Tarrytown Daily News from Tarrytown, New York (2024)

June 20, 1996

Publication:

Tarrytown Daily Newsi

Location:

Tarrytown, New York

Issue Date:

Thursday, June 20, 1996

Page:

2

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

2A Thursday June 20 1996 TR Local News TR 06201996 II II Illi Gannett Suburban Newspapers Jackson awaits decision on her fate Naomi Jackson By Rebekah Denn Staffwriter Bedford Hills native Naomi Jackson is still waiting to hear her fate as the US Naval Academy delayed a recommendation on whether to expel her for violating its honor code mother Elaine Jackson was stressfully wait ing by the telephone for any news this week hoping it will all be over soon for Naomi and she gets what she Elaine Jackson said thanking the community for its expressions of support for her daughter during the past few weeks Jackson 21 was barred from graduating and threat ened with expulsion after a committee of classmates con victed her of lying to her roommate about her reason for missing a military dinner The dinner took place hours after she testified in a sexual assault case against a high ranking classmate Critics question whether the honor code charges were filed in revenge for testimony Others say they were a fair application of a strict code that expressly for bids lying Academy Superintendent Charles Larson had planned to make his recommendation on future to the secretary of the Navy by Tuesday Her Maryland lawyer Jack Gallagher said he thought had caused the de lay He said his transcript of the hearing against Jackson had only arrived last week and he assumed Larson had encountered similar delays Naval authorities have re fused to comment on the case citing student privacy The office of US Rep Sue Kelly Katonah also sus pects the tardy transcripts delayed recommen dation but was contacting the Navy to find out for sure spokesman Dan Boston said Kelly has pledged to ensure that Jackson will receive a fair hearing Couples: Gay marriages still arouse political line drawing Continued from page 1A ha3gp pledged lifelong love to each other the law views them as mere strangers who have bought prop erty together If they could they would legally marry They While some munici palities including New York City allow gays to register as domestic partners and some clergy will per 1 form i similar to weddings it is still ille gal nationwide for gays and lesbi to marry and obtain the full benefits afforded to married Gay activists say it is a matter of civil rights to give peo ple the freedom to wed whom they wish Invoking God nature and family valjues opponents of same sex marriages fear the Hawaii courts will allow gays the right to marry ai) act that might require other states to show faith and cred to such unions They are pressing for individual state laws barring the legalization of such unions no matter where they oc So far such laws have passed iiyjl states Similar proposals are being weighed in both the New York State Assembly and Senate former US Sen Bob Dole the presumptive Republican presi dential nominee co sponsored the of Marriage defin ing'marriage as a union between a man and a woman and denying federal pension health and other benefits to same sex couples The same measure which has not made it to the Senate Judiciary Committee was approved by the House Judiciary Committee and is likely to make it to the House floor for a vote by mid July President Clinton long consi dered a friend to gays opposes sme sex marriage and he is de termined not to let the issue stall re election campaign He has said he will sign the bill re garded by many gays as a slap in if it passes Congress ijRolls show a majority of Ameri cfljs are behind Clinton and so are Christian groups such as the Christian Coalition Traditional marriage should get preferred sta tus because it works best especial lywhere children are involved said Wendy Holibaugh chairman of the Christian Coaltion in West chester It also has been the most effective way to ensure survival over the centuries and American family has enough trou bles without gay marriage Holi baugh said The one man one woman family no small Holibaugh said the basic anchor of our she said But gays insist they want fair ness Currently couples who have TiDt taken extra legal measures to protect themselves often find that relatives push one partner out i and take over the house the shared once the one who i legally owned it dies There is no automatic inheritance as there would be with married couples When one partner is in the hospital gays and lesbians are not seen as next of kin They may not be able to make life and death concerning their part ners or even visit If they have raised children together the non biological parent may have no right to custody They cannot take leave from work if the partner or a nonbiological child falls ill or dies Usually they cannot carry each other on their health insurance or pension plans iling a joint tax return also is impossible The political storm dividing the country at a time when gay mar riages already cannot legally hap pen anywhere disgusts Donna Ta beek 38 of Nanuet who wants to marry her girlfriend of 6 years not just for