~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://www.washrag.org/ or http://96.163.126.130 along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013 Phone: (605) 987-5070 Fax: (605) 987-5070 -- call ahead, this is a one-liner All e-mail addresses in the W.A.S.H. Rag are "bleep" protected so those contributing will not be harassed with spam. Please replace the "(bleep)" with "@" (without the quote marks). Email: washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com ISSN: 1068-2449 Free Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational Want a print copy of the current W.A.S.H. Rag? Go to http://www.washrag.org/WASH/page27.html and follow the instructions. Hint: to find a specific item, if you are using Microsoft Notepad to view this, highlight and copy the title and then paste it in edit/find. Use View/word wrap to shorten line length ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 16, Number 1 January, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual Harassment Case Reaches Historic Settlement Federal Judge Reprimanded after Sexual Harassment Allegations Judges must cite reasons for denying restraining orders Murdered Marine was Stalked UNITY RALLY AGAINST HATE CRIMES Sexual Harassment Sometimes Follows Victims To New Jobs Does Your Computer Slow Down Or Lose Data? In The Media WASH News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual Harassment Case Reaches Historic Settlement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monthly Email Newsletter of National Women’s Law Center http://action.nwlc.org/ A long-running Title IX suit that accused the University of Colorado of deliberate indifference to sexual harassment and assault by football players and recruits resulted in a historic victory last week when the university settled with the plaintiffs. The Center was a part of the legal team that represented one of the plaintiffs, Lisa Simpson. The settlement provides overdue justice for Ms. Simpson and creates systemic reforms to prevent and address sexual harassment at the university. The settlement comes after a strong win on the Title IX legal standard decided by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Under the terms of the settlement, the university will pay Ms. Simpson $2.5 million, and will pay a second woman, who did not wish to be identified, $350,000; hire a new counselor for the Office of Victim's Assistance; and appoint an independent, outside Title IX advisor. The advisor will be available to all individuals reporting sexual harassment or assault, will address any concerns with the university's response to complaints, will review issues relating to sexual harassment and Title IX compliance, and will make recommendations to the university regarding reforms to university programs to prevent future sexual harassment. It's a precedent that we hope will spur other universities into changing their practices! Learn more: http://action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=FFOJyLp8_6CsPu7BWQMM5A.. NWLC Nancy Duff Campbell Marcia D. Greenberger Co-Presidents, NWLC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Federal Judge Reprimanded after Sexual Harassment Allegations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOW Calls for Judiciary Committee Investigation October 12, 2007 On Sept. 28, the Judicial Council of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals formally reprimanded U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent of Galveston, Texas, suspended him for four months, and reassigned many of his pending cases to other judges. This nearly unprecedented action came after a lengthy secret investigation of allegations that the judge had sexually harassed and inappropriately touched a female employee. During their investigation, the committee expanded the inquiry to include additional complaints against Judge Kent. Based on the seriousness of the allegations and the actions of the Judicial Council, the National Organization for Women (NOW) has requested, through Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), a member of the committee, that the House Judiciary Committee open an investigation into the accusations against Judge Kent. If they find that Judge Kent violated federal law, including federal civil rights law, we will urge the committee to begin impeachment proceeding. "There is an Alice in Wonderland feel to this process. The Fifth Circuit's investigation of its own judge was completely secret, none of the findings were revealed to the public, not even after the investigation was complete, the public 'reprimand' contained no details, and all documents uncovered in the investigation are sealed," said NOW President Kim Gandy, an attorney admitted to practice in the Fifth Circuit. "To make matters worse, the Fifth Circuit says that even if a judicial panel finds that a judge did commit a crime, it is not obligated to refer it to law enforcement. Federal judges are protected by law from the law." "This judicial panel seems to be protecting its own. The reported punishment -- a four-month paid vacation and a slap on the wrist -- seems extraordinarily light, and doesn't seem to 'fit the crime' as it has been reported in the press. His punishment, for all practical purposes, has been a taxpayer-paid four month vacation and a reduced workload at full pay. When he returns to the bench in a few months, he will resume his normal duties, including ruling on cases involving sex discrimination and sexual harassment. If that happens, and he is indeed a sexual harasser, it would be an injustice to every woman whose case could come before his court," said Gandy. National Organization for Women ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Judges must cite reasons for denying restraining orders ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unexplained denial "may well stimulate the continuing domestic abuse that the (law) was specifically designed to prevent" and lead victims to believe they have no recourse. This