~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/index8 along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 7, Number 1 January, 1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And They Call This Justice? by Mary Henderson When Medicine Failed -- Book review by Sally Shadow Sexual Harassment vs. Spousal Abuse by Anne of tiptoe Winding Things Up by Helen Forelle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND THEY CALL THIS JUSTICE? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On December the 11th, 1998, a Colorado criminal was found not guilty in a jury trial. This man, William Asa Sojka, had been convicted several times of criminal acts, and was convicted of kidnapping and holding a hostage in Florida before paroling to Colorado. He was once again incarcerated after he and some friends drove a car through a plate glass window of a sporting goods store in ColoradO Springs to get firearms. While in prison, he again took a woman, Mary L. Henderson, an employee at the prison, hostage and tried to kill her. At the time, the state of Florida had a parole violation hold on him for the Florida conviction. The twelve person jury had to believe this inmate's story that the other woman in Florida had asked to be kidnapped, and that his current victim and he were in on the kidnapping and hostage taking together so that the woman could later sue the state. The jury had to totally disregard the forty-five people who testified to this Colorado woman's injuries and the state of shock that she was in when she was finally rescued by a SWAT team. The inmate's whole reasoning was that no one saw him take her hostage, no one saw him torture her with an electric cord, and no one saw him cut her with a homemade knife except the victim. Therefore he did not do it. All the witnesses could testify to was that they had heard her screams of pain and crys for help. Numerous witnesses testified that they saw the defensive cuts on her hands and the numerous other cuts on her face and neck. The emergency doctor testified that the victim was in a state of shock but was responsive to her questioning. The doctor also testified that the victim had "numerous lacerations on her face, neck and hands." The hostage negotiator, Louella Watkins, testified that she saw what appeared to be electrical burn marks on the victim's left neck and face. The mental health doctor, who was also on the scene when the woman was rescued, stated that he saw electric burns on the victim. There were three witnesses who testified on behalf of this inmate, and their testimony appeared to be given far too much weight in this case, a male Lieutenant who was acting shift commander, a male Sargeant who refused to send assistance to the victim when her officer first requested help, and another male Sargeant who had a habit of coming to work so drunk that he could hardly stand up. All three of these men testified that the victim "was a trouble maker and a liar." What the Judge would not let Sandra Haberman, a female officer, testify to, was that she had overheard these very same men say, "We sure fixed her, didn't we." The judge also would not let anyone testify that these very same men had been ruled AGAINST in a Federal court case concerning Sandra Haberman and the victim FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT. The criminal also had a letter that he said the victim wrote him and he had kept it secret for three years. Again the Judge would not let anyone produce an United States Justice Department study dated September 1997 that stated in 7 to 38 percent of the cases, experts find that defendents make a false claim, and that it SHOULD NOT be used as evidence because it is not science but instead a GUESS, and that until a uniform standard of protocol is established, it will likely be challenged under the evidentiary rule. Picture this. You are confined to a cell 23 hours a day, you are given hundreds of pages of documents hand-written by the victim because you are representing yourself. You are given confidential medical reports that are clearly stamped as copies made without the permission of the patient, which is a violation of the Federal Right to Privacy Act. In seven years time, do you think that you could put a letter together with enough copied words to fool an amateur, (which will be found false 7 to 38 percent of the time?) Could you say the victim is guilty until proven innocent? Could you set a man free that already has the makings of a serial predator? Why is it that when the victim is a woman, she must be guilty of something or it couldn't have happened to her? Why is it that there seems to be a double set of standards for victims and for criminals? The final chapter to this was written after William Sojka was set free on December 20th, 1998 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Less than a month later, he took another person hostage, robbed a family at gun point and then tied the woman and her son up and robbed them. He then took the woman's seventeen year old daughter hostage and a large chase followed with Sofka wrecking the car. By that time, the young lady was able to escape and run to a nearby police cruiser. Sofka then proceeded to kick in the door at another woman's house and he fired three shots into her home. She escaped out the back door. This story finally came to an end when Sojka shot himself in the head on January 20, 1999 with a .357 and was pronounced dead at the scene. Mary Henderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am interested in asking a few questions about this whole matter. I would like to know whether the criminal involved got any special treatment after the kidnapping of Mary Henderson. Did he have extra funds available, or was he known to have things he hadn't had before like drugs? When he was killed, was there any witness to his having killed himself, or was there any possibility that he was murdered to get rid of him and prevent him from talking, and the murder was made to look like a suicide? Had he ever threatened suicide before? Were any of the officers who testified against Mary Henderson and for the murderer/kidnapper/robber in a position to have done this? Did they have any friends who might have helped them out by having murdered the ex-convict for them? It was certainly a convenience to them, if they had, as Sandra Haberman was ready to testify, put the criminal up to kidnapping, torturing and threatening to kill Mary, that he can no longer talk. If that had been the case, the perpetrator would certainly have tried to blackmail the men who had put him up to it. I'm sure he could have plea bargained for a lenient sentence if he had talked. This story is an example of just how far sexual harassers are willing to go to protect their abberent behavior, so that they can continue to harass other women and wreck their lives. That a judge and jury bought the scenario that was given to them is a condemnation of the judicial system in place that heard the case. One can only hope that the public will become enraged from the events and rid itself of what appears to be a prostitution of the judicial system. Helen Forelle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHEN MEDICINE FAILED -- A REVIEW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Sarah Shadow Tesseract Publications "Homemade Books", 125 pages, plastic comb binding, $10.00 plus $2.30 S&H. During the past few years, it became increasingly