legal and financial benefits but as a way to gain approval of their family How does her choice of partner hurt her next door neighbor? asks Tabeek an education instructor at New York police academy are among a group of people saying we want a house family values children a dog the back she said are we being told we have Asking the same questions are Larchmont partners Michael Dick ey 32 and Bruno Mithout 42 a rench national who could be come an American citizen if legal ly married to Dickey Then there are Sharon and Ja net Ward Rogers of Yonkers lesbi ans whose commitment ceremony carried all the trappings of a white dress wedding (with two white dresses) but none of the legal weight Joint distress Conservative Christians are trying to make gay marriage seem imminent in order to fan fears and anti gay marriage laws through state leg islatures and Congress during an election year said Evan Wolfson co counsel for the Hawaii mar riage case But it will probably take two years before case winds through the courts said Wolfson also director of the marriage project at the Lambda Legal Defense and Education und in New York City Meanwhile the debate over marriage will expose more peo ple to the real lives and hard ships of gays and lesbians and in that way debate is good said Lester Goldstein co president of the Loft a community service center for gays and lesbians in Westchester County think people have the right to have their lives be recognized as pro ductive and not part of moral Between 4 percent and 6 per cent of the population locally and throughout the nation is gay or lesbian depending on whose estimates are accepted said Zelle Andrews County Execu tive Andrew liaison to the gay and lesbian commu nity Not all of those people would opt to marry she said In Westchester that means 26000 to 40000 people older than 18 are hom*osexual and in Putnam that number could range from 2700 to 4000 But if the Kinsey Report estimate that one in 10 American adults is hom*osexual is to be believed the numbers are even higher Andrews said Newslinks A guide to learning more The state of Report on Sexual Orienta tion and the Law (http: wwwhawaiigovlrbsolcvr html) led to the court case mentioned in the story Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project (http: wwwxqcomhermp) which supports same sex marriage has information on the court case The Christian Coali tion argues against same sex marriage at http: wwwccorgcc marriagehtml In Westchester a movement is growing for a domestic partner registry a formal way to put a partnership on record while oth er legal steps are forbidden Andrews said A registry might give gays fodder to seek benefits from theit employers But the registry idea currently is being reviewed by the county attorney to determine its feasibility referred questions to his senior executive assistant Phil Gille who said he is not sure the cojunty should get in volved in tne issue particularly if it is purely ceremonial The county nowjdoes not issue mar riage licences which are the province ofreities and towns he said Denied citizenship Mike Dickey 32 of Larch mont now an investment bank er met Bruno Mithout a book club supervisor at a gym in Paris while Dickey was an un dergraduate studying interna tional business at the American University of Paris They flirted then ran into each other again at a nightclub Thus began a rela tionship that has withstood 12 years They moved to the United States a year after they met once Dickey had secured a job back home But Mithout came to this country on a tourist visa that long ago expired The two men want to marry for the obvious reason it would give them grounds to seek citi zenship for Mithout The ability to register as domestic partners in Westchester would be a building Dickey said be cause it might help Mithout show his deportation would cause hardship for an American citizen him While government recognition of same sex marriage would give them legal and financial bene fits they plan a formal ceremony in their Quaker church in Scars dale to cement their spiritual bond Meanwhile they must live in perpetual fear the authorities will come for Mithout any day to oust him Even in this climate of uncer tainty Dickey already feels like If legally married gays could Everywhere in America lesbian and gay couples are if prohibited from marrying to gain legal social and economic benefits In two dozen places including New York City (but I not in Westchester and Putnam counties) they can register Lp as domestic partners gaining a tiny slice of those benefits afforded to married couples Westchester County is considering creating a domestic partner registry where people can formalize their commitmentX ff to each other for social and legal reasons but no decision has been reached If they were legally married lesbian and gay couples could ile joint tax returns Keep joint policies for home auto and health insurance Inherit automatically in the absence of a will jointly owned real and personal property after a partner dies Enter jointly into leases and other contracts Raise children together including joint adoption joint foster care custody and visitation for non biological parents 