Testimony costs flight attendant her job

SignOnSanDiego ^ | July 12, 2002 | Kristen Green

[MizSterious]

Testimony costs flight attendant her job

Airline fires witness for admitting pot use

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."

[Karson]

...was he relating what youngflesh told him ...

That would be hearsay.

[mommya]

I do believe he was committing hearsay in describing what Youngflesh found - but he's also saying that while Youngflesh may have been the first one to actaully notice the envelope - he saw it too - and estimated the amount that it was visibly sticking up. That's what I got out of it anyway.

[rolling_stone]

Heresay is allowed by PD officers at PH...

[mommya]

Thanks rolling stone - what do you think it sounds like - did he see the envelope himself in his first description?

[Freedom2specul8]

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

[rolling_stone]

I find it confusing as to whether they both saw the envelope in the first testimony, the second appears Watkins didn't see the envelope..maybe just a slip using you can see instead of he saw..

Reason PD can testify to heresay at PH is otherwise you might have tons of officers in there testifying to every little fact in the various reports...If motions are made challenging reports, then the judge usually has all the pertinent officers come in and testify to sort it out...those motions are usually after PH and before trial.

[pyx]

...I really don't understand why it is abnormal to call 911 when your child is missing from her room

In the middle of the night, I'd agree. But this was at NINE O'CLOCK on a Saturday morning. And inspite of the claims by the Van Dams that they keep a close eye on their children there were at least two mentions in testimony by two different neighbors that one of the Van Dam children had to be rescued and another one of the Van Dam children had to be helped accross the street after chasing a ball. So the Van Dam children appear to run off by themselves unsupervised -- much like all children do periodically.

According to testimony there was a 10 minute interval between discovering Danielle was not in her bedroom (a seven year old sleeping at 9AM on a Saturday morning is completely unbelievable but that's an aside.) and the 911 call. Ten minutes ? That's a very short amount of time. In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

[Freedom2specul8]

The PH testimony seems a bit awkward. So I went back a few lines and found this

18 A IT'S OUR HABIT AND CUSTOM ON WHENEVER WE'RE 19 DOING IMAGINING TO LOOK AROUND THE SCENE TO SEE IF 20 THERE IS ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL, SUCH AS 21 THESE COMPUTERS I BELIEVE THEY HAD DIFFERENT DEVICES 22 HOOKED UP TO THEM. WE USUALLY LOOK FOR OWNER 23 MANUALS, USER MANUALS, BOOKS, THINGS THAT WOULD HELP 24 US IN, LATER ON IN OUR ANALYSIS. 25 MR. YOUNGFLESH FOUND AN ENVELOPE ON A 26 BOOKCASE THAT WAS STICKING UP BEHIND SOME BOOKS. 27 IT'S COMMON PRACTICE FOR PEOPLE TO PUT EVERYTHING 28 FROM COMPUTER PASSWORDS, MANUALS, THINGS THAT WE 251 1 FIND USEFUL IN OUR EXAMINATION IN THESE TYPE OF 2 ENVELOPES LIKE THAT.

[Freedom2specul8]

fess up, are you an attorney or a copper? :)

[Freedom2specul8]

I don't know how that happens...part of my post didn't get printed. I think it's a DEU problem..defective end user problem..ME.

I am thinking he describe what he was told, where it was etc.. (Just my opinion)

[rolling_stone]

Perry Mason addict....waiting for the/a dog to crack this case!

[Freedom2specul8]

I'm sorry, but I really don't understand why it is abnormal to call 911 when your child is missing from her room.

Not just the room..THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND YARD. It's NOT abnormal. If a child, especially 7yrs old is missing from the house..at that age, and the yards and garage are checked... it's time to get help. Time is of the essence, especially in the big cities. Not only do you have to ''wait'' for the cops to get there..but THEN you have to wait for them to do their routine before they declare the child missing themselves. That takes precious time. IF the child is found, everyone's happy, alert or call is over and the police are HAPPY that they don't have to find a missing child. We have alerts that go out over radio, tv news..so people can be on the look out..extra eyes looking for the missing child. So far, the child the record's been great. Mostly runaways over age 12

[Freedom2specul8]

I'm impressed...you sure know criminal procedures!!

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

It surely is. I truly believe that most parents would first scour the neighborhood since it was daylight and the child was old enough to walk out the door on her own.

If nothing else, one would not want to immediately think the worst.

But if that's not enough, Brenda volunteered a whole lot of information that seemed unimportant. However, it did serve to set up the scenario that would be the "story".

She made sure to mention that she had been out with friends and what time she had come home. Lots of specifics in a short period of time.

She had all of the "story" facts straight but struggled to describe her own daughter.

