2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 22, 1996
NATION/WORLD
Former director
slaps NAACP
.flti $1M lawsuit
; U Regional director laid off because of the Baltimore-based
A accuses organization civil rights group's financial crisis and
a "without consideration of gender and
of sex discrimination age. The NAACP believes that in the
The Bat Sn end the facts will vindicate its position."
a more un He said laid-off employees have
:aALTIMORE - A former NAACP been made aware of newly available
egonal director, laid off by President positions.
.1weisi Mfume in March, has filed a $1 Washington grew up in the NAACP,
billion sex and age discrimination suit desegregating Dallas lunch counters as
against the civil rights group in U.S. a teen-age member of the group's youth
District Court. council and founding a chapter at North
Janice Washington, 48, of Texas State University as a student.
Randallstown contends in the suit that She joined the NAACP staff right
the National Association for the out of college and worked with the
Advancement of Colored People paid organization for 27 years, rising to
women a quarter to a third less on aver- become national membership director,
age than men in comparable jobs. Men mid-Atlantic regional director and
filled "by far the best-paying jobs" assistant director of branches and field
while women generally carried out the services.
"exceptionally demanding day-to-day Last year she organized a fund-
work of maintaining the flow of dona- raising gala that netted the NAACP
tions and running the programs, the and its District of Columbia branch
suit charges. $125,000 each.
The suit is the first filed by a former Washington's career suddenly ended
-employee since Mfume became March 1, one of 15 staff members dis-
NAACP president in February. missed two weeks after Mfume took
A similar class-action suit filed in charge.
March 1995 on behalf of female Two days after her firing, her hus-
NAACP employees is pending in band, Moses Arthur Washington, died
Washington. at 55 of lung cancer in a hospice. She
Washington's charges of unequal pay was left to raise their two children,
'afe largely directed at the pre-Mfume Moses Anthony, 11, and Candice
era, but she also contends that Mfume Marie, 8. She has not found a job, and
has favored younger people in hiring her unemployment insurance recently
and failed to give dismissed employees ran out.
a chance to apply for new positions. "I really feel lonely at this point,"
Mfume, who announced Saturday that said Washington, drying tears. "I lost
the NAACP had erased a $3.2 million two of the dearest things to me at the
debt, plans to hire more than 20 same time. I lost my husband, and I lost
employees by the end of 1997. my NAACP family."
She said Mfume, who was sidelined Hayes called the timing "an unfortu-
for five weeks in the spring with a back nate convergence of realities." He said
ailment, put off dealing with her. Mfume "probably was not aware" that
When he called in July, she referred Washington's husband was terminally ill.
him to her lawyer. Washington contends that her dis-
"I do this not to harn, the NAACP" missal was retaliatory. Beginning in
Washington said in an interview. "I September 1994, she wrote a series of
ope I'm doing this to help the letters to NAACP officials complain-
NAACP. If we're supposed to be the ing of unequal pay. At the time she held
conscience of America and tell others two jobs - assistant director of
they can't discriminate based on age, branches and regional director - at a
sex, religion and race, we have to set salary of $48,000 a year. She said two
our own example." male regional directors, each with less
Dennis Courtland Hayes, NAACP than five years' tenure, were paid
general counsel, said Washington was $65,000 and $56,000 respectively.
Gays in military policy survives Court
WASH INGTON - President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in
the military survived its first Supreme Court test yesterday as the court rejected
the appeal of a former Navy officer dismissed for declaring his homosexuality
The justices rejected former Lt. Paul Thomasson's argument that the policy*
unlawful discrimination and a violation of homosexual service members' free-
speech rights.
Thomasson was forced to leave the Navy last year after writing a letter to his
commander that said, "I am gay." He had served for nearly 10 years.
The court's action was not a ruling on the issue's merits and does not preclude
the justices from fully reviewing the policy in a future case. But the court let stand
a lower court's decision that upheld the rule barring openly homosexual people
from serving in the military.
The Clinton administration said the government has a legitimate interest in pro-
hibiting homosexual acts in the military to avoid a "risk to military effectiveness"
and to protect service members' privacy.
"I'm tremendously disappointed," said Thomasson, who now manages a resta
rant in Washington, D.C. But he added, "I know this injustice will someday be set
right."
AP PHO'
U.S. envoy Dennis Ross speaks at a press conference after a series of meetings
with Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem yesterday.
U.S. envoy leaves
Mieat wthout
Hebron agreement
FDA recommends
new contc ie
device for women
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Food and
Drug Administration advisers recom-
mended yesterday against approval of a
new contraceptive device similar to the
cervical cap, saying it is unclear how
well it prevents pregnancy.
Women's advocates had pushed the
FDA to approve Lea's Shield quickly,
arguing that the millions of unplanned
pregnancies every year show how des-
perate women are for better contracep-
tive options.
"The appropriate response to the
public health needs of women in the
'90s is to expedite barrier controls,"
said Lisa .Cox of the National Women's
Health Network.
But manufacturer Yama Inc. man-
aged to get only 55 women to com-
plete a six-month study of the device.
The study found a 9-percent pregnan-
cy rate.
The company argued that was
acceptable quality, indicating that had
the women used Lea's Shield for a year,
the maximum pregnancy would have
been 18 percent, equivalent to most
diaphragms.
But the FDA's scientific advisers said
no other contraceptive has ever b
approved on the basis of such a sma
study. A test involving 55 women was
not enough to determine the pregnancy
rate reliably.