1 Establish status as next of kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent Handle post mortem decisions involving deceased partners including where to bury them and how Obtain divorce protections such as community property and child support Secure domestic violence protection orders Source: National Gay and Lesbian Task orce in Washington DC "To Have and To Hold: Organizing for Our Right to Marry" a married man time I get a credit card bill with all his charges on it I know mar ried or when I get a call at work that crashed up the car and is worried how react I know Dickey said At a recent block party around 40 neighbors showed their support signing a petition for equality in marriage Nation ally about 30000 gay couples are in the same spot as they are said Dickey a member of the Lamda immigration task force do my share of the work take care of the house the gar den the dog and cook too part of my giving back to Mi chael for the goodness shown me all these said Mithout who would like a job if it were legal No nation gives full recogni tion to same sex marriage said Wolfson co counsel for the Ha waiian case But five nations Denmark Norway Sweden in land and Iceland do provide a separate designation for gay marriages that gives them many benefits and protections more so than domestic partnerships rec ognized by some US cities but still less than heterosexual mar riage A number of others countries provide more benefits than do mestic partners get in American cities Holland is working on recognition and Hungary has a form of it Other nations includ ing Austrailia New Zealand and Canada have immigration poli cies related to gay marriage Wolfson said Part of the neighborhood Janet Rogers 41 a computer consultant met Sharon Ward 40 a health care marketing ex ecutive during the spring of 1991 and they ultimately moved in together in Yonkers They had to come up with their own definitions for their relationship But they also knew they wanted a traditional wedding to seal their covenant before God and their closest circle They had a ceremony of 60 friends and rela tives on June 26 1994 The wedding cake had figures of two women on top When they kissed butterflies were released to the tune of John really wanted our relation ship to be given equal weight to the marriages of my Ward said have the best mar riage of all my siblings and we had the best wedding And I wanted everyone to clap and give us presents and for us to be on an equal Only aunt refused to show up citing her Christian beliefs They changed their last name to Ward Rogers and they are considering having a baby by artificial insemination of Rogers by a sperm donor The two vege tarians believe in a religion rooted in Hinduism But in the eyes of the law their union by an interfaith minister is irrele vant At work the two are faced with a choice when people ask about their wedding rings They either lie or them way off because there is no socie tal construct for a lesbian union They constantly must explain themselves Often co workers as sume they are straight On forms for insurance there is no box for them to check They must choose between single or married say and people ask some of the oddest ques Janet Ward Rogers said say you the hus I say a wife too both or the people jumping to defend the American family Sharon Ward Rogers said have news for them The Ameri can family has changed for good already The American family of our generation is gone and it is not welfare the wom movement or gays and lesbi ans that did it or people to insist that gay and lesbian mar riage is going to be straw that broke the is Should Hawaii make gay mar riage official they will go there a Sharon Ward Rogers said she said not like Suicide: Report questioning incident inside jail Continued from page 1A sant Zoloft made in a vacu um devoid of important informa tion about her mental health histo i No one from mental health staff contacted Blumen therapist who would have told them Blumenthal had been on the drug for two years and became sSicidal in stressful situations 111 The psychiatrist who remov jeebher from the drug Dr Harvey sLothringer that he be lieves Zoloft like Prozac canmake people more violent and He said Blumenthal jsawi she felt the same way as he but her therapist and family haid she never objected to the and thought it made her less "aggressive I family repeat attempted to alert jail staff of her suicidal tendencies and sought 'to have her put back on Zoloft 'She left a suicide note to herparents and boyfriend that said forgive me for what 'done But this is the only way out 3 love the three of you! Remember018 There was of commu nication among EMSA staff and between EMSA and jail staff or example an EMSA psychologist did not have chart when evaluating her for the first time even though she had been evaluated previously by a social worker and nurse Two psychia trists who worked different shifts and treated Blumenthal never con sulted with each other about the girl and wrote incomplete notes on her chart Jail staff failed to document events properly or assess the im pact of a court appearance on her state of mind There were no pro cedures to quickly relay