European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday August 20, 1994, the stars and stripes Page 3 chaplain denies anti Catholic Bias by Mark Kinkad staff writer a military chaplain Friday denied allegations in an equal employment Opportunity complaint that he is anti Catholic saying the claims May Stem from his management style and efforts to trim his operating budget. My prayer is the lord will surface the truth and be merciful to those who have spoken less of the truth said col. Robert Jenkins chaplain of the 104th area support group based in Hanau. Jenkins would not discuss a separate army investigation into management and funds in his office citing the privacy of the inquiry. He said an investigation into imbalances at the 418th base support in s Frankfurt Chapel is a separate Case. In addition to Frankfurt and Hanau Jenkins supervises chapels in Darmstadt Giessen and several smaller military posts in Central Germany. Lucienne Chandler a social services assistant in the Hanau Chapel filed the Leo complaint last week alleging that Jenkins made disparaging remarks about catholics on various occasions. The Bias charge is the second Leo complaint Chandler has made about Jenkins. Her first complaint filed May 10, said Jenkins practice age gender National origin and religious discrimination when he is sued her a letter of reprimand for rudeness to custom ers in january. Chandler is French and Catholic. Mortar fire halts humanitarian Aid _ flying to Sarajevo by Wayne Hall staff writer Rhein main a Germany humanitarian Airlift flights into Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina were halted thursday when the runway was struck by a mortar round. It was the fifth stoppage in less than a month. The round struck the Tarmac about 5 ., said Ron Redmond a spokesman for the . High commissioner for refugees in Geneva. There were no planes on the ground at the time because a thunderstorm two hours ear Lier forced the suspension of flights. I have no idea when flights May resume Redmond said. Thursday s shelling was followed Friday by the killing of a French . Peacekeeper at Sarajevo s jewish Ceme Tery one of the most bitterly contested front lines near the City Center. Col. Bertrand Laba Souque a spokesman for .. Forces in Sarajevo said the Soldier was guarding a . Observation Post when he was shot in the head. It was not known who fired the shot. The Soldier who was not identified was the 110th peacekeeper killed in the former Yugoslavia since . Troops arrived in Spring 1992. Food stockpiles in Sarajevo have been dwindling be cause of constant interruptions in the flights he said. The United nations had been distributing about 1,940 tons of food every two weeks in the bosnian capital enough to keep the City s 380,000 residents fed Redmond said. However the last food distribution occurred three weeks ago and there Are Only 220 tons of food of hand. Ground convoys Are not reaching the City regularly said Redmond. The last Convoy delivered about 220 tons of fppdaug.13. Despite the sporadic deliveries to Sarajevo some Aid is reaching other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Contributing to this report the associated press in Sarajevo memorial service planned for Kaiserslautern teacher Kaiserslautern Germany is a memorial service has been scheduled for a depart ment of defense dependents schools teacher who died this month of an apparent heart attack. The service for Richard c. Seeley will be held aug. 26 at 3 30 At the Vogel Weh Post Chapel 13 in Kaiserslautern. The 64-year-old Seeley a mathematics teacher at Kaiserslautern Middle school was found dead aug. 5 in his Home in Einsiedler Hof. He is thought to have died two to three Days earlier. The ensuing Leo report issued june 24, cleared Jenkins of age gender and National origin discrimination. However the same report cited eight witnesses who claimed Jenkins has made disparaging remarks about catholics. Four of them were military chaplains. Chandler filed her second claim based on the findings of the report she said. Jenkins a pentecostal chaplain denied making the remarks. If a chaplain has that attitude he cannot be a Chap. Lain in this army Jenkins said. The chaplain corps of won t tolerate people who would think that Jenkins said his efforts to trim his office budget by replacing contract workers with volunteers May have sparked some resentment among those workers who lost jobs or work hours. Obviously the budget constraints we have now mean we won t have As Many people working for pay and that s going to Hurt some people Jenkins said. There s a lot of people hurting in Usa eur today. We re going to use our chaplain resources to take care of All the people. My Bottom line is we re going to do the right thing. For the Good of All Jenkins said he has received a number of harassing phone Calls in recent months. In May an unidentified woman caller warned him that one Way or the other that Eagle is going to fall Jenkins said. " Jenkins said he assumed the caller referred to the Eagle i Wear As rank of colonel. The caller also said they would go to the stars and stripes a congressional inquiry and Federal court if Jenkins said a subsequent female caller told him. That he was going to be investigated for homosexuality an adultery. The Leo report also said Jenkins ordered the Prin Cipal of Portfield elementary school in Hanau to pro Hibit a congregation from the Church of Christ in. God from holding meetings at the school because the congregation was t Jenkins said Friday that he was following a . Army Europe and department of the army directive that states that each congregation holding religious services without a servicing chaplain must first be recognized by the military chaplain s office. But he denied that his actions had anything to do with personal beliefs. The notion of a sanctioned religion that s not even in my terminology Jenkins said. We have this notion of religious Freedom and i have this responsibility to assure the free exercise of that the Leo report findings said the Church of Christ in god was allowed to continue services at Pioneer Ca sern in Hanau after being formally recognized. Kind words . Secretary of state Warren Christopher Speaks at a memorial service for nato Secretary general Manfred Worner on Friday in a Brussels Belgium Church. Before attending the service for Worner who died saturday of cancer Christopher met with the foreign ministers of France Britain and Germany to discuss Bosnia and the West s fears that plutonium suitable for nuclear bombs is being smuggled out of Russia. Nato officials said the 16 Allied nations have agreed to postpone formal consultations on Werner s replacement until next month. Rescue by the stars and stripes service members aboard the 6th Fleet flagship Bel Knap rescued a family at sea sunday while at Pez France participating in ceremonies marking the town s wartime liberation . Navy officials said. The Belknap and seven other . Military ships were anchored in the Gulf of Tropez waiting to participate in events commemorating the 50th anniversary of s liberation during world War ii. Several dozen pleasure Craft also gathered there to View the members aboard the Cruiser noticed a Small French boat near the ship had started foundering in the Waves according to a news release from . Naval forces Europe in London. The two adults and four children a French family from Paris signalled for Jelp. Three sailors boarded one of the Belknap s 40-foot Utility boats and went to the raid. Petty officer 2nd class William Dudley Petty offi cer 3rd class Alexander Ramsay and Seaman Kenneth Morse helped the family out of the sinking pleasure Craft and towed it alongside the Belknap the release said /. The ship s Rescue and assistance detail led by Petty officer 1st class Frank Wilson removed enough water from the boat to keep it afloat the release said. Then the boat was once again tied to the Belknap s Utility boat and both the boat and the French family were transported Back to the pier. The Belknap stayed in ? until wednesday then continued its scheduled three week cruise of the Mediterranean. The ship s Home port is Gaeta Italy
