MASS MURDER AND THE POSTAL PURGES (PAGE 5)

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MASS MURDER AND THE POSTAL PURGES (PAGE 5)

Writing a two page note, he referred to the Edmond, Oklahoma deaths and explained his own unfair treatment by the Postal Service. Carol Ott, a supervisor at the Ridgewood, New Jersey post office where Harris worked nights as a clerk, had had a personality conflict with him. Disregarding his twelve years of government service during which he had demonstrated no mental aberrations, she ordered him to take a "fitness for duty" psychological exam with a doctor chosen and paid by the Postal Service. Insulted, he refused to cooperate with the pseudo-psychological ruse and Ms. Ott instituted proceedings that resulted in Harris' dismissal in April 1990. The American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, did not make a reasonable effort to have him reinstated.

Armed with a 9 millimeter Uzi handgun, a .22 caliber machine gun with silencer, three hand grenades, some homemade ether bombs, and a samurai sword, he booby trapped the front door of his apartment and drove to the suburban home of Ms. Ott. After forcing entry, he found her clad only in a T-shirt. Swinging his sword in a great arc, he deeply slashed her left shoulder and continued to thrust as she staggered backwards. Stepping over her lifeless, nearly nude body, he crept down the stairs and shot her live-in boyfriend, Cornelius Kasten, Junior, behind the right ear as he sat watching television in the basement.

At approximately 2 AM on the morning of October 10, Harris entered the rear of the Ridgewood post office where he shot and killed two mail handlers, Joseph VanderPaauw and Donald Mc Naught. Barricading himself in the basement, he shot at truck driver Marcello Collado who had become suspicious when he arrived at the back dock and found nobody to help him unload his truck. Collado escaped unscathed and drove to the nearest police station. At 2:20 AM Sergeant Robert Kay and Officer Peter Tuchol attempted to enter the post office but were forced to retreat and await assistance when Harris lobbed an explosive device at them.

The Bergen County SWAT team surrounded the building and attempted to telephone Harris. Refusing to answer, he kept the SWAT team at bay until 6:30 AM when he surrendered to a police negotiator. At 7 AM the police removed a bomb made from automotive starting fluid from Harris' apartment door and the note detailing his grievances was found inside.

The Postal Service refused to give details of Joseph Harris' personnel file to reporters and a sign posted in the lobby of the post office ordered patrons ". . . do not ask the workers any questions regarding events of yesterday." Social workers and psychologists were brought in to instruct employees in how to deal with the experience and to shield them from inquiries from the press.

The Postal Service's business-as-usual, blame-it-on-a-psycho-vet, keep-a-lid-on-it, non-cooperation strategy was not without success. Only one major American newspaper picked up the story, despite its intriguing overtones and it curiously failed to spark the interest of editors on a day when the headlines concerned the nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Subsequently, it received little national coverage from weekly news magazines (influenced undoubtedly to no small degree by the fact that periodicals depend upon the issuance of a second class mailing permit from the Postal Service for distribution to their subscribers).

On the same day that Harris took the law into his own hands to redress his grievances in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan met with Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank to discuss an unusually large number of complaints by employees and customers about the suburban Detroit, Royal Oak post office. "The Postal Service . . . acknowledged management problems in the Royal Oak operation," Senator Levin later stated. He was promised a prompt investigation by the Postmaster Gerneral.

On November 8, 1991, letter carrier Thomas Mc Ilvane, a 31 year old former Marine, lost his appeal for reinstatement to his job at the Royal Oak post office. He had been fired in 1990 for alleged insubordination.

Six days later, armed with a sawed-off .22 caliber Ruger Rimfire rifle, Thomas walked across the loading dock, passed through the large double doors, and entered the sorting room of the Royal Oak facility. Grabbing one woman, he put his rifle to her head but then let her go, saying "You're not the one I want." Wandering through a maze of offices and cubicles, he killed four employees and wounded five others in less than ten minutes. The dead included a former supervisor and the labor arbitrator who had turned down his appeal. Having accomplished his gruesome task, he fatally shot himself in the head.

"They needled him and needled him," commented Joan Mason, a Royal Oak clerk, "Everyone's got a breaking point."

DEATH RATHER THAN INDIGNITY OR MENTAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SLAVERY

On October 6, 1998, in Riverside, California, my home for more than 25 years, a Fontana letter carrier, Joseph L. Neale, Jr., age 49, snapped under the strain of working two jobs to earn a decent living and shot the mayor, two councilmen, and three police officers. Return fire from police wounded a councilwoman and Neale.

Neale was represented in court by Deputy Public Defender Lawrence Fait, who directed his client to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Fait stated that "there was very strong consensus between the experts that Joe was in fact legally insane back on October 6. It is our position that the messenger was insane, not the message. There was nothing wrong with what Mr. Neale was attempting to convey." For some unknown reason Fait did not enter as evidence the many long letters which Neale had written to public officials regarding the injustices that had been committed against him and the children he had grown to love in his part-time job for the City of Riverside as a chess instructor in an inner city ghetto - a position which the City Council had eliminated, ostensibly due to lack of funding.

What Mr. Neale did turns my stomach. Both I and my son have served on various local advisory committees and we have the greatest respect for the integrity of our municipal leaders. They are without doubt dedicated men and women whose honorable service too often goes unappreciated. However, their priorities are not always those of the community and I know for a fact that $300,000 in federal block grant funds which were allocated for a Day Care Center several years ago have been, at least temporarily, diverted into what they believe is a more pressing project. Could it be that these frustrations, when added to the pressures of working as a letter carrier, were simply more than Neale could take?

Neale was convicted of 12 counts of attempted murder by a jury in a trial held at the Riverside County Courthouse in November, 2000. His lawyer did not permit him to enter as evidence the numerous, extensive letters which he had written to public officials regarding the injustices he felt that they had committed. And ultimately the jury did not buy Neale's argument that he had sought only to take hostages.

On February 9, 2001, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Christian Thierbach sentenced Neale to 374 years in prison. The sentencing came after several people targeted in the attack and their relatives urged the maximum term. Neale would have to live to be 175 years old before he would be eligible for parole. Although this may sound drastic, it should be remembered that the victims are still suffering. Councilman Chuck Beaty, who was shot in the face, shoulder, and back, received 32 stitches to his tongue, lost a lot of teeth, and has had his jaw bone rebuilt twice. He says he is still in severe pain. Councilwoman Laura Pearson has bullet fragments in her hip and thigh which cause her to walk with a limp. And former police Sergeant Wally Rice is partially disabled. Considering how many people were injured, it is a miracle that no one was killed.

The multiple massacres of the past decade have had no effect on the boot camp conditions that exist for many postal workers. Veterans are still being harassed by bogus "fitness for duty" psychological exams and trumped-up charges. Postal unions, who collect approximately $350 a year in dues per member, have made scant effort to end prejudice against veterans.