[Clipping: Quest for job turns into local crusade] Part: 1 of 2
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Metropolitan
Texas & Southwest
ClassifiedFriday, July 14, 1989
1989, The Dallas Morning News
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H 21 A
Quest for job
turns into
local crusadeSTEVE
BLOWMica England
rests her blue eyes
on you and simply
says what's on her
mind.
She is a plain-
spoken young
woman from Oolo.
gah, Okla.
When she was a
junior in highschool in Oologah, she came to some con-
clusions about herself and plainly told her
friends that she was homosexual. "Nobody
seemed too shocked. I didn't lose any
friends over it," she said Thursday.
And that's pretty much how she has
handled the subject of her sexual orienta-
tion ever since.
She's never made an issue of it. The
closest she has come to gay rights activism
is attending rodeos sponsored by the Okla-
homa Gay Rodeo Association.
But neither has she kept her homosex-
uality a secret.
And that's the way she handled the sub-
ject a few months ago when she met in
Tulsa, Okla., with recruiters from the Dal-
las Police Department.
She came to Question 14 on the ques-
tionnaire: "Have you ever participated in
a deviate sex act?"
"I told them, 'I'm gay. Do you consider
that a deviate sex act?' "
Ms. England said the recruiters assured
her that homosexuality would not disqual-
ify her from a job.
Ms. England is 25 years old and has
never lived outside Oklahoma. She grew
up in Oologah, went to college in Tahle-
quah,and works now as an assistant chef
in Tulsa.
Despite the images of intolerance often
associated with such places, she said she
never encountered discrimination or
harassment over her homosexuality.
Not until she arrived in Dallas on Mon-
day.
The sting of denial
She appeared at the police station as
scheduled, ready for a week of tests and
hoping to start at the police academy in
August. "I came down here to get a job,"
she said.
But she was quickly told - rudely, she
says - that her homosexuality meant she
could not be a police officer.
"My heart fell," she said. For the first
time in her life, she felt the sting of preju-
dice.
"Being discriminated against . . . " she
said Thursday, halting, searching for the
right words, " . . . now I know what it feels
like. And it hits hard."
And for the first time, Ms. England
fully understood the demons that her
brother had wrestled with. Guy, a year
older than she, was also homosexual.
"But he always had difficulty coping
with being gay," she said. "He always felt
the stigma."
Beset with personal problems, on Jan.
17 of last year, her brother committed sui-
cide.
On Monday, when Ms. England saw
doors being closed in her face, she re-
solved to fight. "I've always been a strong
person," she said. "I'm a private person,
but I am also very determined.
"I knew there was a Dallas Gay Alli-
ance, so I looked the number up in the
phone book."
In the spotlight
On Tuesday, Ms. England and Gay Alli-
ance representatives met with police offi-
cers up and down the chain of command.
All to no avail.
On Wednesday, she stood to plead her
case before the Dallas City Council and a
line of news cameras. It was the first time
she had ever discussed her homosexuality
in public.
It was an ordeal, she said Thursday,
tears glistening again in her eyes. "I have
a hard time speaking in front of people -
period. I had a hard time in my college
speech class."
Then she blinked back the tears and
laughed at the memory of a second ordeal
- watching herself on the TV news. "I
thought, 'Gosh, I'm not very photogenic.' "
By Thursday, her personal fight had be-
come a public crusade. She met all morn-
ing with lawyers who volunteered to fight
the Police Department's policies through
her case. The afternoon was devoted tonewspaper and television interviews.
"I called my parents and my grand-
mother this morning to ask if it was all
right to give an interview to the Tulsa
newspaper. My grandmother said, 'Do you
want me to come down to support you?'"
Even without her grandmother's sup-
port, Ms. England appeared to be repre-
senting herself well.
"I know I would be a very good police
officer," she said. "I'm very determined to
become a police officer.
"The policy will have to change," said
the plain-spoken young woman from Oolo-
gah, Okla.
w VCounseled council
explores image woes
Members outline goals, cite obstaclesBy David Jackson
Staff Writerof TheDallasMorningNews
The City Council has an image prob-
lem.
The council's two African-American
members said it's that black residents of
South Dallas believe that the white coun-
cil members don't care about them.
The white members said their constitu-
ents fault the council for getting side-
tracked by shouting matches and irrele-
vant issues.
These frank exchanges came Thursday
during an all-day group counseling ses-
sion in which council members outlined
ambitious goals but cited problems thatmake those goals more difficult to
achieve.
Dr. David G. McCarley, a counseling
psychologist, was paid $8,000 by the city to
conduct the session at the Loews Anatole.
He also had interviewed council members
individually in recent weeks.
Dr. McCarley spent the morning going
over psychological concepts, including
"group task roles," "group maintenance
roles," and "types of decision-making." He
spent the afternoon helping council mem-
bers try to apply those concepts to city
business.
Council members said their top prior-
ity was setting goals for the city. Their listCity officials take part in a group counseling session Thursday.
included public safety, economic develop-
ment, better transportation and improve-
ment of basic services.
The council members also discussed
ways to reach a consensus on importantNUCLEAR REACTION
The Dallas Morning News: Evans Caglage
A Comanche Peak worker walks through the air lock and enters the containment building.
Most Comanche Peak neighbors aren't worriedBy David Real
Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
GLEN ROSE, Texas - A barrel-
chested horse leans heavily into a
barbed-wire fence and nabs a tidbit of
greenery. A boy arcs his bicycle in
lazy circles on a hot street under the
midday sun.
Life continues much as it always
has in this town of just over 2,000 -
but soon it will change.
In October, TU Electric plans to
start loading nuclear fuel into the
Unit 1 reactor at Comanche Peak.Thursday, in accordance with U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
guidelines, utility officials and others
briefed about 40 reporters on emer-
gency procedures that will be fol-
lowed in the unlikely event that some-
thing ever goes dramatically wrong.
