Senate, sailors discuss gay ban
NORFOLK (AP) — One sailor
said he would refuse lo serve
alongside homosexuals. Anoth
er worried the Navy might
become fragmented and demor
alized. And a gay officer said
such attitudes reflect unreason
able fear
The Senate committee pon
dering the ban on gays in the
military took its inquiry to the
decks of U S. warships Monday
to seek the views of rank-and
file sailors. They listed heavily
in favor of keeping the ban.
The issue "is just rocked with
detriment.” Tommy Taylor,
chief of the submarine USS Bal
timore. told members of the
Armed Services Committee dur
ing a field hearing at Norfolk
Naval Base. "You’re going to go
right to the readiness of the
Navy."
Petty Officer 2nd Class Al
Portes said he was surprised
President Clinton is trying to
keep his campaign promise to
let gays serve openly. "I will
refuse to serve with gays in the
military." he pledged.
I.t. j.g. Tracy Thorne, a Navy
aviator who disclosed his homo
sexuality a year ago. countered
that "prejudice can never Ite val
idated by majority consent."
The panel, headed by Sen.
Sam Nunn. D-Ga., listened to
speaker after speaker list reasons
why the ban should remain.
Objections ranged from privacy
to unit morale to the inherent
restrictions in military life.
It's not right I'm telling von
it's not compatible to military
service." said Atlantic Fleet
Master Chief Ronald Carter
However, a homosexual who
was relieved of duty as a supply
officer on the submarine USS
Hammerhead said many of his
fellow officers knew he was gay
before he went public with it. "I
served on a submarine, and it
did not destroy unit cohesivo
noss,” said i.t. j.g Richard Dirk
Selland.
The senators spent the morn
ing visiting the aircraft carrier
USS John F. Kennedy and sever
al other vessels, examining the
close quarters and speaking with
sailors at random ns they went
along.
Gays would lie "harassed or
shunned, and they won't be part
of the unit as a whole." Petty
Officer Scott Wilkinson, a
nuclear reactor operator on the
submarine USS Montpelier, told
Nunn and Sen. John W. Warner.
R-Vn.. during lunch aboard the
ship.
"It really would just disrupt
everything, basically, we live on
the ship, not just work on the
ship." said Joe Degauttola, a sea
man on the Kennedy.
Brian Hlackmore, an aviation
technician on the Kennedy, said
he didn't want to know some
one's sexual orientation. "If
you're gay. you keep it to your
self," he said.
Command Master Chief
Charles Smith said comparing
the gay-rights issue to integra
tion of blocks into the service
isn't fair Smith, who is bl<n k.
said he has no choice in his skin
color, but gays "know what the
natural is and they chose the
unnatural."
Nunn said lifting the ban
might drive off too many experi
enced career service men and
women He said the existing "no
questions asked" polu:\ might
be better thnn letting gays serve
openly.
"It seems to me that that tem
porary- policy is about where we
ought to end up." he said.
Sexual orientation questions
were dropped for military
recruits after Clinton took office
Clinton said Monday his dif
ferences with the military brass
over lifting the ban on homosex
uals were minimal, and that the
Pentagon div ision to stop asking
recruits uIkiuI their sexual orien
tation "solved most of the
issue,"
Now. he vud. the major ques
lion was whether a member of
the armed forces who disclosed
his or her homosexuality but
violated no conduct code provi
sions should be subject to dis
charge. The president said he
believed such a person should
be allowed to serve in the mili
tary.
The Senate committee plans
to hold another field hearing
next Monday at a military instal
lation not yet designated.
Man acquitted of killing wife in hot tub
MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — A judge ruled Monday ha
could find no evidence that a former Temple Uni
versity professor was a killer who heat his wife and
drowned her in 1989 in their hot tub to collect
$500,000 insurance.
Charles Bagley was acquitted by Common Pleas
Judge Joseph Cronin, who ruled without a jury that
neither scientific nor circumstantial evidence
proved Bagley killed his 30-year-old wife. Yvonne
A conviction would bo "based solely upon mere
suspicion." the judge ruled. “In this case motive
and opportunity simply do not alter the laws of
nature, medicine and physics "
Cronin said the only conclusion he could reach
was that Yvonne Bagley died of acute asphyxiation
The British-born Bagley, 47, had claimed his Indi
an-born wife was accidentally electrocuted when
a soldering iron fell into their hot tub while she was
bathing at their Radnor home Mun.h 2b, 1980, East
er Sunday.
Bagley had been out on $15,000 tail and, if con
victed, had faced u sentence of life in prison
The prosecution alleged Begley's motive also
included lust for a former Temple student he had
wined, dined and shared a hotel room with. On the
witnoss stand, the student denied they had set.
insisting she saw Bagley only to advance her career
Prosecutor |oel Goldstein maintained Bagley
killed Yvonne Bagley, the mother of two, to collect
on her life insurance policy, since he was about
to lose his job as an assistant professor of finance
because he had failed to publish research
Goldstein claimed Bagley forcibly submerged his
wife in the water, leaving bruises on her liody. He
said a person couldn't be electrocuted by current
from a soldering iron in bathwater.
Bagiev's lawyer. Neil (okelson, countered with
testimony that hath salts and olive oil that had been
added to the water combined with the high tem
perature to increase electrical conductivity.
f
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Congress, Indians
in gambling dispute
WASHINGTON (A1*J — First it was buffalo, land and water
that pitted Indians against non-Indians. Now it's gambling.
The stakes are huge: Indian gambling generates $0 billion a
year. And it's up to Congress to sort out the disputes.
Tribes eager to begin gambling find themselves in standoffs
with state governments worries! about the spread of casino-style
gambling.
Those states and tribes agree on little else. but they're togeth
er on this: The Indian (Naming Regulatory Act. the 5-year-old
law that created the industry, has produced a morass of con
flicting court decisions, and Congress needs to rewrite it
"Those moneys are desperately needed on reservations where
there are still Third World conditions." says Richard Hill, chair
man of the National Indian Gaming Association, the private
trade group representing tribes that have begun gambling
Sen Daniel lnouyo. chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs
committee, is meeting privately with governors, state attorneys
general, tribal leaders and federal officials to see if they can
agree on amendments to the law. Inouye says he won't hold
hearings until the sides can agree.
The House will start hearings later this month
The 10H8 law was supposed to be a compromise everyone
could live with It permitted trilies to operate casino* in states
where similar gambling was already allowed. It left it up to states
and tribes to work out what games would lie played
Since then, some federal judges have blocked tribes from using
the Indian gaming act to sue slates that refused to negotiate
an agreement. Other courts have allowed Indians to offer games
that critics say are permitted nowhere else in their stales
In California, a federal judge indicates tie will allow tribes to
operate a wide array of gnmes to which the state objects, includ
ing video (Hiker and keno.
"Native Americans should have every opportunity for eco
nomic development, hut wo are also very deeply concerned
about the prospects for casino gambling spreading throughout
the states." says Colorado Gov, Roy Rumor
The Nevada gaming industry dropped its opposition to Indi
an competitors after it found there's money to be made man
aging and supplying tribal casinos.
But now Donald Trump has entered the scene. The casino
investor filed suit April 30 challenging the constitutionality
of the law, He says it gives Indians preference in obtaining casi
no licenses
And many of the tribes that already "have casinos would rather
Congress not touch Utp law.
"Wefollowed all the rules.'* says Paul Valandra, a South I )ako
ta state lawmaker who's serving on an Indian gaming task force
"It seems awful strange to change the rules when everything
seems to bo going all right."
Tribes In 10 states have signed agreements allowing them
to conduct casino-style gambling. Those in operation are reduc
ing welfare rolls and pumping money Into businesses that uro
revitalizing povorty-strickon reservations.
It's the seventh largest industry in Minnesota. Across the bor
der, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin has built u hotel and an
environmental lusting lab witfrits revenue
Gaming also has brought Indians new political influence
At a $1.500-a-seat Democratic fund-raiser here Inst weekend,
Rep George Miller, chairman of the House Natural Resources
Committee, which will oversee changes in the Indian gaming
law. was a guest of Connecticut’s Poquot tribe.