Boycott of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ movie urged

BUFFALO, N.Y. — “Fifty Shades of Grey” hasn’t even opened in theaters yet but already it is getting a big thumbs-down from religious and other groups who say it is degrading to women and endorses sexual violence.

One social media campaign is encouraging would-be movie-goers to donate their ticket and popcorn money to women’s shelters, while Roman Catholic bishops are using it as what-not-to-do guide to marriage.

Even as screenings sell out in advance, critics, including the American Family Association and National Center on Sexual Exploitation, are pushing for boycotts, saying they were compelled to speak out because of the attention the movie, with its scenes of bondage and sadomasochism, has attracted.

A spokesman for AAFES Europe said there had been one formal complaint about its decision to show the movie, but that “the Exchange does not censor movies.”

“We are not going to censor this movie, Lt. Col. Al Hing said. Due to the adult nature of the movie, it’s being shown at later times at European theaters, Hing said. Most Exchange theaters in Europe will premiere the movie either Friday or Saturday.

A Madison, Wis., group planned to picket outside a Thursday premier.

“This is not a healthy thing to mainstream,” American Family Association President Tim Wildmon told The Associated Press by phone. “We’d like to see theater chains refuse to take the movie.”

That is unlikely to happen. The ticket-buying site Fandango has said pre-sales have propelled the movie, which stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, into the company’s all-time top five for R-rated selections, and fans of the book are giddily building the big-screen version into Valentine’s weekend plans.

The movie opens in theaters Friday. It’s based on a best-selling book by E L James about a college student and her torrid affair with a 27-year-old billionaire with a penchant for bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.

“What’s unique about it is the overall message is that they’re trying to glamorize and romanticize violence against women,” said Amanda Smith, spokeswoman for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which launched a website fiftyshadesisabuse.com.

“It’s such a lie,” Smith said, “telling women that they should want to endure this kind of physical abuse and telling them that women want it, and also pushing the lie that if women are obedient and subservient enough, then they can fix a violent and controlling man.”

James, who wrote the erotic trilogy that launched the film, has heard the backlash and says the critics have it all wrong.

“Why have these books taken off if they are about abuse?” said James, who discussed the film with the AP over the weekend. “Domestic violence, rape, are unacceptable. They are not entertaining in any way. Let me be absolutely clear: Everything that happens in this book is safe and consensual. … What do I need to do to convince people?”

‘ This is not a healthy thing to mainstream. We’d like to see theater chains refuse to take the movie.'

Pacific Scoreboard: Feb. 13, 2015

High school

38^th Far East High School Wrestling Tournament

Thursday at Osan Air Base, South Korea

Individual freestyle tournament

Division I

St. Mary’s 139½, Nile C. Kinnick 135, Seoul American 112½, Kadena 101½, Kubasaki 85½, American School In Japan 46, Christian Academy Japan 32½.

Division II

Robert D. Edgren 53, Zama 44, Osan and E.J. King 40, Yokota 20, Daegu 17, Matthew C. Perry 14.

101 pounds — Liam Knowles, Edgren, pin. Niko Manning, Kadena; Scott Fugate, Kubasaki, pin. Eshan Singhi, St. Mary’s.

Fifth place — Singhi tech. Manning, 13-2.

Third place — Fugate pin. Knowles.

Championship — Lucas Wirth, Kinnick, pin. Ryan Frederick, SAHS, 1:51.

108 — Lachlan Fahy, ASIJ, pin. John Meneses, SAHS; Tasi Duenas, Kadena, tech. Michael Yoshino, CAJ.

Fifth place — Meneses dec. Yoshino, 14-11.

Third place — Duenas pin. Fahy.

Championship — Chang Young Lee, St. Mary’s, tech. Matt Abrenilla, Kinnick, 11-0, 1:52.

115 — Zach Kline, ASIJ, pin. Matthew Palabrica, Kubasaki; Kaivan Taylor, King, pin. Adam Trujillo, Kadena.

Fifth place — Trujillo pin. Palabrica.

Third place — Kline dec. Taylor, 8-4.

Championship — Lucas Shiraki, St. Mary’s, dec. Chon Dareing, Kinnick, 5-0.

122 — Anthony Macaluso, Kubasaki, tech. Takumi Kawashima, Zama, 14-4; Kade Sundvall, Edgren, pin. David Tsuneki, CAJ.