article was contributed by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/25/BAB0SVEH7.DTL Thursday, October 25, 2007 (SF Chronicle) Yuka Nakamura of San Pablo told a Contra Costa County judge that she was terrified of her estranged husband. He had beaten her and forced her to have sex before they separated, she said, and afterward told her he was having her followed and would make her life miserable. Within hours, and without holding a hearing, Superior Court Judge Gregory Caskey rejected her request for a restraining order against the estranged husband. He offered no explanation, and signed the denial with only a rubber stamp. Nakamura, now 37, has not reported any subsequent incidents since she went to court in August 2006, her lawyer said. But anti-domestic-violence groups argued that Caskey put her at risk by not granting her request, and said he is not the only judge who has rejected restraining orders without saying why. This week, a state appeals court in San Francisco spoke up. Calling Caskey's unexplained response "highly imprudent," it declared that judges statewide must at least spell out their reasoning if they turn down someone who asks for a stay-away order against a former or current partner or housemate and backs it up with written allegations of injuries, threats or harassment. An unexplained denial "may well stimulate the continuing domestic abuse that the (law) was specifically designed to prevent" and lead victims to believe they have no recourse, Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline said in the 3-0 ruling by the First District Court of Appeal. The court stopped short of ordering a hearing in all such cases, as proposed by victims' advocates. But the ruling at least puts judges on notice that "they have to take each domestic violence restraining order application seriously," said Minouche Kandel, a Bay Area Legal Aid attorney representing Nakamura. That's an important message, because "there is a pattern statewide of judges summarily denying restraining orders without a hearing," said Nancy Lemon, a UC Berkeley law school lecturer who filed arguments on behalf of anti-domestic violence groups in nine counties. One organization, the High Desert Domestic Violence Program in Victorville (San Bernardino County), said in court papers that local judges routinely denied protective orders when applicants cited only verbal abuse, or physical attacks that had occurred more than a month earlier. The Family Violence Law Center in Oakland said traumatized clients and people without a strong grasp of English have had problems gathering enough evidence to satisfy some judges. The case involves the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, a 1979 law that allows a judge to issue an immediate restraining order prohibiting contact, based on written allegations of domestic abuse. The forms are simply worded and available in six languages, and most applicants prepare them without a lawyer. Violations of the restraining orders are punishable by contempt of court and a jail sentence. After the order expires, generally in three weeks, an applicant can file for an injunction barring contact for up to five years. An injunction requires a hearing at which both parties can appear. Nakamura applied for a restraining order with a lawyer's help. Caskey denied the order the same day Nakamura sought it, issuing a rubber-stamped statement that said he found no legal basis to grant protection. In this week's ruling, the appeals court ordered further proceedings. Nakamura's allegations, if true, showed she was at risk of further abuse, Kline said in the court's ruling. In such circumstances, he said, a judge who finds the allegations credible should ordinarily issue an immediate restraining order, and in any event must not dismiss the case without explaining why the application was inadequate. E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko(bleep)sfchronicle.com. Copyright 2007 SF Chronicle Contributed by: "valerie" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Murdered Marine was Stalked ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauderbach was murdered last year by her supervisor, Cpl. Cesar Laureqn. According to news accounts, her body was found buried in his back yard, parts of it had apparently been burned in his barbeque pit. After she disappeared on December 17, he took money out of her account to buy materials to cover up the crime. No one has explained why she was at his house. After attempting to burn and bury her body, he left his wife and child and it is thought that he has returned to Mexico. Louderback had been raped by Laurean, and was involved in a complaint against him. She was said in some news accounts to have been forced to move off Camp Lejune, NC, where the events took place, because the harassment had become so severe. She was pregnant, supposedly with his child, when he murdered her. Marine Corps authorities claim their actions were by the book. Considering the consequences of their failure to act, they need to rewrite the book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNITY RALLY AGAINST HATE CRIMES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ January 11, 2008 SCHEDULED AT MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE In the wake of the infamous kidnapping, rape and torture of West Virginia's twenty-year old Megan Williams in 2007, a "Unity Rally against Hate Crimes" will be held at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn on Saturday, February 16 from 4:00 - 9:00 PM. The program will feature a videotaped interview of Megan, as well as remarks from her mother, Carmen Williams, and lead attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, who is pressing for federal hate crime charges against the six defendants who abused Megan for a week last September, allegedly because she is Black. Organizers have said that the upcoming event aims to be a Black History Month Benefit & Open Mic to raise funds for the Williams family and to raise voices against the rise in hate crimes nationwide. Brooklyn's human rights advocate and journalist Mary Alice Miller and freedom singer DuPrée will be part of a contingent of local activists and cultural performers to rally in support of justice for the Williams family, in addition to Medgar Evers College's Drama Club, Imani Singers and Imani Dance Ensemble. The rally follows a National March against Hate Crimes in early November and a December rally and town hall meeting, all in Charleston, West Virginia. The Williams family has also told its story for the talk show of Montel Williams, to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) in Washington DC and at various forums to "Defend Black Women" and fund raisers. Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking in West Virginia recently, called the Megan case a "national disgrace." The "Unity Rally" will convene at Medgar Evers College Founders Auditorium, located at 1650 Bedford Avenue. Cosponsoring groups include Black Lawyers for Justice, Black Professors for Justice, John Henrik Clarke-CLR James African World Research Institute, International Cross-Cultural Black Women's Studies Institute, MEC Center for Women's Development, MEC Students and Faculty in Support of Megan Williams, National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault, New Black Panther Party, The People of the Sun Middle Passage Collective, Women's Coalition Against Sexual Assault, among others. Doors open at 3:00 PM. For more information, call (718) 270-5025, 270-5051, 270-5140 or 270-5155. Oh Megan, Don't You Weep! Contributed by "Andree-Nicola McLaughlin" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual Harassment Sometimes Follows Victims To New Jobs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of our recent narratives have been about women who have been in a sexual harassment situation and have afterwards found jobs where they were no longer sexually harassed, but one recent victim has let us know that their new employer is just as bad as the previous one. We are pleased when someone reports getting a good job where they are not harassed after a bad experience, but know from the feedback we get that often this is not the case. We know of a number of women with great job skills working in low paying positions at minimum wage, or even not able to get any job at all, after a sexual harassment experience. If anyone knows of a website/network/800 number that classifies women by their sexual harassment history, we would like to know about it. We have felt for a long time that this seems to be the case, that employers can check to see if this job applicant has ever filed a sexual harassment grievance or if she will “put out” for on the job benefits. We depend you to be our eyes and ears. washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Does Your Computer Slow Down Or Lose Data? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are experiencing problems on your computer like a slow-down in processing, data disappearing or changing, you might want to start looking at your operating system yourself. The place to start is with the task manager. You can see if there is anything running on your computer that should not be there. To enter the task manager, hit the CTL/ALT and DEL keys at the same time. ONLY HIT THEM ONCE. If you hit them twice in rapid succession, your computer will restart. Wait a minute or two, and if the task manager window does not come up, hit them again. The Applications tab will show you what programs you are running. The processes tab will show you what Windows is running. Many of the items on this tab are Windows processes, you can check and see if they are at http://windows-processes.thefile.net/tasks/char_C.html. Other processes may be run by software that you have loaded on your computer, printers, anti-virus programs, for example. Most legitimate vendors will use names that are recognizable as theirs. For example, Hewlett Packard uses names that start with "hp". If you see anything that you don't think should be there, you can "end task" on it without effecting your operating system. If things don't work right when you end task on something, you need only restart your computer, and it will be back on your processes menu. If you can’t find anything at this source about some item on the Processes Tab, you might try searching for it on a search engine like google. Don’t depend on just one reference, though, some are not correct, and may be put up by hackers to cover their tracks. Often, tech support sites like www.theeldergeek.com/ or http://forums.techguy.org/ have answered a question from someone else with the problem Most have a search function where you can see if someone else has had the same item on their computer. I have done end tasks on many items which come up on my processes tab, ctfmon.exe, tcpsvcs.exe, alg.exe, cctray.exe, userinit.exe, vetmsg.exe, isafe.exe, and anything that starts with umx... which is apparently a virus which had not been identified the last time I checked the internet. If you check this periodically, you become familiar with what is running on your computer and notice new items running and can end task on them immediately. Should your computer slow down when you are working on it, you might want to check the spoolsv.exe on the processes tab. There is apparently a virus which starts the print spooler looping. When it does so, you will find a severe slowdown in computer processing. The way you can tell if it is looping, is by checking under CPU on the processes tab. If you are not running a print job, it should be 00. Normally, the system idle process will be between 97% and 99%, but if the spooler is looping, it will be much less, in the case when I noticed this happening on my computer, the system idle process was at only 40% and I was not running a print job. I was lucky that I had read about this on a technical support bulletin board, so I just did an "end process" on spoolsv.exe and system