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."
It's probably due to bovine-like idiots of this type that passengers occasionally go beserk and slap them around the cabin.
She chose to get high . She chose her own consequence
"The document also said that Westerfield matched FBI profiles of possible abduction suspects."
FROM NBC NEWS, SAN DIEGO
Affidavits Show Why Police First Suspected Westerfield Suspect Made Several Surprising Statements Police documents released Thursday show that statements David Westerfield made two days after Danielle van Dam disappeared immediately aroused the suspicions of detectives who interviewed him.
The documents, five affidavits filed to support requests to search Westerfield's home, Toyota 4-Runner and mobile home, were released at the beginning of an 11-day recess in Westerfield's murder trial. They also allowed police to search Westerfield's computers and gather cellular phone records.
According to one of the affidavits, while Westerfield was driving through the desert to show a detective where he camped the weekend Danielle disappeared, he said, "This would be a great place to dump a body."
Later that day, after investigators searched one of his vehicles, he told them that they had done a good job. When a detective said it would be nice to know where 7- year-old Danielle van Dam's body was located, Westerfield told him "to just be patient and police will get the information they need," the affidavit said. Westerfield added that the information would come "sooner than they think," according to the documents.
Westerfield told detectives that he made his trip to the beach, desert and back alone. But one of the documents noted that he used the word "we" as if someone else was in the motor home with him, an affidavit stated. When a detective questioned him about it, Westerfield said is was just a slip of the tongue, according to the affidavit.
The document also said that Westerfield matched FBI profiles of possible abduction suspects. The detective who prepared the document wrote, "I believe evidence will be destroyed if the warrant is not served tonight and Westerfield is allowed into his residence."
AND our next door neighbor is a pilot for Southwest. We asked him "if someone admits they smoke pot, what happens to them?"
"They are GONE"..he said.
Little did we know at the time she worked for Southwest. The greatest zero tolerance airline around...
Be safe guys!
sw
Is that accurate or is it fingerprint ?
Kim how does a bound child reach up with one finger to leave a print in that location?
It is more likely a kid jumping on a bed or snooping (like maybe she did at home) in a MH of a neighbor.
I think most people disagree on their lifestyles, and having their dirt put on the street will give her airline a bad rep. Personally, I think they used the pot issue to get rid of her!
that is true...
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