A full-scale emergency drill involv-
ing the news media and hundreds of
plant employees, state health officials
and federal workers is scheduled for
July 25-26.
But most residents of Glen Rose,
which lies less than five miles fromthe plant, barely give a second
thought to the intense preparations
for reactor operation.
A 24-page booklet of emergency in-
formation has been delivered to every
home within 10 miles of the plant,
schools have drilled students and em-
ployees on evacuation measures, and
phone books include crazy-quilt maps
of emergency escape routes.
If a real emergency ever occurs, a
steady siren tone will sound for three
minutes to alert residents, who are in-
Please see EMERGENCY on Page 24A.issues, generally defined as setting poli-
cies that will satisfy nearly all council
members. They complained that they feel
pressured into "win or lose votes" that
Please see COUNSELED on Page 24A.Discipline
at Carter
criticized
parents officials
cite lax attitudes
By Annette Nevins
Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Carter High School administrators and lead-
ers of parent groups called Thursday night for
stricter discipline in the classroom and athletic
department, saying some coaches and teachers
have lax attitudes.
The presidents of the Carter PTA, Booster
Club and Community Advisory Committee met
behind closed doors for several hours to discuss
get-tough strategies with Carter principal C.C.
Russeau, two new assistant principals and a new
dean of instruction.
"We, as a community, have not been totally
satisfied with the overall approach to disci-
pline," said Milton Watkin Jr., president of the
community advisory committee. "We are asking
for strong academic emphasis and a strong ap-
proach to discipline and adherence to rules, poli-
cies and procedures."
Mr. Watkin said he and other parent leaders
hope to meet with Superintendent Marvin Ed-
wards and other district administrators next
week to discuss problems at the school that have
been magnified by the arrest of nine students
from Carter - and one from Hillcrest High
School - on armed robbery charges.
The leaders said they plan to call a meeting
of all Carter parents to urge them to get more
involved in school. And they plan to develop a
team of psychologists and sociologists to conduct
parenting workshops.
"We're at a loss as to what the actual cause of
the problem is," said Charlestine Vaughn, presi-
dent of the Carter PTA. "This is a community
Please see GROUP on Page 25A.Not all Texas police hiring policies reject gays
By Todd J. Gillman
Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Dallas is one of the few large cities in
Texas where people who are openly
homosexual cannot work as police offi-
cers.
Mica M. England, 25, a lesbian appli-
cant whom the Dallas Police Department
rejected this week, would have been eligi-
ble to work at many other law enforce-
ment agencies in the Texas, according to
an informal survey conducted ThursdayWhitman guns
offered for sale
By Bobbi Miller
Staff Writerof TheDallasMorningNews
The guns Charles Whitman used to become Texas'
most infamous mass killer are being advertised for sale,
and at least one of Whitman's surviving victims is in-
terested.
"I may buy them. They're strictly artifacts to me,"
said Morris Hohmann, an Austin funeral home owner
who was wounded in Whitman's 1966 rampage at the
University of Texas.
The mini-arsenal Whitman used in the bloody attack
is being advertised for sale by a Garland dealer in a
national gun trade journal. The dealer is asking $7,500
Please see WHITMAN'S on Page 24A.by The Dallas Morning News.
Ms. England, who complained to the
City Council on Wednesday, said she is
considering suing the city for discrimina-
tion. She had come to Dallas from Tulsa,
Okla., for job interviews with the Police
Department.
Dallas Police Chief Mack Vines said his
department will not hire people who ad-
mit they plan to break the law. Sections
21.01 and 21.06 of the state penal code de-
fine homosexual and "deviate" sexualconduct as a Class C misdemeanor, pun-
ishable by a fine of up to $200.
Few other Texas police agencies en-
force that code, however, or ask appli-
cants their sexual orientation, as Dallas
does. And officials from other police agen-
cies were highly critical of the Dallas pol-
icy.
"We're interested in their work perfor-
mance, their integrity," said Lt. Jim
Rutledge, who is in charge of investigat-
ing applicants to the Fort Worth PoliceEXPANDED METROPOLITAN COVERAGE
The Dallas Morning News is ex-
panding its metropolitan coverage.
Through the week readers will
find more behind-the-scenes sto-
ries about neighborhoods, politics,
the workings of government and
significant figures in the news.
The section also will carry more
suburban news and offer improved
crime statistics and traffic tips. Obi-
tuaries always will be found in the
section.
Today's report is highlighted by
a report on the Comanche Peak
nuclear power plant.Av%
Members of area environ-
mental groups complain at a
public hearing Thursday that
their concerns about pollu-
tion are ignored. (Story, 26A.)Department. "We don't preclude hiring
anybody because they admit being a
homosexual."
The Texas Department of Public
Safety, with about 3,000 officers, has "no
policy whatsoever that would prevent the
hiring of someone on the basis of their
sexual orientation," said DPS spokesman
Mike Cox.
Applicants to the 1,500-officer force in
San Antonio are not asked their sexual
Please see NOT ALL on Page 24A.INSIDE
Delinquent taxes
Delinquent taxpayers who failed to pay
$40.25 million in 1988 assessments to
city, county and school agencies in Dal-
las now owe $6.05 million more - to a
law firm that specializes in collecting lo-
cal taxes. Page 22A.
M streets plan
The City Plan Commission approves
measures to divert traffic from the "M
streets" off Central Expressway and
slow down cars that remain. Page 25A.
Woman found
A Dallas woman who has been missing
since April is found alive in Austin, and
she tells authorities she was kidnapped.
Page 26A.O1
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Blow, Steve. [Clipping: Quest for job turns into local crusade], clipping, July 14, 1989; Dallas, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1763359/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.