apparent to the author that the medical care she had been receiving was not having a positive effect on her health. She had for years been adding various natural products to her regimen and at times, these had improved conditions, but it seemed that whenever she found help for one problem, another surfaced. Two and a half years ago, she had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. When she was in Rochester for her first visit, she was startled by the physician's attitude. First of all, he listened to her problems intently. Second, no matter how unusual the condition she related to him was, he never questioned it, he never corrected her to try to get her to relate symptoms that he recognized. This really impressed her that she had indeed been getting sub-standard treatment. At about the same time, she made the first of a series of observations relating to natural products that had astonishing consequences with relation to her health. She wrote letters to various talk shows explaining to them the observations she had made with regard to obesity. None of them ever responded with anything more than a generic post card. She was dumbfounded, and in addition enraged when products appeared on the market which appeared to her to have incorporated her findings. So she put all of the letters into a book, with additional letters that she had written earlier which related to natural healing, a short medical history, comments about additional cures she had found, a few pages of recipes, a list of some products that she had found without food additives, some substitutes for products she cannot use, a list of resources and an index. The book covers such areas as problems with blood sugar, thyroid, sinus, obesity, foot and lower back pain, spider bites, heart palpitations, breast cancer screening, estrogen therapy, skin leisions, headaches, diarrhea, constipation, ear ache, sleep deprivation, gall bladder, leg cramps, excessive menstrual bleeding, tooth pain, arthritis and allergies. All of these conditions were either totally eliminated or at least greatly improved by natural remedies, many out of the kitchen for pennies instead of dollars a day. She may have found the root cause of cronic sinus problems. One solution even helped her lower her electric bill! Because she is not a physician, she cannot, of course, recommend any of these as cures. She can, however, tell you of her experiences, many of which involve such common products as powdered mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, licorice, cottage cheese, and so on. Nobody, not even a doctor prescribing a drug, can guarantee results, but the bottom line is that the products she used are never harmful in the amounts normally used by consumers. Many were used in conjunction with medical care and may have contributed to the success of the doctor's treatments. Now you are probably asking why this review is being included in a newsletter supposedly devoted to sexual harassment. Well, the bottom line is that the politicization of health care is one of the nasty turns that sexual harassment has taken, and the book also does detail several actual events which were devastating to her health which were intentionally employed by harassers for that purpose. So if you have been a victim of sexual harassment and are now having health problems which you did not have before the harassment, then this book is a must for you. Nobody else has taken the time to put down a history of how your health can be used to make you toe the line for a harasser. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEXUAL HARASSMENT VS. SPOUSAL ABUSE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are similarities between Sexual Harassment on the job and Domestic Violence in the home, but also differences. On the job, strangers can force a decision to leave or in more recent years, to file suit. Filing a suit against spousal abuse is done by asking for a divorce, too often after escape via a domestic violence shelter. Spousal abuse happens within the confinement of a relationsip, and could be called harassment carried to extremes. Physical abuse, sexual abuse and verbal abuse all qualify. Yes, verbal abuse is violence as well, tearing at the emotions of the abuse by insults to anything and everything the abused is and does, and ethnic and experiential background too. Anne of tiptoe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WINDING THINGS UP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I apparently picked the best time to get a newsletter on-line, as there has been very little about sexual harassment in the news the past few months. This has taken many hours to accomplish. But at least the last two newsletters are available on-line now. Also on-line is the Women Against Sexual Harassment International List. There have been various stories in the papers about sexual harassment in the schools, including the case of Aurelia Davis, who is suing her daughter's school board, the Monroe City Board of Education, for sexual harassment because in spite of complaints to school officials, the boys in the school would not keep their hands off her daughter, although she made it clear that she did not want them to touch her, which is being heard by the Supreme Court. It seems obvious that in stopping harassment, one ought to start in the obvious place, with young people. If boys learn to respect girls when they are young, they will continue to respect them as women. Because of the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual abuse of students by teachers, this actually sounds easier than it will be. It is impossible for anyone involved in harassment themselves to police it in others. One of the facts which has come out with respect to Clinton's problems is that Monica Lewinski had a sexual relationship with a teacher at her high school. Severe punishment of those abusing young people has to be the first step. I just want to repeat my earlier claim that our school system has gone into the garbage with the advent of male teachers of young students. Everyone complains about how our educational system is going downhill, but nobody wants to face the reality that male politics is to blame. For every female teacher sexually abusing a boy, there must be 1,000 male teachers abusing young girls, although to see the furor the media makes when they find a woman doing it, you'd think it was the opposite. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Regional Directors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mountain States Mary Henderson 905 East 10th La Junta, CO kickings(bleep)ruralnet.net Midwest Janet Leih P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com Southwest Sandra Mallie 14823 County Rd. 1315 Malak, Texas 75148 Northwest Anne Grimm-richardson 434 6th St. #206 Raymond, WA 98577-1804 anne(bleep)WILLAPABAY.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 $10.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. Outside the US, send $20.00 to join. E-mail comments can be sent to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com. If you know of anyone you think might be interested, just send us their e-mail address and we will put them on our e-mail mailing list. You can get a free copy of the latest print issue of THE WASHRAG by sending a SASE to Women Against Sexual Harassment at P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. 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