by Thomas D. Williams

 The Hartford Courant

 March 02, 2000

Air Force Maj. Sonnie Bates, whose protest against the anthrax vaccine has drawn national attention, has been fined $3,200 and threatened with further monetary punishment for refusing to be vaccinated.

Bates, 35, a highly decorated 13-year veteran Air Force pilot, is the highest ranking officer to be punished for failing to take the vaccine required to protect service members from biological warfare. He is stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Wednesday, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who is investigating use of the vaccine, said it is disturbing that the Air Force is punishing Bates in light of a congressional inquiry that has already suggested the Pentagon stop using the vaccine.

A recent report from U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Fourth District, and chairman of the National Security Subcommittee recommends the Pentagon stop the mandatory vaccinations; and that the vaccine be considered experimental, making its use voluntarily with warnings about potential adverse reactions. The full committee is expected to approve those recommendations next Thursday.

Elizabeth Clay, a Burton aide assigned to the anthrax controversy, said: Here are uniformed military officers rejecting the advice of the [voters' and tax payers'] duly elected authorities [congressmen]. She added: We are certainly disturbed that a man with an autistic child [Bates] is being fined large amounts of money. Children who are autistic require very specialized care, which is typically not reimbursed by insurance, the government or anyone else.''

Roxanne Bates, Sonnie's wife who cares for that child and two others, said Wednesday: It creates a hardship. He can't go moonlighting [with a second job] because he has to care for his family. I can't get a job like I used to have because we have an autistic child.''

On top of the fine, she said, the Air Force order says that if commanders are not satisfied with the rest of Bates' three-year tour of duty, they can take away his training and relocation pay. And, even more disturbing, she said, is the fact that there is no guarantee that the Air Force won't once again order Bates to take the vaccine.

Bates has the opinion of a doctor that he is more likely than others to react adversely to the vaccine because of the fact that he and his wife have an autistic child. Roxanne Bates said a recent survey at her husband's base shows that over 30 percent of service members who have taken the vaccine are suffering from adverse reactions, but most are afraid to complain about their ailments.

Brig. Gen. F. Randall Starbuck, vice commander of the 21st Air Force, meted out the punishment to Bates Tuesday. Bates is readying an appeal. which could spill from a military appeals court into federal court. He was ordered to take the vaccine last December after he testified against its use before Burton's committee and later tendered his resignation, a request the Air Force ignored.

Although Bates was in the process of reactivating his pilot status and thus could not fly, the Air Force nonetheless suddenly assigned him overseas, an assignment requiring that he take the shots.

Major Frank Smolinsky, chief of public affairs at Dover, said: The military justice system took its due course and Major Bates was given the opportunity to present the facts as he saw them. Major Gen. Starbuck imposed this penalty. That was the appropriate level of punishment.'' He said the base survey was informal and unprofessional, so it holds no real credibility in the face of defense reports to the contrary.

Larry Halloran, a Shays aide in charge of the anthrax issues, said he will be meeting with Bates' lawyer soon, so he did not want to comment on the case in advance of that session.

Burton has asked the Pentagon to investigate whether anyone in the military was attempting to subvert the congress by punishing witnesses including Bates. He also asked the Air Force to allow Bates to resign.

The Air Force ignored the latter request but Secretary of Defense William Cohen said the inquiry into the alleged military retribution against congressional witnesses is on going. Two interim responses by Cohen, said Clay, indicated there was no evidence of military interference with congressional witnesses.

Bates originally faced imprisonment on the charge of disobeying the order to take the six-shot regimen. But under a compromise reached last month, Bates and his superiors agreed to take the case before a commander, Starbuck who is not a judge.

In 1997, Defense Secretary William Cohen required all 2.4 million-service members to take the vaccine. Hundreds have refused to take it and have been disciplined, while hundreds of others have resigned from the reserves and the National Guard to avoid taking the vaccine. Some have contended that the vaccine makes them sick for weeks or months at a time.