Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090212
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
The judge, Navy Capt. William Vest, also accused the Navy's top brass of not paying attention to instances of sexual misconduct at earlier Tailhook meetings.
Had they done so, Vest said, ``a high probability exists that both the assaults and much of the Navy's embarrassment could have been avoided.''
The dismissals leave only one case pending in the investigation of the scandal that damaged the Top Gun image of Navy and Marine Corps aviators. Of 140 cases, no one was ever court-martialed and about 50 received administrative discipline.
``That fact that here it is over two years later and nothing has occurred, to me it's outrageous,'' said Karen Johnson, national secretary for the National Organization for Women and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
Pentagon investigators concluded that 83 women were assaulted or molested at the convention, many of them on the third floor of the Las Vegas Hilton, where men lined the hallway on Saturday night, Sept. 7, 1991, and grabbed women as they tried to pass.
Kelso, chief of naval operations, ``manipulated the initial investigative process and the subsequent [discipline] process in a manner designed to shield his personal involvement in Tailhook '91,'' Vest wrote in his decision.
The judge concluded that Kelso was ``in error'' when he testified that he didn't go to the third floor that Saturday night and didn't see any misconduct.
``This court specifically finds Adm. Kelso visited the third deck patio at some time during the evening hours,'' Vest wrote.
``This court further finds Adm. Kelso was exposed to incidents of inappropriate behavior while on the patio on Saturday evening, including public nudity and `leg-shaving' activities.''
Kelso, who is scheduled to retire in July, declined comment. The Navy was reviewing the decision and declined comment.
Vest's ruling in the cases of Cmdrs. Thomas R. Miller and Gregory Tritt and Lt. David Samples makes it unlikely that any Navy fliers will face trials as a result of Tailhook.
Only one case stemming from the scandal is still pending, that of a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
An investigation by the Pentagon inspector general's office referred the cases of 140 Navy and Marine Corps officers to Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason and Marine Gen. Charles Krulak, who were appointed by Kelso to determine punishments. Of those cases, about 50 officers received administrative discipline. Reason could still send the three cases to Navy Secretary John Dalton or seek administrative discipline.
But the three fliers and their attorneys said they would not agree to any nonjudicial proceeding.
``Not now, not ever,'' Miller said.
``I think it's the end, but it's hard to tell,'' Tritt said.
Last November, Kelso testified at a pretrial hearing for Miller and Tritt that he stayed on the hotel's ground floor the Saturday night in question.
However, numerous witnesses said they saw the admiral on the third-floor swimming pool patio near a group of suites that featured such entertainment as strippers and leg-shaving.
The judge said Kelso couldn't have avoided seeing or hearing some improper activities.
Vest also said inaction by Kelso after Tailhook allowed the Navy investigation to be limited to officers below the rank of rear admiral.
by CNB