Writer Wants Patriots’ Owner Suspended : NFL:The Boston reporter who says she was a victim of sexual harassment in the locker room calls Kiam ‘a joke.’

The Boston Herald reporter who said she was sexually harassed in the New England Patriots locker room called today for the suspension of the NFL club’s owner and fines for the players involved.

“What we’re asking is (for) Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner, to suspend Victor Kiam,” Lisa Olson said. “(Kiam is) a joke, obviously.”

Olson also said Zeke Mowatt, the only player she identified in the incident which the Herald said involved five players, should be fined a substantial amount.

Other reporters said Kiam called Olson a “classic bitch.”

“Zeke Mowatt was fined the other day, $2,000. This guy makes a $630,000 salary. It’ll be spread around 14 weeks and that’s like fining me a quarter a week,” Olson said on CBS’ “This Morning.”

She said Mowatt, whom she previously identified as having stood close to her and exposing himself, was not the only player who made lewd or sexist remarks on Sept. 17 as she conducted an interview.

The others should be “identified and fined a substantial amount,” she said.

She said she had been sitting on a bench at the time and was too embarrassed to look up and see who the other players were.

Olson said she planned to be at Sunday’s home game against New York despite her newspaper’s editorial calling for a boycott.

“I’m covering the game against the Jets on Sunday. They don’t win any games on the field anyway and this is another one they won’t win,” she said.

The Herald and national women’s groups also want action taken against Kiam and Mowatt.

Tagliabue may decide to suspend, fine or reprimand Mowatt next week after he has met with the player and hears his side of the story, NFL spokesman Joe Browne said Wednesday. Tagliabue has ordered Mowatt to report to the NFL office in New York by Friday.

Kiam, who also owns the company that makes Remington electric shavers, has been criticized for his failure to condemn Mowatt and for his comments regarding Olson.

Herald sports editor Bob Sales told the New York Times that he sent a letter to Tagliabue calling for Kiam’s suspension.

Michele Himmelberg of the Orange County Register, president of the Assn. for Women in Sports Media, was quoted in USA Today on Wednesday as saying that the organization will demand that Tagliabue make an example of Kiam to prevent “unjust harassment” of female reporters.

Kiam has denied the comments attributed to him, saying he called Olson “aggressive.” He apologized for any mistreatment by his employees, but Olson refused to accept the apology.

“How can I accept his apology after he questioned my professionalism in front of hundreds of thousands of television viewers?” Olson said in Wednesday’s editions of The Herald. “It’s obvious the Patriots are trying to bury the sexual-harassment issue by trying to discredit me with blatant lies. I am the victim here and they are putting me on trial.

“The apology was a start, but the issue is not whether Victor Kiam thinks I’m a ‘classic bitch.’ If the Patriots are interested in solving this issue, how about making public the names of the players who verbally and sexually harassed me instead of covering up for them?”

The Boston Globe reported that several players, who asked not to be identified, said Wednesday night that the entire squad expressed serious regrets about the Olson incident at a team meeting on Monday. They said a letter of apology, written by Coach Rod Rust and signed by the team, was to have been presented to Olson Wednesday. The players said Patriots General Manager Sullivan decided against the letter, the newspaper reported.

“What was given to me as a potential apology by the players in my opinion did not address the issues and the concerns of the public and our fans,” Sullivan told the Globe.