processing returned to normal. If you don't notice this and let it run, it can eventually fill up all your disk space and even possibly your memory and you cannot do anything but restart the computer, which apparently deletes all the blank pages the spooler has written to the hard disk and deletes temporary files from memory. I say this because before I was aware of this problem, my system would freeze up and all I could do to get it started was to restart the computer. If you do an end task on the spooler, you won't be able to run any print jobs until you restart the computer. I had an early introduction to the spooler when I was working in Germany. When I went to pick up my output one day, there was a rather thick pile of paper there, when I just expected a page or two. The operator said that he had seen the printer running paper through pretty fast and had cancelled the job. I had made an error in a FORTRAN print command which instead of printing a line every time it was executed, did a top of page. I was totally humiliated and never forgot the bruised ego until some years later, I was sharing the experience with another programmer, who had one-upped me and told me about the time he had made a similar error with an older system and the printer had shot a whole box of printer paper across the computer room before anyone could stop it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In The Media ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On October 2, 2007, the ABC evening news carried interviews with both Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas. Anita stated that since she testified in the Clarence Thomas hearing, women are treated better in the workplace. Thomas continued to deny that any harassment ever occurred. On the same day, they also reported that the NY Nicks had lost a sexual harassment suit brought by Anicka Browne Sanders. She had charged that IsThanksThanksiah Thomas had sexually harassed her, and that when she complained to management, they had fired her. She was awarded 11.6 million dollars, more than she had asked for. Former South Dakota Legislator, Ted Klaudt, has been sentenced to 44 years for raping his two foster daughters who were pages in the South Dakota legislature. He has also been charged with witness tampering in a previous charge of rape by a former foster daughter who he is alleged to have intimidated until she dropped the charges. Early video of him coming to court showed him with his trusty wife; recently, she has been missing from them. There was an interesting item in the Older Feminist’s Network Newsletter from London in the UK. It contains the purpose statement of the International Prostitute’s Collective, www.prostitutescollective.net, which was started in San Francisco a number of years ago. What interested me was the first item, “All sex workers must be decriminalized whether they work on the street or in premises.” Because prostitution is not legal in San Francisco or California, although it is far from rare, the phrase “in premises” is tantalizing to me. Although it is legal in Nevada, just a few hundred miles away, are they referring to brothels or are they referring to women who operate in businesses to improve their chances of pay raises and promotions, which is also not rare in San Francisco. Anyone with an insight into this should let me know, I am eaten up with curiosity. It would be a plus if the prostitutes themselves classified those women as prostitutes. In all honesty, I have always considered these women to be prostitutes, expecting pay raises and promotions for compensation in exchange for sex instead of cash. According to KMEG in Sioux City Iowa, on October 8, 2007 there was a conference on workplace bullying at Dakota Dunes Country Club on October 10. This was something of a breakthrough, because whenever I have addressed issues like this locally, I was invariably told that “people don’t do things like that.” Since I can’t comment on this absurd attitude politely, I won’t comment at all. Janet Leih washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WASH News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ W.A.S.H. needs you to be a regional director. We want to have representatives in all parts of the U. S. If you are willing to have your name listed as a contact in your area, send your name, address, phone number and e-mail address as well as your web site URL if you have one, to washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com or mail to Janet Leih, President, Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013. This would also put you on the board of directors. Also, we have had officers resign, and need to hold elections in the near future. If you have time to serve as an officer, please respond to the same addresses. We are also always looking for material for the newsletter. If you have a narrative of your sexual harassment experience or if you have copies of media coverage, send them to the same addresses as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WE’RE ON THE WEB http://www.washrag.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $20.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment Treasurer Elisa M. Pedroza,8048 Meraz Ave., El Paso, TX 79907. Outside the US, send $40.00 to join. For a sample issue, send a #10 sized SASE. E-mail comments can be sent to washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com. To sign up for a free e-mail subscription to the W.A.S.H. Rag join the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational There is an option to join the group without receiving the newsletter and just logging in to read it whenever you want. If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, unsubscribe going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational and removing your name from the list ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2008 Tesseract Publications, P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 (605) 987-5070. ISSN: 1068-2449