By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WILLIAMSTOWN - A former Grant County 911 operator says in a lawsuit that she was fired in retaliation for reporting alleged sexual harassment she endured from supervisors for the more than four years she dispatched emergency personnel for this Northern Kentucky county.

Anita Koebbe, 40, asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and her job back in the lawsuit filed Feb. 21 in U.S. District Court in Covington.

Named as defendants are the Grant County Public Safety Communication Center, the governmental bodies that created the communication center, former Williamstown Police Chief Ronnie West and current Williamstown Police Chief Bobby Webb.

"Anita Koebbe was subject to demeaning and vulgar sex-based remarks including suggestions that she was sexually promiscuous herself and suggestions that she would enjoy sex with her supervisors and employees of the Williamstown Police Department," the suit said. "(Koebbe) was furthermore shown pornographic material including sexually explicit photographs of persons having sex with animals."

Webb - who rose from the rank of assistant chief to chief after West left last year - declined to comment on the suit. Rita Ferguson, the attorney representing the communications center, didn't return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

Grant County Judge/Executive Daryl Link said he thinks this is an issue between Koebbe and the communication center, not Grant County. Grant County Attorney Ed Lorenz didn't return a phone call left at his office Tuesday morning.

Koebbe was hired in December 1997 as a dispatcher for the center that serves Grant County and the municipalities of Crittenden, Williamstown, Corinth and Dry Ridge.

The suit says the sexual harassment was encouraged by Webb and West, who have both served on the governing board of the communications center.

In February 2001, Koebbe filed a written grievance with Williamstown concerning the alleged sexual harassment and the hostile work environment. Soon afterwards, the suit claims, Koebbe's job performance was continually criticized for trivial reasons by her supervisors.

A year after the complaint was filed, Koebbe was fired for negligence and dereliction of duty.

After the Kentucky Attorney General eventually ruled the personnel action was taken in a meeting that violated the Kentucky Open Meetings Act, a second disciplinary proceeding was convened in November. Koebbe claims she was denied due process in the second hearing because her witnesses were intimidated.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com