From kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDUFri Jul 28 18:08:05 1995 Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 11:29:33 -0500 (CDT) From: Kevyn Jacobs To: "Kansas Queer News [KQN]" Subject: (FT.LEAVENWORTH) NT: Killer of Gay Sailor up for Parole FROM THE NEWS-TELEGRAPH JULY 14-27, 1995 ========================== KILLER OF GAY SAILOR UP FOR PAROLE IN KANSAS by Lisa Marie Neff FORT LEAVENWORTH KS-In October 1992, Allen R. Schindler, a Gay sailor from Chicago Heights, Illinois, was beaten to death in Japan by two of his shipmates. One of the sailors, Charles Vins, bargained with the government. In exchange for his testimony, he entered a guilty plea to three minor offenses and served 98 days in jail. And in May 1993, Terry M. Helvey, of Fredricktown, Missouri, pleaded guilty to murder with intent to commit bodily harm in US Military Court in Japan. In exchange for the plea, a charge of premeditated murder was dropped. Helvey was sentenced to life in prison at Fort Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. At News-Telegraph press time, Helvey was scheduled to go before a board reviewing his request for parole. The parole hearing came under sharp criticism from members of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America, which received word of the hearing from Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hadjys. Hadjys was notified just one day before the hearing, receiving a letter from the prison on July 10 that the parole board would consider Helvey's parole on July 11. Jim Darby, president of GLBVA's Chicago chapter, criticized the government for failing to notify Hadjys properly. Because of the late notice, she could not appear at the hearing and was forced simply to fax a notice of protest to the prison. "For the second straight year, Mrs. Hadjys, mother of slain sailor Allen Schindler, has been subjected to delayed and erroneous information concerning parole hearings about Terry Helvey, convicted murderer of her son," Darby said. Last year, a Pentagon worker, confusing "Hadjys" with "Helvey," called Hadjys to tell her that her son would be going before a parole board. Responding to the call, Hadjys said, "I think you have the wrong number. I'm Allen Schindler's mother. I'm Mrs. Hadjys, not Mrs. Helvey. I'm not the mother of the sailor who committed the murder. I'm the mother of the sailor who was murdered." Immediately after learning of the July 11 parole hearing, Darby alerted Gay and Lesbian veterans and encouraged them to send protests to the prison. Helvey and Schindler were shipmates on Belleau Wood, an amphibious assault ship stationed in Sasebo, about thirty miles north of Nagasaki on Kyushu island. Schindler, 22, was found in a public restroom in Sasebo, lying in a pool of blood. He was so badly beaten his mother had to identify him by the tattoos on his arm. According to published reports, the pathologist who did the autopsy said Schindler's wounds were worse than those of a person trampled by a horse. At the time of his death, the Navy was processing Schindler's discharge. He had told superiors he was Gay. At his hearing in May 1993, Helvey apologized for beating Schindler and denied Schindler was attacked because he was Gay. But in a Chicago Tribune interview after his sentencing, Helvey said he thought he was "going to die" because there were rumors he and Schindler were lovers. He blamed the Navy for any hatred he had toward Gays. Helvey told the Tribune's reporter Cheryl Lavin that "I was big-time against them. That's what was bred into you as soon as you got to boot camp. ========================================================== Permission granted by the News-Telegraph for distribution to the KQN email list (KQN@casti.com), and archiving in the Queer Resources Directory (QRD) on the Internet (http://www.qrd.org/qrd). For News-Telegraph subscription information (published twice a month), please call 1.816.561.6266, or email: newstele@aol.com ==========================================================