Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Jeff German: Voodoo stuck in the middle of Taxicab Authority dispute

AT THE STATE Taxicab Authority, they've heard just about everything over the years while keeping tabs on eccentric cabbies.

No one, however, can remember one of the agency's employees being accused of practicing voodoo on fellow workers.

That's what has happened to the 50-year-old Jamaican-born Carole Owen, who coordinates the Taxicab Authority's disciplinary court.

Owen -- in the middle of a nasty personnel dispute at the agency -- denies practicing voodoo. And she says she's considering suing those who have leveled the accusation.

She contends the voodoo allegation was raised to shut her up after she had complained about a hostile work environment some of her co-workers created at the Taxicab Authority.

One of those not on Owen's list of favorites is Sharon Harvey, personnel manager for the Department of Business and Industry, which oversees the Taxicab Authority.

At a March 20 meeting with Taxicab Authority Administrator Bob Anselmo, Harvey accused Owen of using pigeons and pigeon feathers in some form of voodoo ritual against her co-workers.

Anselmo recalls the subject coming up, but he says he has no independent proof Owen has practiced voodoo.

"I do know that Mrs. Owen is from Jamaica and voodoo is a religious activity in Jamaica," Anselmo says. "Whether or not Mrs. Owen has said anything about that to the employees, you'll have to talk to them."

Harvey interviewed the employees and concluded Owen had been performing voodoo rituals, a charge Owen calls ridiculous.

In an April 10 letter to Owen, Harvey said "you have allegedly attempted to intimidate other employees through threats of voodoo, calling other employees at home and making remarks while in the front office."

Harvey said she found no merit to Owen's claim that there was a hostile work environment at the Taxicab Authority.

Furthermore, Harvey suggested Owen was the problem, not her co-workers. She recommended Owen seek counseling.

The letter prompted Owen to go to the State of Nevada Employees Association, which represents Taxicab Authority workers, and seek help in filing a grievance against Harvey.

SNEA rep Linda Johnson says she's never encountered a case like this in her 14 years with the union.

"I have some grave concerns about these allegations," Johnson says. "It's highly unusual for any department to make these allegations in writing."

Johnson says she's arranged a "fact-finding" meeting Friday with Owen and Harvey to find out what kind of evidence, if any, Harvey has to back up her voodoo claim.

The other thing to consider, Johnson says, is that even if it turns out Harvey is right, voodoo is regarded as a bonafide religion guaranteed First Amendment protection.

"Either way something's not right here," Johnson says.

For her part, Harvey won't comment. She says Department of Business and Industry Director Claudia Cormier instructed her not to talk.

But Owen and Anselmo don't mind discussing Owen's case.

Owen calls Harvey's investigation a sham.

She charges that Harvey talked to the very people Owen had accused of creating problems in the office. No one else.

Owen had identified the troublemakers in a Feb. 28 memorandum to Anselmo outlining her concerns.

Anselmo, however, agrees with Harvey that Owen is the real troublemaker here.

"This lady is creating a real problem for the whole agency," Anselmo says. "She's very dedicated and sincere about her duties, but she has a propensity to feel that other people are not as good as her."

Anselmo says he would like to transfer Owen out of his office because "it's obvious she's unhappy working here."

"She's got the clerical staff upset," he adds. "It's always someone else's fault, not hers."

Owen says she won't stop making noise until she gets a letter of apology from Harvey, and a thorough investigation is conducted into the concerns Owen raised in February.

She says she also hopes her supervisors at the Taxicab Authority leave the pigeons out of the dispute in the future.

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