THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250202
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILMINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
U.S. Rep. Charlie Rose has amended a divorce lawsuit he filed in November to accuse his wife of using the breakup to damage his political career. His estranged wife has dropped her divorce case.
The amendment, filed in Cumberland County on Monday, includes a string of accusations, including allegations that Joan Teague Rose harassed and threatened Rose and has publicly humiliated him with charges of adultery.
The papers say she ``utilized the threat of negative and-or adverse publicity in order to gain a civil advantage over the defendant.''
Joan Rose's attorneys dropped her case Wednesday.
The withdrawal of Joan Rose's case also means her charges of adultery - which the congressman has denied - are dead, said Michael Mills, Rose's attorney in Wilmington.
The Roses have been separated for more than two years.
Joan Rose filed for divorce in Virginia on Jan. 17, claiming the 7th District representative has ``openly and notoriously paraded his paramour around in public.''
The ``paramour'' was identified as Stacye Hefner, the daughter of another North Carolina congressman - Democrat Bill Hefner.
As part of the Roses' 1993 separation agreement, the congressman has said, they were allowed to ``conduct ourselves as if we were unmarried,'' which makes adultery impossible.
In a Virginia courtroom Wednesday afternoon, Joan Rose's attorneys did not say why they were dropping their case. Frances Rogala, a Washington attorney representing Joan Rose, did not immediately return phone calls.
Rose had challenged his estranged wife's divorce case on several counts, primarily arguing that he is not a Virginia resident so he can't be divorced there.
Republican Robert Anderson, who lost to Rose in November by almost 4,000 votes, claimed the papers were proof that Rose isn't a North Carolina resident.
The papers filed by Joan Rose contended her husband is a ``resident and domiciliary'' of Alexandria, Va. Though he owns several other houses, Rose has listed a Fayetteville address for years.
Mills said the divorce proceedings were likely to be thrown out, if not for geographical reasons then because Joan Rose did not have evidence to support some contentions, such as the adultery charges.
Joan Rose has 30 days to file an answer to the congressman's amended complaint, Mills said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Rep. Charlie Rose's divorce suit now accuses his estranged wife of
false adultery charges.
by CNB