Fifth place — Tsuneki tech. Kawashima, 14-4.

Third place — Sundvall dec. Macaluso, 12-11.

Championship — Gabe Duplon, Kadena, dec. Ryo Osawa, St. Mary’s, 6-0.

129 — Jianni Labato, Kinnick, pin. Joshua Figueredo, Kubasaki; Ahmeer Dinkins, King, pin. Yeol Ryoo, CAJ.

Fifth place — Figuredo pin. Ryoo.

Third place — Labato dec. Dinkins, 10-2.

Championship — Alberto Orsara, St. Mary’s, pin. Danny Berdine, SAHS, 2:03.

135 — Gavin Duenas, Kubasaki, pin. Sky Phillips, Edgren; George Calbert, Kinnick, dec. Jordan Goodman, Yokota, 11-10.

Fifth place — Goodman pin. Phillips.

Third place — Calbert tech. Duenas, 11-0.

Championship — Ryan Vasconcellos, St. Mary’s, tech. Hunter Lane, SAHS, 11-1, 3:23.

141 — Jackson Edmonds, Edgren, tech. Brent Smith, Osan, 16-4; David Cole, SAHS, dec. Darius Swenson, Kinnick, 3-2.

Fifth place — Swenson tech. Smith, 10-0.

Third place — Cole dec. Edmonds, 13-6.

Championship — Jason Bland, Kadena, tech. Itsuki Shibahara, St. Mary’s, 10-0, 3:31.

148 — JinHwi Park, CAJ, pin. Joel Ramos, SAHS; Brenden Becker, Osan, dec. Thomas McGrath, King, 12-7.

Fifth place — Ramos pin. McGrath.

Third place — Becker pin. Park.

Championship — Kazuho Kawashima, St. Mary’s, dec. Brady Yoder, Kinnick, 10-4.

158 — Jarek Bartel, SAHS, dec. JP Krussick, Edgren, 6-2; Hunter Corwin, Kadena, tech. Zach Brown, Perry, 10-0.

Fifth place — Brown dec. Krussick, 10-8.

Third place — Bartel dec. Corwin, 9-0.

Championship — Riku Osawa, St. Mary’s, dec. Morgan Baek, Daegu, 11-10.

168 — Sam Preston, Zama, pin. Kade Leonard, Osan; Mitchell Krcelic, St. Mary’s, dec. Daniel Hayewood, SAHS, 5-2.

Fifth place — Leonard pin. Hayewood.

Third place — Preston pin. Krcelic.

Championship — Dre Paylor, Kinnick, tech. Ricky Salinas, Kadena, 15-4, 4:23.

180 — Patrick Sledge, Edgren, pin. Dwayne Lyon, Kinnick; Dominic Santanelli, Kadena, tech. Sam Michelsen, Yokota, 15-4.

Fifth place — Lyon tech. Michelsen, 10-0.

Third place — Santanelli dec. Sledge, 8-0.

Championship — Jonathan Miller, ASIJ, dec. Brandon Rothe, SAHS, 7-6.

215 — Nicolas Alvarez, Kinnick, pin. Eugene Williamson, Osan; Alek Gomez, Kadena, tech. Trayland Rose, Zama, 10-0.

Fifth place — Williamson tech. Rose, 12-1.

Third place — Alvarez pin. Gomez.

Championship — Jack Barnes, SAHS, pin. Josiah Allen, Kubasaki, 2:46.

Heavyweight — Tyler Lamson, King, pin. Moziah Stewart; Jacob Martin, Zama, pin. Siu Fuimaono.

Fifth place — Stewart pin. Fuimaono.

Third place — Martin pin. Lamson.

Championship — Christian Fernandez, Kubasaki, pin. Chris Deibel, Kinnick, :40.

Ramstein maintainer to serve time for role in wreck that killed German

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — An airman with the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron will serve one month in jail and lose a stripe for his role in a fatal motor vehicle crash that killed a German motorcyclist.

Charles McCollum II, reduced in rank to technical sergeant, pleaded guilty in a court-martial this week at Ramstein to one count of negligent homicide.

The charge stems from a June 15, 2013, accident near Waldmohr in which McCollum turned left into the path of Karsten Bauerfeld’s oncoming motorcycle, Capt. Grethe Hahn, a senior trial counsel at Ramstein and the lead prosecutor for the government, said in an interview Thursday. While braking hard to avoid a collision, Bauerfeld, 45, from Hütschenhausen, flipped over his bike and struck the back passenger door of McCollum’s sedan. He died at the scene, Hahn said.

