8A - Morning News • Friday, June 6,1997 *
NATION REGION
Court: Agency retaliated over an insult Two missing after boat
•
^ A federal judge reprimanded
the IRS for its actions and
Ward, 49, said she is not proud of what she
said to auditor Paula Dzierzanowski during the
1993 audit. The meeting was one of several re-
said.
The IRS also disclosed information to TV's
"Inside Edition" in the form of a fact sheet about
sinks off Harbor Island
garding income taxes owed by the. children's the dispute. ^ One of three men on The trawler was found in
awarded the woman about clothing stores owned by her son, Tristan, then The IRS agents said that since Ward had al- the swamped trawler about 19 feet of water, [
$325,000 in damages and 20. ready gone public with Information about the dis-
made it to shore early
attorney's fees." Two weeks later, IRS agents seixed and pad- pute, they were within their rights. However, the but rough yeas prevented
locked the stores with a so-called jeopardy as- judge found their behavior negligent. Thursday morning to divers from the
sessment demanding $325,000 in back taxes from Another IRS agent, James Scholan, further
The Associated Press
Ward. Such an order is considered extreme and disclosed information about the dispute in a let- alert authorities. Department of Natural
is normally used when the IRS fears it is in dan- ter published in a local newspaper. Scholan said
DENVER - In hindsight, insulting the IRS ger of never collecting the taxes, said Ward's at- he had obtained that information from newspa- Resources from
'•gent during an audit was probably not a good torney, William C. Waller. per accounts, but the judge ruled that he had ob- Carolina Morning News
BEAUFORT'- Two fishermen
approaching it. The '
Ward's family depended on the stores as their tained it as an IRS employee, committing a "bla-
But Carole Ward let fly with this gem : "Hon- sole source of income, and the seizure put them tant violation." remained missing late Thursday af- search was suspended '•
ey, from what I can see of your accounting skills, in desperate straits. She said her family even Ward was also upset about notices posted in ter their shrimp boat capsized and late in the afternoon, to^
(to country would be better served if you were lost their electricity because they were unable to the windows of her stores during the seizure that sunk in rough seas shortly after mid-
dishing up chicken-fried steak on some interstate pay bills. • she said implied she was a drug smuggler. night off Harbor Island. be continued this •'• -1
in west Texas, with all the clunky jewelry and Why the IRS targeted Ward rather than her The judge found that the IRS had caused men- A third man swam about a quar-
big hair" son is unclear, said another of her attorneys, tal distress, emotional damage and humiliation ter mile to shore and survived after morning if weather v
; A short time later, federal agents raided her Dennis Mark. "They took the position that Car- to Ward. the 33-foot trawler "Never Easy" permits.
sid's business and then released confidential in- ole Ward owned the stores," he said. "Public servants cannot be arbitrarily selec- ran aground and was swamped and
formation about her taxes to the media in what By July, Ward had hired a tax attorney and tive in their treatment of citizens, dispensing eq- sunk by breaking waves, a Coast
tyurd called "character assassination." . the parties had agreed that the actual amount uity to those who please them and withholding it Guard spokesman said.
,> TThis week, a federal judge reprimanded the owed by Ward was about $3,500. from those who do not," the judge said. The survivor, 46-year-old Howard fort Memorial Hospital for expo;
ti$S for its actions and awarded the woman "It was over and done," Waller said. But then The IRS had no comment on the case. Nor did Grainger of Con way, told authorities sure-related injuries.' He was later
about $325,000 in damages and attorney's fees. the IRS went public with information about Ward the Justice Departments tax division. his two companions were trapped released. ^
X"By this award, this court gives notice to the that was the crux of her lawsuit. Ward said she is glad to be vindicated. But below decks as they tried to start a At daybreak, the search wa$
?KS that reprehensible abuse of authority by one ' IRS District Director Gerald Swanson and his her son's stores are still struggling, and the fight dewatering pump, said Ensign Mike joined by a helicopter from Marine
•fits employees cannot and will not be tolerat- assistant Patricia Callahan appeared on a Colo- took a huge toll on her personally. DaPonte, operations officer of the Corps Air Station, Beaufort, with ad-
W," U.S. District Judge William Downes said af- rado Springs talk show and disclosed tax return She moved to Albuquerque, N.M., this week to Coast Guard's Charleston station. •ditional help from the South Carolt
ter the nonjury trial. "Part of that responsibility information. They also discussed the original help with the opening of another store, and to Their names were not released na Department of Natural Re* •
requires that you accept criticism, however inac- $325,000 dispute and allegations against Ward avoid the media circus created by her win over because relatives had not been noti- sources and park rangers from
curate and/or unjustified, in silence." even though the case had been settled, Waller the IRS. fied of their disappearance as of late Hunting Island. ?
Thursday afternoon. The "Never The trawler was found in about 19
Easy" is registered to a Georgetown feet of water, but rough seas pre*
man, reportedly based in the vented divers from the Department
Charleston area. of Natural Resources from ap-
piggiy
DaPonte said the trawler was proaching it. The search was sus- 1
fishing around midnight in an outgo- pended late in the afternoon, to be1
ing tide at the mouth of St. Helena continued this morning if weathei
Sound when it apparently hit a sand permits. ''•,
bar and foundered. A nearby vessel Markers and what rescuers saw
saw the trawler in trouble and called at the scene indicate that it was utv
Quantity t*9»itt the Coast Guard, and at 12:52 a.m. a likely that the two missing men left
••Mrvt TinMflM f* helicopter search was launched the boat, DaPonte said. No further
from rescue stations in Charleston air search is planned.
and on Tybee Island. The water temperature is about
Head Crisp At about 1:30 a.m., Grainger 72 degrees, he said, declining to
CONGRATULATIONS Iceberg made it ashore and called 911, said
Capt. Noah Stewart of the Beaufort
County Sheriffs Office. The search
intensified as the night wore on,
speculate how long a man adrift
would be likely to survive. The twb
men are listed as missing and won't
be presumed dead until later or until
TO OUR SECOND while Grainger was treated at Beau- their bodies are found.
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