THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130507
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
A series of sexual harassment complaints, including one that has put a would-be rear admiral into a Navy courtroom this week, is evidence that ``people are not as afraid to report this as they have been,'' the service's top admiral said Thursday.
Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, told reporters the cases show that the Navy is now applying standards of performance that it wrote in the wake of the Tailhook scandal of 1991.
Boorda said he hopes it's not a trend that three captains selected for rear admiral last winter had to be removed from the promotion list sent to Congress for approval.
Two of those cases involved harassment complaints. In one of them, Capt. Everett L. Greene now faces a court-martial on charges of fraternization and conduct unbecoming an officer. In the second, Capt. Mark A. Rogers agreed to a nonjudicial punishment, a procedure that permitted the case to be heard in private by a senior officer.
Greene's trial, apparently the first since World War II of an officer who had been chosen for flag rank, moved through its second day Thursday at the Washington Navy Yard. He faces punishments that could include imprisonment and dismissal from the service.
A SEAL commando, Greene is accused of harassing Lt. Mary E. Felix and former Lt. Pamela Castrucci when both women worked for him at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in 1993.
Greene was working then as the services's top equal-opportunity officer. Felix answered calls on a sexual harassment hot line in the office while Castrucci, a lawyer, provided legal advice to harassment victims.
The women allege that Greene sent them cards and letters and talked to them about his personal life and problems in ways that made them uncomfortable.
He was not romantically involved with either, though Felix said some of the attention he directed at her suggested he wanted a romantic relationship.
Felix, who testified on Wednesday that she had always found Greene's attentions troublesome, acknowledged Thursday that she told a Navy investigator earlier this year that she once regarded Greene as a ``father figure.''
``I've had more time to think about it,'' she said, but added later that ``I've tried not to think about it.''
Felix also provided fresh evidence that the Navy still has work to do in an internal campaign to convince its women that they will not face reprisals if they bring harassment charges.
Felix said that pressing her case has led to embarrassing questions and publicity about her private life. ``I don't think it's right. I've been completely revictimized by this whole thing,'' she said.
Fears of such treatment were part of the reason she didn't make a formal complaint until Greene was selected for rear admiral in February, Felix said.
She decided to act then in part out of fear that as a flag officer Greene might be able to strike back at her, she said.
KEYWORDS: SEXUAL HARASSMENT U.S. NAVY POLICY by CNB