An aggravating circumstance in the case was that McCollum had been drinking the day of the accident. He testified under oath that he had consumed four beers throughout the morning while attending a squadron golf tournament and luncheon on Ramstein, where he worked as a C-130 maintainer, Hahn said.

After the event, McCollum drove to a friend’s house off base to pick up his children, spending about an hour there, Hahn said. The accident occurred on his way home at about 3 in the afternoon. “He sees an oncoming car and he also sees the motorcyclist,” Hahn said. “He lets the oncoming car go and turns in front of” the motorcyclist.

The German police told Air Force investigators there had been three previous accidents at the same intersection — L355 turning onto L354 — in the past three years, including a fatality, Hahn said.

McCollum’s blood-alcohol content was an estimated 0.067 at the time of the accident, below the legal limit to be criminally liable for drunken driving under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Hahn said.

The Air Force alleged that McCollum’s decision to drink and drive was conduct that brought discredit upon the armed forces. “If members of the public were to hear” an airman had been drinking and driving and killed a man, that might tend to lower their opinion of the Air Force, she said.

As part of a pretrial agreement, McCollum’s commander agreed not to consider the outcome of his court-martial when he comes up for re-enlistment in June, Hahn said. McCollum has been in the Air Force for 18 years.

svan.jennifer@stripes.com

Clay Hunt bill: Obama signs veterans suicide prevention law

WASHINGTON — Acknowledging the struggles of the nation's veterans, President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation intended to reduce the high rate of suicide that is claiming the lives of soldiers and former members of the military by the day.

"If you are hurting, know this. You are not forgotten," Obama said as he prepared to affix his signature to the law amid a rare bipartisan gathering at the White House.

The law, which had broad support from Republicans and Democrats, requires the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department to submit to independent reviews of their suicide prevention programs and make information on suicide prevention more easily available to veterans.

The law also offers financial incentives to psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who agree to work for the VA and assist military members as they transition from active duty to veteran status. A 2013 VA study reported that veterans were committing suicide at a rate of 22 a day in 2010, with nearly 70 percent of them being 50 years old or older. The incidence of post-traumatic stress among soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has also attracted widespread attention.

"Too many of our troops and veterans are still struggling," Obama said. "They are recovering from injuries; they are mourning fallen comrades; they're trying to reconnect with family and friends who can never fully understand what they went through in war theater.

"For many of them, the war goes on in the flashbacks that come rushing forward, and the nightmares that don't go away," Obama said.

The bill carries the name of Clay Hunt, a 28-year-old Marine veteran who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hunt killed himself in 2011 in Texas.

"He suffered physical injuries that healed, and he suffered invisible sounds that stayed with him," Obama said. "By all accounts he was selfless, and he was brave."

Among those who attended the signing were Republican Sens. John McCain, a frequent critic of Obama's military policy, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the new chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Obama singled out McCain, a Vietnam veteran and former POW, as "somebody who knows a little bit about service."

Members of Hunt's family also attended the ceremony, as did one of his close friends, Jake Wood, who introduced Obama.

"Clay's parents are Texas Republicans, that's just not just run-of-the-mill Republicans," Obama said. "And they worked with the entire spectrum — conservatives, liberals — and that's just a reminder of what we can accomplish when we take a break from the partisan bickering that so often dominates this town."

In an interview earlier this week, Hunt's mother, Susan Selke, said the bill signing would release a mix of emotions.

"I am sorry and sad that when our son needed the mental health care that he was promised when he joined the Marines, it wasn't there for him," she said. "But today our government is taking a very important step in honoring its promise to our veterans. It is too late for Clay, but we can help - we can save - the other vets who need care."

McCain this week said Hunt's story has "directed attention and inspired action for all those who have suffered from the serious shortcomings of our VA health system."

"We still have a long, long way to go to reduce the rate of suicide among our veterans, but this bill is an important step forward in fulfilling our promise to the men and women who have sacrificed on our behalf and to whom we are forever indebted," McCain said.

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

House bill calls for DOD to publish names of military sex offenders

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department would be required to publish a database of all convicted military sex offenders under new legislation introduced Thursday by House lawmakers.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., is aimed at closing a legal loophole allowing servicemembers to self-report their convictions to law enforcement — civilians are automatically added to such registries — while also making DOD sex crime records available to communities across the country.