mental health and medical information about inmates to EMSA staff said he would think EMSA should make a in some of the procedures that they follow (and) a review of the per sonnel that they have Cor rection Commissioner Joseph Stancari said that in general EMSA had been delivering equate medical to the jail's approximately 1300 inmates EMSA spokeswoman Margaret Pearson said the company had not been given the retart yet but it was and will seriously review the findings and make ev ery effort to make improvements in the time Report called Jonathan Lovett the Blumen thal attorney criticized the report as and said was to the He said the family would file a notice of claim next week notifying the county EMSA and various officials that the family intended to sue over her death to ensure something like that happen again were put on expressed unequivocal unambiguous notice repeatedly to what the problem was and what the remedy was and they were repeatedly ig said Lovett who at tended the news conference with another family attorney Michael Schwartz and mother Wendy She declined to comment Blumenthal had been incar cerated since April 17 after she was arrested on misdemeanor menacing and weapons charges She was accused oGthreatening her mother with a knife She had wanted her parents to post $10000 bail for her boyfriend Louis Russo Together they faced felony robbery charges and she was free on bail Her bail was revoked after her ar rest and a Bedford town justice had ordered a psychiatric evalu ation The report also detailed last days Earlier suicide threat Blumenthal became upset and threatened suicide on May 10 when her attorney told her that the District Office was offering a plea bargain of 2 to 4 years in jail On May 16 the day before her suicide Blumenthal called her mother from the jail the report said Wendy Blumenthal said her daughter was and had been insisting that she was going to Wendy Blumenthal called the jail and told officials of her suicidal tendencies A sergeant said he would an aide to watch her for the rest of his the report caid But Suicide note Here is Nancy Blumen suicide note to her parents and boyfriend Louis Russo: Dear Mom Dad Louie Please forgive me for what done But this is the only way out I love the three of you! Remember me ti Nancy Blumenthal fr then she was not referred to the mental health staff for evalua tion On the afternoon of Blumen suicide her mother called medical director John to set up a visit by the therapist who had treated Blum enthal for the past five years The report said that Wendy Blumenthal said she also told him her daughter was suicidal while said suicide was never mentioned At 6 that night Blumenthal spoke to her mother At 9 pm she spoke with her father Larry At 11 pm correction officers found her hanging in her cell Briefing Local News Discounts delayed A plan to offer weekend and holiday discounts on the Metro North Railroad beginning July 1 is delayed indefinitely 1OA State Mergers vs rights Pro choice activists warn that the wave of health care reforms and hospital mergers arriving in New York should not mean re duced access to abortion and birth control services 4B Nation AIDS research In a burst of research that could lead to new AIDS treat ments scientists identify one and possibly three chemical foo tholds the virus needs to infect a cells 1 World Communists lose ally Gennady Zyuganov Communist leader loses one of his last potential allies when ultranationalist Vladimir Zhiri novsky says he will not support him in next presidential runoff 4B Business GM through the years GM presented its North Tarry town employees with a going away gift of sorts a yearbook that details the 82 year history 5B Opinion Reval not yet certain The many people who worked long and hard toward a property revaluation for Westchester had cause to celebrate yesterday af ter the state appro val of the plan But they relax their efforts yet 12A Reaching Out Tomorrow night on the televi sion show staff writer Sara Ellen Amster discusses her re port on same sex marriages airs on the Regional News Network at 7:30 pm to morrow and at 9 mn pm Saturday over the following cable systems: TCI Cable Conti nental Paragon United Video Cablevision of Westchester and TKR Cable Company LOTTERIES New York Daily: 690 Win our 4 9 9 6 Pick 10 and Lotto 54 were unavailable Tuesday Pick 10: 1 8 91014 16 19 22 25 26 27 35 40 48 53 59 65 71 75 Tuesday Take ive: 21 24 30 34 35 Connecticut Cash Lotto Play our and Daily were unavailable 1 Tuesday Daily: 580 Tuesday Play our 1949 Tuesday Lotto: 1 18 19 24 34 43 New Jersey Pick Three and Pick our results were unavailable Tuesday Pick Three: 872 Tuesday Pick our 1971 Tuesday Cash ive: 2 10 14 16 36 Powerbail Results were unavailable Lottery Hotline 2: Call 696 8886 for results updated at 1 am by this newspaper TRAIC ALERT Traffic delays Today through Sat urday there will be traf fic delays on the Bronx River Park way Route 119 and ft if it Bronx ill I Pg Whiter Py hlfSl Plains1 5 Ja Wi 4(10Qrf ItJ County Pfn Vg Center 4 Route 100 (Central Avenue) due to graduation ceremonies at the Westchester County Center.

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