Tbp enlisted man
denies misconduct;
accuser claims
cover up.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Army’s top enlisted man has stepped
down from a panel investigating
sexual harassment after a retired fe
male sergeant major accused him of
sexual assault and harassment.
Sgt. Maj. Brenda L. Hosier said she
went public with her allegations after
months of inaction by the Pentagon
and only after Gene C. McKinney, the
man she. accuses of misconduct, was
appointed to the panel, The New York
Times repealed Tuesday.
The Army Confirmed that
McKinney, the sergeant major of the
Army, is the target of the charge but
said it became aware of Hoster’s com
plaint when asked for comment about
it by the Times.
Army spokesman Col. John Smith
said in a statement that McKinney
“denies he ever engaged in any form
of sexual misconduct or improper
treatment with the retired sergeant
major who has made the allegations.”
The Army will thoroughly inves
tigate the charges, the statement said.
Hoster, 39, a 22-year Army vet
eran, told the Times that McKinney,
46, kissed, grabbed her and asked her
for sex in her hotel room during an
April business trip to Hawaii. She said
McKinney’s wife was in another room
a few doors away at the time.
Hoster, an Army journalist and
public affairs specialist, has filed a
formal complaint with the Army and
was interviewed on Friday by the
Times at her lawyer’s office in Den
ver. ,
The Army said that pending reso
lution of the matter, McKinney had
asked to be excused from his duties
on the high-level panel named by
Army Secretary Togo West to review
the Army’s sexual harassment prob
lems.
The Times reported that Hoster
overcame her fears about complain
ing about McKinney and told her su
periors at the Pentagon about it seven
weeks after the alleged incident. She
said officials took no action against
McKinney and ignored her pleas for
a job transfer, leaving her with no
other choice but to retire early, the
newspaper reported.
She said she decided she no longer
could remain silent after McKinney
was named to the panel investigating
sexual harassment.
In her formal complaint, Hoster
suggested at least one high-ranking
Army public affairs officer covered up
the allegations, the Times said. The
newspaper said Col. Robert Gaylord,
deputy chief of Army public affairs,
heard Hoster’s complaint in June.
The Army said neither McKinney
nor Gaylord would have any comment
pending an investigation.
McKinney has been the Army’s toj
adviser on matters of concern to en
listed personnel since June 1995.
wins
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP)—
Yielding to foreign pressure and un
relenting protests at home, Serbia’s
president acknowledged Tuesday that
his opponents had won several local
elections.
Opposition leaders, who have led
hundreds of thousands of people into
tHe&%&£& 77 days of protests, had
trouble believing Slobodan Milosevic
tmfy was conceding Nov. 17 elections
—and said he was too late to save his
own job.
“Resign! Resign!” the crowd of
50,000 people who poured into Repub
lic Square for their daily rally cried
when opposition leader Vuk Draskovic
told them Milosevic had finally rec
ognized his election defeats.
“It is great to see him weak and
backing down, It took us weeks, but it
is finally happening,*’ Zorica Divcevic
said. “But what I really want is to see
him resign.”
Milosevic did not say directly that
the opposition had won the races they
claimed in 14 cities, including
Belgrade, as the Organization for Se
curity and Cooperation in Europe con
firmed in December.
However, in a statement published
by the state-run Tanjug news agency,
he directed Premier Mirko Marjanovic
to present parliament with a special
law that will accept the opposition vic
tories.
“The election conflicts ... have in
flicted severe damage to our country
both in the international and foreign
areas and it is high time to resolve the
problem,” Milosevic said in a letter
to Maijanovic published by Tanjug.
“I think that the state interest of
improving relations of our country
witn tne international community by
far exceeds the significance of any
number of seats in a handful of cit
ies,” Milosevic added.
Milosevic’s switch appeared to be
a genuine attempt to stop weeks of
demonstrations — the biggest chal
lenge to his decade-long rule—and
improve his government’s image.
The legislation could be presented
to parliament as soon as Wednesday,
BK TV quoted Marjanovic’s aides as
saying. The parliament is expected to
follow Milosevic’s wishes.
Election results upheld
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic Tuesday
conceded the opposition won municipal elections
last fall in Belgrade and 13 other Serb cities.