A few think her behavior was not strange at all, but most saw it as odd from day one and never saw it any differently as time went on.

The van Dams are as suspicious as can be and that has a lot to do with the interest in this case. Things have not felt right all along. Trying to put Westerfield into their house is proving to be difficult, yet one or both of them were there at all times....or so they say.

[the-gooroo]

I am leaning strongly toward whatever happened to cause that precious little girls death happened inside that home. I don't know exactly how it happened obviously but I believe the VD's are in cover up mode along with others. That's why I think D and B didn't get ANY sleep that night. If you didn't catch it, make sure you read post #364.

[pyx]

According to testimony there was a 10 minute interval between discovering Danielle was not in her bedroom (a seven year old sleeping at 9AM on a Saturday morning is completely unbelievable but that's an aside.) and the 911 call. Ten minutes ? That's a very short amount of time. In fact, its a suspiciously short period of time, in my opinion.

More reflection prompts me to add to this.

The Van Dam sons had to walk past Danielle's door to get downstairs. It just doesn't seem normal that a seven year old sleeps with her door closed or parents wouldn't check in on their children, whom they claim they are so watchful over, during the night or in the morning. I could understand if Danielle was at the age where young girls seem to suddenly discover they must have their privacy but this wasn't the case. Its apparent that several things just don't add up when reviewing the testimony about the events described inside the Van Dam home between 8:30 PM on Friday February 1, 2002 and 9:00 AM on Saturday February 2, 2002. More than 12 hours. Something is rotten in Poway.

[the-gooroo]

You and southflanknps say it better than I ever could. I just hope some of the jurors are thinking this way and have enough backbone to not back down.

[John Jamieson]

I have been half sick this last part of the week and the deer attacking the Oldsmoble has just about killed my posting for a while. Deer is in somebody's freezer, Oldsmoble is in recovery, and wife is doing great, so I can think a little more about this case.

Barb has been on my mind. Looks like Feldman is never going to call her, or she maybe his star (last) witness. If the later, what could she say that would blow this case wide open?

Speculate a minute that she'll say Danielle was not to be seen on 2/1 at 8:30pm. That she was told Danielle had gone to bed early and should not be disturbed. That would make liers of DVD, BVD, and Denise. It might also mean that Danielle was already dead and/or gone. Shifting the time of the crime, and making Westerfield look alot less likely.

Just some perverted speculation, I have no idea what's really going to happen.

[shezza]

Kim, my sweet, I understand what you're saying. If, as in this case, a missing child is later found dead people would question, "Why didn't you call police sooner??" HOWEVER, it looks to me from reading BVDs 911 call that she made the call while Damon was supposedly looking in the rest of the house and the garage. That's pretty quick, especially for a very mobile, very friendly 7-year-old who had spend-the-night friends living nearby and lots of playmates on the street--AND on a Saturday morning. Saturdays are MADE for playing with friends! It's a day off of school, and eagerly anticipated all week long. So it is possible, probable, even, that if something were not already rotten in vanDenmark that she very well could have gone out on the sidewalk to draw with chalk, or gone down the street to see if her friends could come over and play, or... a thousand other possibilities not at all unusual for a 7-year-old.

TRUE STORY from last night:
My neighbor two doors down has two little boys, 4 and 7. For some reason, she went to pick up the 7 year old at a friend's house (had to drive to get there, so it wasn't nearby) and left the 4-year-old at home alone, because, as she said later, she didn't think she'd be gone long. But she ended up having to wait for her older son to have to find his shoes at his friend's house before they could return home, and it ended up being about 45 minutes that she was away.

While we were having dinner, she rang our doorbell and asked if Jared (4) was at our house. "No, haven't seen him." "I can't find him in our house." So off we went, kids, hubby, and I, as well as a couple of neighborhood kids, to join her searching for Jared. Our house was the first place she looked, so we started down the street in opposite directions, everybody calling his name. Since everyone else was headed down the street (and the mom stopped at the mailbox at the end of the street to check her mail), I went out back to check behind the houses and the next street. Well, lo and behold, whom to my wandering eye should appear than a little kid on a little bike riding down the street, two streets over from ours. (The mom insists he's not allowed to go off our street, but he did, and he does, all the time.) He had been "officially missing" for about 30 minutes at that point.

Same thing happened last summer with a 3-year-old girl, an age I don't think should be left unsupervised AT ALL, but her mother does all the time. This one had been missing all day, but the mother didn't start looking for her until it was after dark and the girl hadn't come home yet. She was located playing inside the home of a new friend on the next street who had just moved into the neighborhood.

I just think calling police before actually LOOKING for the kid was a red flag, indicating the parents already KNEW something wicked was afoot.