
1980 court martial of wrongful
use of position and fraterniza
tion for sexual harassment of
Sender. He was ordered to for
feit nearly $2,000 in pay for the
conviction.
The lawsuit also charged two
other superiors harassed and in
timidated Sender after she com
plained about the alleged sexual
harassment.
Magistrate J. Rich Leonard
heard arguments in the case
March 30. In a recommendation
to Britt, Leonard said active-
duty military personnel are bar
red from suing superiors or the
Army for damages.
“The potential effect upon
military discipline and decision,
making is simply too great to
allow for servicemen to subject
their superior officers to civilian
lawsuits,” he wrote.
Leonard said “the actions of
at least some of the defendants
appeared to have been wholly
without justification” but said
“the court cannot view this case
in a vaccum.”
The eff ect of allowing Sender
to seek monetary relief from su
periors “would be devastating,”
Leonard wrote in his recom
mendation.
Fayetteville attorney Mark
Waple, who represents Sender,
said military discipline should
not be the overriding considera
tion.
“There are other considera
tions, such as how far can a milit
ary superior go in violating a
subordinate’s constitutional
rights and still be immune from
civil liability,” Waple said. He
claimed Sender was barred from
re-enlistment and deprived of
promotion during her time in
the Army.
“There is absolutely nothing
in her enlistment contract that
said she gave up her constitu
tional rights against sexual
harassment,” Waple said.
DJ wants rear covered
United Press International
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A
55-foot statue of Vulcan, the
mythical god of the forge, has
been standing guard over
Birmingham for decades.
And for decades, the suburb
of Homewood only got to see
its naked behind.
Disc jockey Jack Voorhies
of station WYDE got to think
ing about all those years the
iron man’s derriere has been
unclad and came up with a
new local hit single, “Moon
Over Homewood.”
The chorus goes like this:
“Moon over Homewood,
it’s so unrefined,
“We have to get mooned
with the Vulcan’s behind,
“Moon over Homewood,
we don’t think it’s fair,
“ I hat we have to look at his
big derriere.”
Voorhies said many listen
ers have called in to suggest
ways to remedy the situation.
“We’ve had people calling
in, suggesting we give a con
cert and make everybody
bring a sheet in,” said the disc
jockey. “That way we can sew
the sheets together and make
Vulcan a dress.
“Or we could get him boxer
shorts, but they’d have to be
pretty big.”
Since the issue has been ex
posed, so to speak, Voorhies
followed up with a second
song, “Funds for Buns.” Pro
ceeds from a recording of the
two songs are going to charity,
he said. The chorus goes:
“Oh we’re the Homewood
ladies strong and free,
“The Homewood Ladies
League for Decency,
“And we’re united, for our
cause is clear,
“To cover up the Vulcan’s
naked rear.”
Official wants Texaco cited
United Press International
PORT ARTHUR — Texaco
Inc. should be cited for unsafe
working conditions as a contri
buting factor to a pipe rupture
inacatalyticcracking unit, a fed
eral official says.
1 The Oct. j3 rupture at Tex
aco's Port Arthur refinery killed
{five people.
Jack Fontaine, acting OSHA
area director, said his office will
ask the agency’s regional ofice to
J cite Texaco for three dif ferent
hazards which may have contri
buted to the fatal blast.
A Texaco spokesman Satur-
Iday declined comment on the
eOSHA recomendations because
i of pending lawsuits in the refin
ery accident.
Fontaine said Friday two
safety engineers involved in the
refinery investigation, Philip
Nessler and Jose Carpena, met
Thursday with Texaco officials
and members of the Oil, Che
mical and Atomic Workers Un
ion Local 4-23 and outlined
three hazards on which the cita
tion for an unsafe working place
should be based.
Fontaine said the engineers
found inadequate equipment to
draw and condense water from
emergency steam lines leading
to the catalyst line that ruptured.
Water condensation problems
apparently contributed To the
pipe rupture, the inspectors
said.
The pair also said Texaco
failed to provide proper startup
orders to the workers who were
trying to get the unit back into
operation.
The third point cited by the
engineers was Texaco’s failure
to clear unnecessary workers
workers from the area near the
unit during start-up proce
dures.
Fontaine said the citation
against Texaco, if issued, would
likely be based on a broad sec
tion of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970 which
requires employers to provide a
safe working place and safe
working conditions for em
ployees.
