Posted on 07/12/2002 7:06:01 AM PDT by MizSterious
By Kristen Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 12, 2002
Denise Kemal was fired June 28, more than two weeks after her nationally televised testimony, because the company has a zero-tolerance drug policy.
Losing her job has ruined her life, Kemal said yesterday. "I've always wanted to fly," she said. "It took me years to get my job."
She said she is appealing the dismissal because smoking marijuana "wasn't an everyday thing." While she waits for an answer, Kemal, 28 and recently divorced, watches the Westerfield trial from the couch of her new Florida apartment.
Kemal was called to the witness stand by the prosecution June 10. She was at the van Dam home Feb. 1, the night 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was last seen, and spent the evening with Brenda van Dam, the girl's mother.
The two had become friendly through their husbands, who both work at Qualcomm. A spokeswoman for Southwest confirmed that Kemal had been fired, but declined to elaborate. She said company policy states that the "illegal use of drugs, narcotics or controlled substances off duty and off company premises is not acceptable and may result in termination because it can affect on-the-job performance and the confidence of our customers in the company's ability to meet its responsibilities."
Kemal said she was just answering questions posed to her during Westerfield's trial because "I want to make sure he gets convicted."
"Because of him, it's just ruined everyone's lives," she said.
Kemal testified that she went out with her Tierrasanta neighbor Barbara Easton and Brenda van Dam to Dad's Cafe & Steakhouse in Poway two Fridays in a row, Jan. 25 and Feb. 1. They were celebrating Kemal's upcoming move to Baltimore, where she had been transferred for work.
The second night out, Feb. 1, she was introduced to Westerfield, whom she has described as "creepy." Westerfield is charged with kidnapping and murdering Danielle. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
Kemal said the three women first celebrated her move Jan. 25. Kemal and Easton, who lived in the same apartment complex, shared a bottle of wine before driving to the van Dams, Kemal testified. She said she smoked some marijuana in the van Dams' garage before they left for the bar.
The next week, the three women decided to spend that Friday night partying at Dad's again after Damon van Dam canceled plans to go out of town and agreed to stay home with the couple's three children.
On Feb. 1, they smoked pot in the garage a second time, Kemal testified, and she and Easton shared a beer. Later in the evening, they partied at Dad's, where they ran into Westerfield. At one point in the night, they went to van Dam's sport utility vehicle to smoke marijuana again.
Kemal said her supervisors learned that she had smoked pot because customers mailed newspaper articles about her testimony.
She had never had problems at Southwest before the trial, she said. In fact, she regularly received letters of commendation from airline passengers since she was hired in November 1998.
Once, a Texas couple she had met on a flight sent a box of candy to her home. Kemal, in turn, shipped them a set of candles for their living room.
Kemal said that even after Sept. 11, she didn't have any reservations about flying.
"I did it because it's my job, and I love my job," she said. "I get to travel and meet different people. I like to serve the public."
I don't know how Feldman is going to get past the tiny drop of blood on DW's jacket...but he either has to drop it or offer a valid reason to the jury...and others.
sw
The officers have apparently done it on more than one occasion.
These officers were also put on trial for brutality (acquitted, but still indicted).
I believe these officers also tried to pull a fast one by visiting DW in jail without an attorney present.
It's called history, cyn. They have a reputation and past complaints.
Could you please point me to Westerfield's damning history, past accusations and record? I'll wait patiently.
What about plain ol' hypothermia from exposure to the weather? What if she were kidnapped and abused, then let loose in the desert, or dumped unconscious but alive? No clothes found nearby, pretty cold temperatures at night. Just another possibility.
Why, just last night UCANSEE2 informed me that many people think something or other about me and the way I post. Isn't that interesting?
There IS a trial, Kim. Feldman is doing a good job showing the possibility of a Third Party Culpability...He doesn't have to point the finger directly at the van dams or any of the other cast of characters at their home that evening...He just has to prove that the climate was just about perfect for that crime to have been committed by someone else, other than DW.
sw
WHOOPS, I just posted to you that "you'll find no argument from me." I was referring only to your first sentence where you state she has only herself to blame. I don't see how this point above is made by her attitude.
You stated in 914: " I'm not a big fan of the dog stuff........either live or cadaver. I believe they can be a tool but are not proof one way or another."
This may be......not proof one way or another. I would now like to ask you a couple of questions. Had the dogs used by FBI & SDLE found Westerfield scent in Danielle's room or Danielle's scent inside DW's MH do you think they would have used it as proof DW was in her room or Danielle in his MH? If not,why not?
If they had presented this as evidence(prosecution) in trial would you believed it was proof of presence in bedroom/MH?
It's not relevant, IMO, if Feldman is the biggest pothead in San Diego County, as long as he's a good defense attorney. And by all accounts, his peers consider him one of the best.
Denise on the other hand, is responsible for making split second decisions, in an air emergency, that the lives of her passengers may well depend upon.
Seems to me that there is a chasm of difference sparating the two. JMO
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