Copyright 2000 The Seattle Times Company
The Seattle Times
June 17, 2000, Saturday Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A6; ACROSS THE NATION
LENGTH: 670 words
HEADLINE: Navy uses agents in gay bars to ID drug-selling personnel
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Navy investigators routinely send informants and undercover agents into Washington-area gay bars to identify military personnel among the clients, then use sting operations to catch some of them in drug trafficking, according to Navy officials and testimony in a recent military court proceeding. Local and national gay advocates contend that the probe circumvents the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and might be a way of drumming gays out of the military, albeit for drugs. The Navy contends the year-old operation never has been used to enforce the continuing ban on homosexual activity by service members. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) "does not target individuals based on their sexual orientation," director David Brant said in a June 8 letter responding to complaints from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that assists gays. The undercover operation involves surveillance at three establishments that cater primarily to gay men, NCIS agent John Patrick O'Connor Jr. testified in the case of a Navy petty officer facing a court martial for drug dealing. Under questioning by a defense attorney, O'Connor could not cite heterosexual establishments targeted by NCIS surveillance. Brant said in his letter that the undercover operation involves a variety of night spots, "including several that are not considered to be gay establishments." N.Y. police use racial profiling, civil-rights commission says WASHINGTON - The New York Police Department improperly uses racial profiling to stop and question people, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concluded yesterday. This police tactic is a factor in the racial tensions that can lead to "tragic and unnecessary" incidents such as the shooting of Amadou Diallo, according to a report approved 6-2 by the advisory panel. The report also calls into question department training and recruitment of black and Hispanic officers. It recommends creation of an independent office to investigate accusations that police wrongly used deadly force. Diallo was shot and killed outside his Bronx home Feb. 4, 1999, struck 19 times in a hail of 41 shots from police officers. Four officers were acquitted. Unabomber decides to sell his share of Montana land SACRAMENTO - Ted Kaczynski is selling the Montana property where he lived alone in a cabin for more than two decades and plotted a nationwide mail-bombing spree. Joy Richards, who has corresponded with the convicted Unabomber since his arrest, agreed to pay $7,500 for Kaczynski's share of the 1.4-acre plot four miles from her Lincoln, Mont., home. Kaczynski's brother, David, said Thursday he had no plans to sell his portion. Deputies under investigation in beating death of inmate CHICAGO - Two sheriff's deputies are accused of beating an inmate to death because he made an obscene remark to a female sergeant who turned down his request to go to the bathroom. The deputies, suspended along with the sergeant, are accused of punching and kicking Louis Schmude in suburban Bridgeview on May 5. Schmude, 40, died two days later of blunt trauma and a ruptured spleen. His death was ruled a homicide. Indiana authorities arrest 2 escapees from Mississippi LOWELL, Ind. - Two Mississippi prison escapees were captured yesterday, ending an intensive search for the men accused of hijacking several vehicles and committing thefts in three states since their May 28 escape. Convicted killer John Woolard and convicted robber Roy Randall Harper surrendered peacefully a few hours apart after being surrounded by police, Sheriff John Buncich said. F-16 crashes in Ariz. desert; pilot parachutes to safety PHOENIX - An Air Force F-16 crashed in the southern Arizona desert yesterday during a training exercise but the pilot ejected safely, a Luke Air Force Base spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman Jill Propst said the $20 million jet crashed at 7:45 a.m. PDT southwest of Sells. GRAPHIC: PHOTO; Ted Kaczynski