TESTIMONY COSTS FLIGHT ATTENDANT HER JOB

Airline Fires Witness For Admitting Pot Use

A witness in the David Westerfield murder trial was fired from her job as a
flight attendant for Southwest Airlines after she testified that she had
used marijuana.

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."