Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995                   TAG: 9508220085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN THE NATION

WASHINGTON - A Navy helicopter commander who faced a discharge after his refusal to fly combat missions with women has been allowed to stay on active duty.

Just before his unit, with its two women pilots, was to depart for the invasion of Haiti last summer, Lt. Comdr. Kenneth A. Carkhuff, a 13-year Navy veteran, told his commanding officer he would not go to sea because his religious and moral beliefs prevented him from going into combat with women.

Carkhuff's superior immediately relieved him of his duties, and two Navy review boards recommended unanimously this year he be dismissed for ``substandard performance.''

After reviewing the case, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton on Friday approved the recommendation of Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, the chief of naval operations, to reject the panels' findings and allow the officer to remain in the Navy.

- The New York Times

\ Arbitration settles Post Office ire

WASHINGTON - A federal arbitration board announced a new four-year contract Saturday between the U.S. Postal Service and the Letter Carriers union, providing wage increases, lump sum payments and cost-of-living adjustments.

The arbitrators' settlement took nine months to achieve and followed months of unsuccessful bargaining. The three-member board's decision is final.

The contract with the National Association of Letter Carriers affects 240,000 employees. Arbitrators are working separately on contract disputes between the postal service and two other unions.

- Associated Press

\ Study: Drug causes irreversible damage

BALTIMORE - Ecstasy, a drug popular with teen-agers who writhe through all-night dance parties, may cause irreversible brain damage and depression.

Users of the drug claim it heightens their sex drive while giving them a sense of tranquility.

But according to a Johns Hopkins University study, published in this month's Journal of Neuroscience, the drug causes lasting damage to the parts of the brain that produce the chemical serotonin, which controls mood, appetite and sexual functions.

``Results suggest that people who have used [Ecstasy] in the past have some kind of [brain] damage,'' said George Ricaurte, an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins.

- Associated Press