Firestorm destroys
luxury homes
TUSTIN, Calif. - Homeowners
scooped water from swimming pools
and used garden hoses to wet do*
their wood-shingle roof yesterday as a
wind-driven wildfire destroyed or
damaged 13 luxury homes in an exclu-
sive Southern California neighbor-
hood.
Gusts of up to 71 mph from the sea-
son's first Santa Ana windstorm fanned
flames that leaped 50 feet high through
the hilly Lemon Heights neighborhood
about 35 miles southeast of L
Angeles.
Los Angeles Times
JERUSALEM - After two weeks
of intensive diplomacy aimed at forg-
ing an agreement on the pullout of
Israeli troops from the West Bank city
of Hebron, Dennis Ross, the U.S.
Middle East peace envoy, left for
Washington yesterday - without an
accord.
Ross, sent to the region by President
Clinton to try to revitalize the faltering
convened an emergency White
House summit aimed at jump-start-
ing the peace process and ending
outbreaks of violence such as the
clashes last month that left more
than 75 people dead and more than
1,000 injured in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
Each side blamed the other for the
latest delays.
"The Palestinians just decided to
peace process,
sought to put a
positive face on
his departure,
telling reporters
that an Israeli-
Palestinian
agreement could
be reached "rela-
tively soon."
He said the
two sides were
m a k i n g
progress on the
main sticking
point, the long-
delayed Israeli
Hebron, the last
"It doesn't mean
we can't pres
ahead and reach
agreement as
soon as possible
- Dennis Ross
U.S. Middle East peace envoy
shift into neu-
tral," said
Moshe Fogel,
spokesperson
for the Israeli
negotiators.
"It looks
like we're all
waiting for a
political deci-
sion on
Arafat's part."
Israeli offi-
cials have said
they believe the
Palest in i a n
Women do well in
Japan's election
TOKYO - Japan's election nearly
doubled the number of women in its
overwhelmingly male-dominated lower
house of Parliament. The leap was just
a tiny step forward for women exasper-
ated with life in a country that still
expects them to stay home.
"It's a good thing," 71-year-old
Chie4o Shingyoji said of the election as
she waited in line with two friends out-
side a Tokyo kabuki theater. "But we're
still not equal with men."
Women won 23 seats in the 500-
member lower house in Sunday's elec-
tion, which returned Prime Minister
Ryutaro Hashimoto's conservative
Liberal Democratic Party to dominance
after a series of scandals brought it
down in 1993.
The number of woman winners was a
healthy increase over the 14 seats they
won in the last election, and the highest
female tally since they won 39 in 1946.
The surge only brings the women's
block in the powerful lower house to 4.6
percent.
:t 5-
''
The low status of women in
Parliament is a reflection of their place
in society, which often pushes them to
become housewives. Working wor
usually are limited to low-paying, part-
time jobs.
American soldier
killed in Croatia
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -
An American soldier serving in the
NATO-led peace force was killed yes-
terday when his truck slid into a rive
Croatia.
The non-commissioned officer, who
was not identified pending notification
of his next of kin, died near the town of
Slavonski Brod, said Maj. Brett
Boudreau, a peace force spokesperson.
The town is near the Bosnian border.
The five-ton truck the soldier was dri-
ving overturned and landed in the river.
The cause of the crash was not known.
The body was recovered, Boudrea-
said.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports.
withdrawal from
major West Bank
The Healing Force of Meditation
Free public lecture by
Dr. Matthew Raider, M.D.
community to be turned over to
Palestinian control.
"We made progress this week,"
Ross said. "I think there were hopes
that we could finalize (an agreement)
in some areas.
"That didn't materialize. It does-
n't mean we can't press ahead and
reach agreement as soon as possi-
ble."
Israeli and Palestinian officials
stopped short of calling the situa-
tion a crisis, but said the discus-
sions had reached at least a tempo-
rary impasse, raising concern that
frustration about the lack of
progress could lead once again to
violence.
Ross was dispatched after Clinton
leader wants to delay the agreement
until after the U.S. presidential election
in hopes that a new administration -
Democrat or Republican - will be
willing to exert more pressure on
Israel.
"These are tiny, minute differences
that can be tied up in three minutes flat
if the Palestinians wished to do so,"
said David Bar-Illan, media adviser to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
Marwan Kanafani, a political advis-
er to Arafat, said the slow negotiating
resulted from Israeli intransigence on
issues relating to planning and zoning
in Hebron once Israel's troop redeploy-
ment occurs.
Arafat was not to blame, he said:
"He wants an agreement. I promise
you he wants an agreement."
I
Ur. Matthew Raider. M.U).
Wednesday 23 Oct. 7 PM at the
Michigan Union 2nd Flr. Pendleton room.
Dr. Raider practices Surat Shabd yoga and is a member of the Science of
Spirituality under the direction of Sant Rajinder Singh.
Dr. Raider is a graduate of the U. of M. Medical School.
In addition to maintaining a private practice in geriatric and family medicine he holds a faculty position at
the University of Connecticut Medical School. Dr. Raider has lectured extensively in the United States
and Canada on the subjects of meditation and health and meditation and the near death experience.
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Check out the Classified Ride
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JOIN THE MOST PROMISING
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Prospective Teacher Education Meeting
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Call 764-7563 for more information.
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