Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
View Related Topics
May 22, 2000, Monday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A19; THE FEDERAL PAGE; IN THE
LOOP
LENGTH: 817 words
HEADLINE: Star Stuck
BYLINE:
Kamen
BODY:
Being commander of the hallowed
101st Airborne Division is a virtual guarantee of moving up to bigger things in
the U.S. Army. But the current holder of that flag, Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark,
faces a less certain future.
Often the man vacating the division
headquarters at Fort Campbell, Ky., gets his third star--and a plum assignment
such as a corps command--at the change of command ceremony. For the Screaming
Eagles of the 101st, the ceremony often takes place during Eagle Week, a time of
athletic and military contests and overall chest-beating.
The bands will
play and honor guards will march on June 9, but defense officials say Clark will
leave Fort Campbell without his star. The Army brass didn't want a Senate
confirmation hearing where he might be asked about the gay-bashing murder last
July of Pfc. Barry Winchell in a Fort Campbell barracks.
The Army
inspector general is already late with a report on whether the "command climate"
under Clark permitted anti-homosexual harassment to flourish at Fort Campbell.
(Never wanting to rain on its own parade, the Army recently postponed the
delivery date on the IG report until after Eagle Week and Clark's departure.)
And then there is the small matter of a wrongful death suit being
brought against the Army by Winchell's mother.
"I think what's happened
is that, if he's nominated, someone will put a hold on his nomination because of
the pending lawsuit," an Army general said. Gay activists say they have lined up
senators to do just that.
Under the circumstances, the Army made a
Solomonic decision. Clark will get a lateral move, rather than a promotion, but
to a very prestigious job. Until the Winchell matter blows over, Clark will
labor far from the public eye in the Pentagon D-Ring as vice director of "J-3,"
the operations office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Gay activists may
have a hard time finding him, but inside the military his stature will only
grow. Among his responsibilities will be to run the National Military Command
Center, the Strangelovian facility with all the big computer screens and buttons
that make big bangs. Look for Clark to get his third star once the Winchell suit
is resolved.
Surf 'n Turf
Can it be? People complaining
about a free conference in St. Thomas, V.I., next week? Apparently so.
Seems some medical folks running AIDS clinics are objecting to an
invitation from Joseph O'Neill, head of the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Health
Resources and Services Administration, to join 150 clinicians at the "Third
Annual Clinical Update" June 1-4. O'Neill said the focus will be on "approaches
to the treatment of HIV disease in internationally resource poor settings."
One invitee e-mailed colleagues that he was "appalled at this use of
federal funds, even if the Virgin Islands' HIV/AIDS rate is twice the national
average," though the number of cases apparently is declining. He estimated his
airfare alone would be $ 1,500.
"If we really want to help the Virgin
Islands, we should go to the cheapest place in the states (accounting for all
states' airfare) and send the cost savings to the Virgin Islands," he said.
AIDS activists are also unhappy. "The Ryan White Care
Act is there to promote health care and related service to poor people
with HIV and AIDS," said Act Up D.C. spokesman Wayne Turner, "not to pay for
fun-in-the-sun junkets for these AIDS bureaucrats."
But Ernest Hopkins,
who works for an AIDS foundation in San Francisco, e-mailed one critic that the
trip should be viewed "as an opportunity to see what health care delivery really
looks like on the ground in a developing area." Those "people should not be
penalized because they live on islands that happen to be located in the
Caribbean."
"On the ground" meetings will be at the Frenchman's Reef
Marriott Beach Resort, on a 17-acre bluff overlooking the Caribbean.
Loop tip: Do NOT buy fancy chemicals to defog snorkel masks. Simply spit
onto each lens, moosh it around with your finger and then swish the mask in the
water.
For Bush, the Chips Are Down
Observers predict
the 2000 presidential race could be one of the meanest, dirtiest ever. Last week
the mudslinging--and worse--had already begun.
A report by the Sierra
Club and Consumers Union, sure to be picked up by Vice President Gore's
campaign, blasted Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) for not cleaning up some 280
billion pounds of the manure produced from cattle, hog and other farms and
factories in Texas, about 40 pounds of manure per Texan per day.
Compared with other states, Texas, first in manure production, maintains
lax control of "animal factories," and that means "polluted air and water and a
public health risk," the report said.
A state conservation official told
the Associated Press that regulation could improve in some places, but that in
others "we have a tremendous regulatory presence."
LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2000 