AP/Wm. J. Castello
Nebraskan
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Simpson liable,
must pay $8.5M
It’s not over: Jury
.must still decide
punitive damages.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP)
— A unanimous civil jury found
O J. Simpson liable Tuesday for the
slashing deaths of his ex-wife and
her friend.
The jury ordered him to pay
$8.5 million in compensatory dam
ages and will return Thursday to
decide whether to award millions
more in punitive damages.
As the verdict was read,
Simpson remained stoic, staring
straight ahead.
Across the courtroom, a whoop
of joy went up from the relatives of
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald
Goldman.
“Yes!” screamed sister Kim
’ Goldman, in contrast to the way she
sobbed openly when Simpson was
acquitted of murder 16 months ago.
She and her mother and father
clasped hands in jubilation. But the
judge quickly silenced them.
The mostly white panel, forced
to start deliberations anew last Fri
day after a juror was removed for
misconduct, snatched away some
of the vindication Simpson claimed
when he was acquitted of murder
by a mostly black jury in 1995.
That televised murder trial di
vided the nation over issues of po
lice racism, domestic violence and
. the quality of justice.
This civil jury, using the lesser
standard of“preponderance of evi
dence” rather than “beyond a rea
sonable doubt,” was unanimous on
all counts in blaming Simpson for
the June 12,1994, deaths of Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ronald
Goldman.
The dramatic reading of the ver
dict was delayed more than three
hours to allow the lawyers and
families to get to the courthouse.
Simpson’s trip — in a black Sub
urban instead of a white Bronco—
was televised live nationally on a
split screen just as President
Clinton began his State of the
Union address.
The $8.5 million represented
the value of Goldman’s funeral and
the loss of Goldman’s companion
ship to his parents. Nicole Brown
Simpson’s family did not seek com
pensatory damages.
The jury reached the verdict af
ter 17 hours of deliberations over
three days — more than five times
as long as the criminal jury delib
erated.
That was on top of the 14 hours
over three days that were inter
rupted Friday when the judge re
placed the only black member for
failing to disclose that her daugh
ter was a secretary in the district
attorney’s office that prosecuted
Simpson at his murder trial.
The final six-man, six-woman
jury consisted of nine whites, one
Hispanic, one Asian and one mem
ber of Asian and black heritage.
70 killed in air crash
SHAAR YESHUV, Israel (AP) -
Two military transport helicopters col
lided in heavy fog and rain in north
ern Israel, and Israel’s northern army
commander said at least 70 soldiers
died.
Officials described the crash as the
worst air disaster in Israel’s military
history.
A bright white explosion lit the
night sky as the Sikorsky helicopters
— which normally carry about 30
troops each, including the crew —
crashed to the ground. One of the he
licopters hit an empty guesthouse,
which burst into flames. No one on
the ground apparently was hurt.
The helicopters — loaded with
explosives — had been heading to
ward southern Lebanon, the army
said.
One witness, Gabi Edri, told
Israel’s Army radio that the two heli
copters collided in flight.
Yoav Frenkel told the radio he saw
the crash from his car window. Smoke
poured from one helicopter as it went
down and the second was lit by flames.
Israel’s Channel Two television
showed bodies being carried away
from the crash site at the Shaar Yeshuv
moshav, a communal settlement in
eastern Galilee, five miles east of
AP/Carl Fox
Kiryat Shemona.
Israeli radios played somber mu
sic as they traditionally do when sol
diers have been killed.
In 1977, another military helicop
ter crash claimed 54 lives.
Fugitive cow eludes capture
COLUMBUS (AP)—An escaped
cow headed straight for the heart of
the city Tuesday, leading police and
veterinarian officials on a chase that
lasted more than an hour.
She was being loaded into a trailer
at an auction house after being sold
for slaughter when she broke free.
The animal rambled and roamed
25 blocks. She was spotted near a hos
pital, a YMCA, a middle school and
in several yards.
Three police officers, one Platte
County Sheriffs deputy, one Nebraska
State Patrol Trooper, a veterinarian
and several sales barn employees
blocked traffic and helped catch the
animal.
The veterinarian shot the cow with
two tranquilizer darts, striking the
animal in the shoulder and the rear
end. The cow finally ran out of steam
in the driveway of a home, was las
soed and tied to a tree.
Bob Loshbaugh, a part owner of
the pavilion, said cows have escaped
before. “They’re like people. They go
nuts once in awhile,” Loshbaugh said.
“She was probably looking for her calf
or something.”