ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Senate confirmed Adm. Joseph Prueher as head of the U.S. Pacific Command on Tuesday, putting aside concerns about his handling of a 1989 sex harassment investigation at the U.S. Naval Academy.
In a voice vote, the Senate confirmed President Clinton's nomination of the four-star admiral to the Honolulu post responsible for U.S. armed forces in the Pacific, one of five regional military commands worldwide.
A decorated combat pilot and now the vice chief of naval operations, Prueher succeeds Adm. Richard Macke, whom Clinton asked to resign last fall after Macke made a remark about a rape case involving U.S. servicemen on Okinawa.
In 1989, Prueher was a Navy captain, commandant of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., when a group of male students chained a female classmate to a urinal and taunted her. Prueher headed the investigation that led to written reprimands, demerits and lost leave time but no more severe punishments against the assailants.
At his confirmation hearing last week, Prueher, 53, said he could have handled the investigation better by showing greater sensitivity to the victim, Gwen Dreyer, who left the academy in disgust.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., placed a hold on Prueher's confirmation. The senator indicated through a spokesman that he wanted more time to review the admiral's record.
But as the Senate had confirmed Prueher for three promotions since the Naval Academy incident, lawmakers were hard-pressed to justify blocking his advancement now, said a Senate staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the end, Kennedy supported Prueher's promotion.
Dreyer's parents, who have been critical of Prueher, were circumspect after the Senate vote.
``We're not surprised. We're just resigned,'' Caroline Dreyer, stepmother of the victim, said in a telephone interview. ``It was kind of silly to think that a Senate that had already confirmed him for constant promotions would suddenly decide that it was not appropriate.''
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB