European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday april 23, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 5fbi, Black agents reach agreement by the Washington Post Washington a the Federal Bureau of investigation has headed off a potential discrimination suit by Black agents agreeing to review or modify Bureau procedures governing promotion evaluation and discipline. In an agreement announced tuesday the Agency also said it would promote or change the assignments of 48 Black agents and train More Black agents for certain positions. Six Black agents who were denied promotions will receive Back pay and an undetermined number will receive payments because White agents typically received bigger bonuses. The agreement reached with a group representing More than 300 Black agents is the latest chapter in the bureaus struggle to Deal with discrimination complaints from racial minorities and women. It is expected to Cost the Fri hundreds of thousands of dollars. The agreement yet to be completed Calls on the Fri to a hire outside consultants to review and recommend changes in its procedures for promotion discipline evaluation and training of supervisors. A alter some procedures for assigning agents to Field and subfield offices. A adopt measures to prevent disparities in bonuses. A change How agents Are selected for special teams. A provide More openings for Black agents to be personnel changes Here Are some of the personnel changes the Fri agreed to make _ promotion of six Black agents to supervisory positions. Selection of 13 Black agents for the position of principal Relief supervisor the entry level of the of big a supervisory program. I creation of 15 additional training positions for Black training of an additional 20 Black agents in the technical services area. Sions is stacking hiring and promotion systems against them. Black agents who make up less than 5 percent of the Bureau s roughly 10,000 agents alleged that they were being passed Over for promotion Given lower bonuses evaluated More harshly subjected to More disciplinary Nied Choice assignments. Liz Cassell inquiries and Dyniec a revise a program for backup supervisors. It also says the Bureau will adopt measures to ensure that past disparities in evaluations and disciplinary actions do not unduly damage the promotion chances of Black agents. For Fri director William s. Sessions the agreement eases fears that a court could find the Bureau guilty of systemic discrimination As a Federal judge did in 1988 in a Case filed by hispanic agents. But it is unclear whether the concessions granted to Black agents will inflame White agents some of whom complain that ses an agent who is acting As a spokeswoman for the group said tuesday that Black agents typically wait 10 to 14 years to be promoted while White agents Are promoted within six. Fri officials and attorneys for the Black agents declined to detail what statistical disparities were uncovered during an in depth review of the bureaus personnel records. Absent an agreement attorneys for the Black agents were planning to use the statistics As their basis for a class action discrimination suit a the Type of suit that became the focus of a bitter Battle Over the civil rights act signed by president Bush last year. In an interview Joseph r. Davis assistant Fri director for Legal affairs gave some examples of patterns uncovered by the Bureau s review a supervisors referred a greater percentage of Black agents than White agents for discipline. A positions on swat and other special teams were sometimes filled by word of Mouth rather than open Competition. A a smaller percentage of Black agents received spots in subfield offices where agents often can operate More independently. In the stars and stripes 10 years ago april 23 1982 a soviet president Leonid i. Brezhnev appeared at a gala Celebration marking the 112th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir i. Lenin ending a 27-Day absence from Public View. 20 years ago april 23,1972 Apollo 16�?Ts lunar explorers drove their electric car Halfway up a 1,600-foot Mountain dodging a Forest of boulders to reach the highest Point on the Moon Ever visited by humans. 30 years ago april 23,1962 the secret organization in Algiers continued to step up its terrorism to show that it remained a Power to be reckoned with. Terrorists machine gunned a bakery killing four Muslim shoppers. 40 years ago april 23,1952 an atomic bomb blast in Nevada singed the faces of observers 10 Miles away. Smoke blotted out troops who were in Foxholes about four Miles from the explosion. Pennsylvania s Tough abortion Law facing scrutiny by supreme court Washington a morality politics and the Law Collie in a Case providing a conservative supreme court with an Opportunity to pronounce its verdict on abortion. The nine justices were to hear arguments wednesday Over a restrictive Pennsylvania statute that could prove the severest test yet Over the constitutional right to abortion decreed by a predecessor High court 19 years ago. The size of the stakes in this election year has helped make it the most closely watched Case of the courts 1991-92 term. Both sides agree that the conservative majority fashioned by presidents Reagan and Bush May use the occasion to reverse explicitly or implicitly the landmark 1973 Roe is. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Court officials expected a huge crowd vying for the 100 courtroom seats available to the Public. Sleeping bags blankets and other attempts at Comfort were allowed for those who waited through the night. The state Law requires a doctors to Tell women seeking abortions about fetal development and alternatives to abortion. A women to put off an abortion for 24 hours after receiving such information. A doctors to keep detailed records of All abortions performed. A married women in most cases to no proc stars on both sides of the abortion Issue face off in front of a clinic in Buffalo . Tiny their husbands of their plans for an abortion. The 3rd . Circuit court of appeals upheld most provisions of the Law but struck Down the Section dealing with spousal notification. The appeals court said the justices in recent decisions had eroded the sweeping Legal Protection Roe is. Wade gave to women. The supreme court in 1986 struck Down by a 5-4 vote almost identical regulations imposed by Pennsylvania. But three members of that five Justice majority Are retired now. The court today is seen As far More hostile to abortion. Abortion rights activists see Little Chance for a decision that does anything but gut Roe is. Wade. A it world War ii 50 years ago today 23 april1 a 9 �4 2 japanese troops nationalist chinese 6th to Retreat from Tau Ngoyi in Eastern Burma toward China s Yunnan province. Allied units in the Northern Irrawaddy and sitting valleys in Central Burma also withdraw As the japanese push toward Lashio the terminus of the Burma Road the important Supply route for supplies to chinese forces fighting the japanese in China. Tape of execution May be used in lawsuit source 2194 Days of War w h. Smith a publishers inc. World almanac Book of world War ii Bison books corp1981 from wire reports san Francisco a the execution of Robert Alton Harris on tuesday was videotaped and May help decide whether the state is allowed to use its Gas chamber at san Quentin prison again. . District judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered that Harris execution californians first in 25 years be recorded for use As evidence in a lawsuit that seeks to ban the use of the Gas chamber As cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit was filed by the american civil liberties Union on behalf of the states death Row inmates. Patel signed the order for the videotaping just hours before Harris died at 9 21 . Edt on his second trip to the Gas chamber after the . Supreme court lifted the last of four stays. The Acle argued that the Gas chamber used by a diminishing number of states violated a evolving standards of decency recognized under the Constitution. California Arizona and Maryland use exclusively Gas for executions Mississippi and North Carolina allow Gas or lethal injection. Patel said a videotape could provide crucial evidence in the lawsuit. She noted that state lawyers have challenged the reliability of eyewitness reports. Dan Morain of the los Angeles times witnessed the execution and reported at 9 07 ., the colourless Gas began to invade Robert Harris. He just sat there looking Forward. The first sign of deaths beginning was a twitch of his hands. He inhaled and exhaled four or five times. His head snapped Back. His eyes rolled into his head. After 30 seconds his head dropped but he strained against the straps. Then his head Rose As if by convulsion then fell Forward slowly. After a minute his hands appeared relaxed. A vein that runs the length of his forehead bulged then looked As if it would burst. His Mouth was wide open his face flushed then turned almost Urple. But then As his body seemed to ave relaxed his head Rose eerily. By 9 14 ., the body no longer moved. At 9 21, he was declared dead. E
