3A
NEWS/ The CharloHe Post
Thursday, March 13, 1997
Army women recant rape allegations
By Jackie Spinner and
~ . Pr‘
Dana Priest
THE WASHINGTON POST
ABERDEEN, Md. - Five
female soldiers alleged Tuesday
that Army investigators
attempted to bully and badger
them into accusing some mili
tary superiors of rape.
Four of the privates said they
would not make the accusa
tions, and the fifth said she
accused an instructor of sexual
inisconduct and later recanted.
Nonetheless, the soldiers said
that they were victims of “verbal
abuse" and that they feel their
rights were violated.
1 “1 have a lot to lose by being
here,” Pvt. Darla Homberger,
30, of Oklahoma, said at a news
conference near Aberdeen
Proving Ground. ”1 have a fami
ly, 1 have children. And 1 could
kist keep my mouth shut, and
this would all go over, but some
thing really wrong has hap
pened.”
In Washington, Pentagon
spokesman Kenneth Bacon said
Army Secretary Togo D. West
Jr. “will look very closely at
these charges, but it is not his
belief that the Army
investigators, the [Criminal
Investigation Division], coerced
these people into making state
ments.”
At the news conference today
near the military installation,
the privates stepped forward in
the first large-scale public
appearance by soldiers caught
up in the Army’s spreading sex
ual harassment scandal. In aU,
13 servicemen have been
accused of rape and other sex
crimes at the base north of
Baltimore since the scandal
broke in November. But it is not
clear whether any instructors
were charged as a result of the
statements the five women said
they signed.
The conference was arranged
by the NAACP. Several NAACP
branches have called for an
independent investigation of
the Army scandal, saying that
Army investigators have target
ed black instructors. Seven of
the 13 Aberdeen instructors, all
of whom are black, have been
criminally charged.
Bacon, the Pentagon
spokesman, said the issue at
Aberdeen is sexual harassment,
not race.
“That's what the Army is get
ting to the bottom of,” he said,
adding that the NAACP has not
filed any formal complaint with
the Army or any charges alleg
ing improper practices.
Bacon said the Ordnance
Center and School at Aberdeen
is 29 percent African American,
58 percent white and 13 percent
other, largely either Hispanic or
Asian. That compares closely
with the racial makeup of the
overall Army, which is 27 per
cent Afidcan American, 61 per
cent white and 12 percent other.
A spokeswoman for the
NAACP said Tuesday that four
of thefive women, under ques
tioning, told investigators that
they had consensual sex with
military superiors, a violation of
Army rules that prohibit sexual
activity between instructors and
trainees.
The women said that they
were promised immunity from
prosecution during questioning
by investigators, but that they
are not sure now whether they
are going to get it.
National NAACP President
Kweisi Mfume attended the
news conference and seconded
the calls for an outside investi
gation.
“There has been a great deal
of pressure brought on the five
soldiers,” Mfume said.
“Ethically, it is not the way we
want the Army to treat sol
diers.”
Although consensual sex with
a drill instructor is considered a
crime, Aberdeen officials said
they have no intention of charg
ing any of the women who
attended the news conference.
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Greenville community honors its best
The Greenville
Community Historical
Society honored
Clemmie Roberts and
Margaret Hunter at the
recent Celebration of
Life Award ceremony.
Thereasea Elder pre
sented awards to
Shirley Mickens (left),
who accepted for
Roberts and Margaret
Hunter. Greenville
Memorial AME Zion
Church was given spe
cial honors for its 100th
anniversary.
GREENVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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