The lawmakers said they are concerned those convicted in courts martial are leaving the services and disappearing back into civilian life where their past is unknown. A recent investigation by the Scripps news service found that 242 military sex offenders out of 1,300 cases examined were never recorded on any public registry, despite a federal law that makes it a felony to ignore reporting requirements.

“When you have somebody convicted of a sexual crime, the rate of recidivism is extremely high,” Coffman said. “Given the opportunity, they will re-offend.”

Speier said the bill creates a DOD registry for those convicted of rape, sexual assault and other sex-based offenses similar to the registries kept by local governments, states and law enforcement agencies across the country. The registries are designed to reduce repeat offenses by letting communities know if a sex offender is living nearby and what crimes they committed.

Sex offenders are required to register immediately after their convictions or when they are released from prison and report to authorities where they live, work and go to school. The bill would add the global and often transient military community to the system by requiring the DOD to perform and publish its own registry, rather than relying on other civilian authorities to distribute the information.

Speier said the DOD database would also include descriptions of each offender’s crimes beyond a list of military convictions such as “conduct unbecoming” that can obscure the nature of what was done. She recounted incidents in which a servicemember had several 12-year-olds walk on his chest in high heels, and touch his genitals. In another case, an airmen posed as a doctor and persuaded a woman to submit to pelvic exams even after a conviction for the same acts.

She said Thursday that there was no projected cost for the database and new reporting.

Don Christensen, a retired Air Force prosecutor and director of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, also came out in support of the legislation, saying it would help solve a much bigger problem with reducing and prosecuting sexual assault in the ranks.

“That makes this all the more absurd, that when we do bring these criminals to justice, they are essentially released into the civilian world and giving a clean slate,” he said.

A similar registry bill was introduced in the Senate last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.

That legislation calls for military sex offenders to be automatically added into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. But that database is used primarily by law enforcement and not accessible by the public.

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Watchdog: DOD ignored troop health risks, continued to burn trash in Afghanistan

The U.S. military knowingly put troops’ health at risk and wasted tens of millions of dollars on shoddy contracts while operating dangerous open-air burn pits in Afghanistan, according to a report from the government’s top watchdog there.

“Although DOD knew about the risks associated with open-air burn pits long before contingency operations began in Afghanistan, it was not until 2009 that U.S. Central Command developed policies and procedures to guide solid waste management, including requirements for operating, monitoring, and minimizing the use of open-air burn bits,” according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

It’s still unclear how many troops were sickened by burn pits but their widespread use in Iraq and Afghanistan — sometimes against Central Command’s own directives — means related illnesses could represent the latest health crisis for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, with echoes of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Many troops who say they were downwind from the smoke from base burn pits have reported a wide range of maladies, including severe respiratory problems.

At the mission’s peak in 2011, when there 110,000 American troops in Afghanistan, the U.S. military was producing 440 tons of waste per day. Despite a 2009 U.S. Central Command rule that bases over a certain size were to find alternatives to burn-pits in order to dispose of waste, many bases continued to use the pits, even burning prohibited items, such as batteries and tires, according to the report.

As late as August 2010, Central Command reported that there were 251 active open-air burn pits in Afghanistan.

“The overall approach to its solid waste disposal in Afghanistan was haphazard and reactive,” the report says.

The report SIGAR report is the culmination of two years of work that took investigators to several bases in Afghanistan to inspect waste-disposal mechanisms. To replace burn pits, many bases turned to incinerators, but installation and use were plagued by missteps and some contractors were paid for inadequate work, according to the report.

At at least four major bases, at a cost of more than $20 million, the military installed incinerators that were never used, according to the report.

Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disputed some of the findings, saying that some of the incinerators SIGAR says were not in use were operational upon installation with just minor problems. They added that some of the incinerators that were not used were never turned on because of imminent base closure due to the drawdown of U.S. troops.

In their response to the report, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan officials said they generally concurred with the reports findings, though they took issue with what they saw as an “oversimplification” of the issues surrounding using burn pits and incinerators in a combat environment.

