European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 12, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday March 12, 1993 . The stars and stripes Page 7dod targets civilians for buyout offers by the Washington Post Washington a buyouts Worth up to $25,000 per employee Are coming for selected defense department civilian employees in offices and shipyards from Philadelphia to the Norfolk va., area. Thousands of Federal workers in the Washington area will be offered Early retirement. In some instances the Pentagon will sweeten the pot with a Cash offer to get civilians to quit or take Early or regular retirement that would save the jobs of younger less senior workers. One fourth of the Washington areas 365,000 Federal government workers Are employed by army Navy air Force or other defense units. Defense is the Only department with the authority to offer buyouts a equal to the value of the employees Severance entitlement or $25,000, whichever is less a to leave. The first buyouts went to defense civilians in Texas but they will soon be offered Here. The Pentagon originally said Only 3,000 of its 950,000 civilians would get buyouts. It also said no offers would be made to employees eligible for regular retired Nunt or to workers at bases being shutdown or to anyone paid a special rate because they arc in hard to fill jobs. That include cd Many clerical employees engineers scientists and medical personnel. But things have changed. Defense is now braced to offer upward of 30,000 buyouts this year and will Likely give some to employees at bases being shut Down and to special rate workers on a Case by Case basis. During Carly outs employees can retire on immediate pension if they have 25 years of Federal service or if they arc age 50 with 20 years. Locally army Materiel come has Early retire mint authority through june vets chief orders harassment classes from wire reports Washington veterans affairs Secretary Jesse Brown on wednesday ordered major changes in the Way his department handles sexual harassment complaints and directed All 259,549 a employees to attend four hours of sexual harassment lectures. Browne a directives were announced two hours after sen. Barbara a. Mikulski d-md., condemned a administrators for ignoring a decade of sexual harassment by top officials at the Atlanta veterans Hospital. A investigators found that top officials at the Atlanta Hospital a including the Man who handled All harassment complaints there a had harassed female  years. The abuses were common knowledge among the staff. The hospitals former director Deputy director its senior doctor personnel chief an research director were among those implicated in a recent report by the vans inspector general. Brown said he also will establish a toll free Telephone hotline so a. Workers can complain directly to Washington. Doctor to step Down Washington or. William l. Roper resigned wednesday As chief of the Federal centers for disease control and prevention continuing the removal of some Bush administration appointees from top health posts. Roper 44 a paediatrician who was appointed to the position in 1990, was asked to step Down said officials of the department of health and human services which oversees the centers. The resignation will take effect june 30, and a successor has not yet been named. Pay freeze criticized Washington the Clinton administration acknowledged at a congressional hearing wednesday what Many in the government work Force contend that a Federal pay freeze is unfair. Nevertheless the Clinton team argued that the government should set an example As the president asks americans to pay More taxes. A no question that Federal employees Are being asked to make More of a sacrifice a said Alice m. Rivlin Deputy director of the office of management and budget. A no question that a freeze is  Rivlin said the Federal salary reductions proposed in president Clinton a economic plan must be considered an a integral part of his deficit reduction Effort. A we Are not out to get the civil servants but we Are in an economic crisis a she said. Attorney general designate Janet Reno testifies before the Senate judiciary committee 11. It has about 1,200 civilians and 280 arc eligible for Early retirement. Fort Belvoir va., has 1,400 workers and about 140 Are eligible to take Early retirement by june 11. Aberdeen proving ground md., with 3,100 workers is offering Early retirement through sept. 28 to 967 eligible employees. The National Security Agency a Early out and buyouts end april 30. The Philadelphia naval shipyard with 6,900 workers has 450 eligible for Early retirement and Norfolk naval shipyard has 1,600 eligible for Early retirement out of a workforce of 11,000. Both Carly out offers end May 4. Reno breezes on Way to Justice Post by the Baltimore Sun Washington a with the unanimous and enthusiastic endorsement of the Senate judiciary committee Miami prosecutor Janet Reno was on her Way thursday toward Swift Senate approval As the first woman to be . Attorney general. After two Days in the committees witness chair Reno 54, was approved by All 10 democrats and eight republicans on the panel with members praising her background As a prosecutor and lauding her testimony. Senate democratic leaders scheduled a final vote on her nomination by the Senate thursday afternoon. There was no doubt she would win final approval overwhelmingly. She could be sworn into office promptly after the Senate acts completing president Clinton s Cabinet in his eighth week in office. His first Choice for the Post corporate lawyer Zoe e. Baird and his apparent second Choice Federal judge Kimba m. Wood withdrew from the process after Sharp Public criticism Over their use of undocumented immigrant workers As baby Sitters. The judiciary committee which was criticized for its handling of sexual harassment charges during the nomination hearings of supreme court Justice Clarence Thomas seemed pleased with a Chance to approve the pioneering appointment of a woman to a top ranking government Post. The committee voted shortly after sen. Dianne Feinstein  one of two women senators put on the panel this year to assure women a voices in its deliberations pronounced the Day As a very  senators hear about child violence by Cox news serv ice Washington a Brandon Green 7, perched in a witness chair and spoke of the frightful life of a child in the inner  last december 1 went to see Aladdin at Union station. When the movie was Over somebody got shot in the head a Brandon said. A the violence must Stop. Violence has happened to me a he added. A one Day my brother and 1 went to play basketball. These boys took our bikes. They kicked me in the Chest and threw me off the  Brandon a testimony came during a joint hearing of the Senate subcommittee on children family drugs and alcoholism and the House select committee on children youth and families. The House and Senate members also heard from Law enforcement and medical officials who have witnessed the bloody mixture of guns drugs and anger on America s streets. As the capital continues to focus this week on children and violence the children a defense fund on thursday was opening a two Day seminar on the topic w Ith a speech by president Clinton. At the Start of wednesdays congressional hearing sen. Christopher j. Dodd d-conn., said he would introduce a Bill under which children exposed to violence would be referred immediately to Counselor Law enforcement officers would be trained in family issues and schools would receive funding for conflict mediation classes. A too often these Days our communities seem to resemble the wild West where guns shootouts and vigilante Justice were commonplace Quot Dodd said a to our horror however the image today frequently has a new and perverse twist children carry the  children a defense fund president Marian Wright Udelman urged Federal lawmakers to pass Dodds Bill. She also called for increased funding for the head Start preschool program for school safely and Job training programs and for the Brady Bill which would require a waiting period before handgun purchases. A we must help this generation of children who seek self Worth denied them by unstable family lives by a challenging schools and by communities that give them no sense of belonging and too Little positive purpose Quot Udelman said