A union member who asked
White’s theory
helps kill tax
I white, sp
ndly. r| 9 h
ti red l° 0 P
5 FOLlCOj
in T|)
United Press International
AUSTIN — Attorney Gener
al Mark While, elected governor
despite criticism of mishandling
aTexas lawsuit against the wind
fall profits lax on oil, took credit
for convincing a Wyoming
judge the levy was unconstitu
tional.
Texas, later joined by
Louisiana, was an intervenor in
a 1980 suit filed by the I ndepen-
. dent Petroleum Association of
America against the tax. U.S.
District Judge Ewing T. Kerr in
Cheyenne, Wyo., declared the
tax unconstitutional Friday.
White personally argued the
case before Kerr last May and
claimed the measure unfairly
exempted Alaskan oil from the
tax —the same argument Kerr
cited in declaring the tax uncon
stitutional.
“The court’s theory for the
case, his opinion, revolved
around the theory that wuts adv
anced and forwarded by the
state of Texas,” White, the
state’s governor-elect, told re
porters Friday.
He said the tax, which was
aimed at limiting oil company
earnings after former President
Carter decontrolled oil, had
been a bigger burden to small
royalty owners than to major oil
companies.
“What they (Congress) didn’t
‘understand is that the tax was
primarily paid by hundreds of
thousands of small oil royalty
owners in Texas who are neither
Exxon nor Mobil nor Texaco,”
said White, who was criticized
during the recent gubernatorial
campaign for his handling of the
suit.
Letha Chapman, 81, a Grand
Prairie widow who lives on So
cial Security and a small monthly
royalty from oil on her family’s
North Texas farm, said she was
“thrilled to death by the ruling.”
“I knew all along that tax was
crooked,” said Chapman, who
shares the royalties with her
seven brothers and sisters. “The
windfall is a third of the royalty
regardless of how much the
royalty is. In October, the royal
ty was $50.35. They took out
$11.13.”
Dallas oil stock analyst Rick
Barry said the ruling had no im
mediate effect on independent
producer stocks in Texas, pre
dicting that “in the long term, we
are going to have the windfall
profits tax in place as is.”
U.S. Rep. Kent Hance, D-
Texas, called on President
Reagan to live up to a campaign
promise to work to abolish the
tax.
“If a new law is passed by>
Congress, the president will
have the opportunity to veto it,
and I would hold him to that
promise,” Hance said.
Now you know
United Press International thousand bees foraging for an
Onasunnyday one honeybee average hive will travel more
may visit a thousand blossoms, than 9 million miles each year to
Altogether, the several gather nectar and pollen.
not to be identified said the two
investigators told union mem
bers Texaco could not he cited
for any specific violation of the
OSHA act.
Fontaine said the information
the investigators turned up and
the request for a citation would
he reviewed by OSHA’s regional
office in Dallas and acted on
within two weeks.
F'ive men were killed and four
others injured Oct. 13 at Tex
aco’s Port Arthur ref inery when
a 48-inch pipe ruptured inside a
catalytic cracking unit.
An estimated 350 to 400 tons
of a talc-like catalyst power used
in the refinery process spewed
from the unit, burning the vic
tims to death. Texaco officials
estimated the powder could
have been as hot as 1,200 de
grees.
Families of four victims have
filed wrongful death suits
against Texaco seeking $69 mil
lion.
HEY JUNIORS!
Support the Class of '84!
cv
Tues. Nov 9
7:30 p.ni.
Rudder 4oi
Day students get their news from the Batt.
Bealls
Post Oak Mall
College Station
Manor East Mall
Bryan
Special Group
Bobbie Brooks
Junior Sweaters
9.99
REG. 18.00
Exciting brights, heathers, and classics in acryl
ic v-neck and crew neck. Perfect for adding
your initials. Assorted colors in sizes S-M-L.
ON SALE ENTIRE STOCK
JUNIOR DENIM JEANS
24.99 to 34.99
REGULAR 31. to 52.
Make your selection today from our choice designer labels including
Gloria Vanderbilt, Chic by H.I.S., Jordache, Lee, Calvin Klein, and
Levi. The selection is large, and the prices are low. Sale is for a limited
time, so hurry. _
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