“The safety of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians is always our top priority,” Murray says in the letter. “Although this report clearly identifies areas for improvement, it does not fully account for the difficult and complex operational environment that led commanders to make some very difficult decisions.”

druzin.heath@stripes.com

Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

POW/MIA agency dig site could hold Marine missing from Vietnam War

The newly established Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has dispatched a remains recovery team to the Cambodian island of Koh Tang, where three Marines were left behind following the final battle of the Vietnam War.

The excavation site is believed to hold the remains of Lance Cpl. Joseph Hargrove, Pfc. Gary Hall or Pvt. Danny Marshall, according to official documents from DPMAA’s predecessor, the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command.

The three-man gun team was left behind in the confusion of a troop withdrawal following a brutal May 15, 1975, battle between about 200 U.S. Marines and entrenched Cambodian Khmer Rouge soldiers in what became known as the “Mayaguez Incident.”

The dig began Jan. 14 and is expected to run through the end of March.

The location of excavation site has not been made public, but it’s likely to be one of two areas where the heaviest fighting occurred. In 2013, a seven-member JPAC investigation team spent a week on the island’s east and west beaches.

Months later, JPAC told Stars and Stripes that the team did find enough evidence to bring one site before the administrative body that decides whether to allocate funds for a dig.

A recovery operation, such as the one ongoing on Koh Tang, means that the site was approved by the board, and the likelihood of finding remains is high.

Officials have declined numerous requests from Stars and Stripes for information related to the excavations.

“This is an ongoing mission and details can’t be discussed at this time,” DPMAA spokeswoman Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan said.

However, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office has declassified some of the documents since the investigative dig occurred. Heavily redacted copies are housed in Texas Tech University’s Vietnam War archives.

According to a document dated November 2013, investigators found a water well where former Khmer Rouge soldiers claimed they killed and buried an American soldier after the battle.

Any American remains found there would likely belong to Hargrove, because most accounts say that Hall and Marshall were taken to the mainland and executed.

In additional to Hargrove, Hall and Marshall, two other servicemembers remain missing from the battle.

Lance Cpl. Ashton Loney’s body was left behind on west beach in the haste of the withdrawal, and former claimed he was buried on the beach. There is no public record of his body being recovered, or his remains identified.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Elwood Rumbaugh was lost at sea near a downed helicopter.

Although that site has been located, according to the Texas Tech documents, it was not been explored at the time due to inclement weather. No other recovery operations have been announced.

Left behind

In May 1975, Khmer Rouge forces captured the SS Mayaguez, an American container ship, several nautical miles off the coast of the Cambodian island of Poulo Wai. It didn’t take long for President Gerald Ford to authorize a rescue operation.

In the two-battle that followed, 38 U.S. servicemembers were killed and approximately 50 were wounded. The ship and crew were released shortly thereafter.

Immediately after the battle, when it became apparent that Hargrove, Hall and Marshall were unaccounted for, Navy SEALs and Marines asked to make a rescue attempt for the missing but were denied. U.S. Navy ships were recalled from the area, closing the chapter on U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

While accounts of enemy combatants differ, most say that Hargrove was captured on Koh Tang and executed. Hall and Marshall were taken to the mainland and executed there.

Since the early 1990s, documents show that JPAC investigators have excavated sites, both on the mainland and on Koh Tang, and have collected numerous fragments and sets of remains, including as recently as 2008.

During an excavation in 2008, a set of remains that was unearthed was determined to likely be Caucasian, according to Charles Ray, former ambassador to Cambodia and deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs.

JPAC documents state four samples were sent for analysis. It’s not made clear in the documents if the samples are something as small as bone fragments or as large as full sets of remains.

No results from any of the excavations on Koh Tang and subsequent analysis have been made public.

Running out of time

Members of Hargrove’s family hope his remains soon will be returned.

“By them being on the island, I hope it is a good sign that we will be receiving Joseph’s remains soon,” said Hargrove’s cousin, Cary Turner. “I’ll keep praying they will do the right thing and send Joseph home.”

But, the time to recover the remains is running short.

A Russian consortium leased the island from the Cambodian government in 2008, and construction has already begun on what will one day be a casino, resorts, a seven-hotel complex and luxury villas aimed at drawing 300,000 tourists annually from China, Korea and Japan.

“POW/MIA investigators will lose access to the island once the investment company moves in full-time to develop the resort,” an accounting document from March 2013 said. “A Cambodian POW/MIA committee member emphasized the urgency of conducting Tang Island investigations as soon as possible.”

burke.matt@stripes.com