`BEETLE BAILEY' DRAWING FLAK : CREATOR DENIES MAKING FUN OF HARASSMENT.

Byline: Lewis Kamb Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Life in the funny papers isn't so much fun for Ms. Buxley, cartoon bombshell and secretary for that old lech, Gen. Halftrack.

She's been pinched, ogled and chased around the desk every Wednesday for years at Camp Swampy, the animated Army base where the comic strip Beetle Bailey takes place.

But in recent weeks, a sexual misconduct scandal in the real-life Army has made work even more challenging for the popular comic strip's character and her creator, Mort Walker.

Complaints about the comic are on the rise since several enlisted women leveled rape and harassment charges against male Army officers at the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground and other military bases. And at least one of the gags Walker proposed for his daily strip was vetoed by King Features Syndicate, the comic's distributor.

``When something like this happens, it's a red flare,'' Walker said in an interview from his home in Boca Raton, Fla. ``People start to find sexism behind every bush. I expect to get complaints.''

For 46 years, Walker has poked fun at life and the Army at Camp Swampy, where Pvt. Beetle Bailey devotes most of his time to avoiding work. That hardly seems controversial, but the strip has drawn the ire of everyone from feminists and civil rights activists to overweight people and anti-violence advocates.

This time, the long-running gag of the lecherous Gen. Halftrack's getting spurned by his voluptuous secretary, Ms. Buxley, has summoned complaints that the comic strip promotes sexual harassment.

King features says there has been a definite increase in complaints about the comic strip since the U.S. Army scandal surfaced, though most the complaints aren't lodged by regular readers of the strip.

``It makes me wince a little bit that people connect me with sexism,'' said Walker, 73. ``I'm against sexism and it hurts to be labeled like that.''

In recent years, Walker, who has created 11 comic strips since 1950, has attempted to refine his strip to appease his critics and fit with the times.

He transformed the brainless and blond Miss Buxley to Ms. Buxley, and gave her more clothes, better job skills and, ultimately, the last laugh in her sketches with the grab-happy general.

Now, before submitting a Buxley sketch to his editor, Walker says he first seeks approval from his wife and daughter.

``What I'm doing is pointing out that sexual harassment is wrong,'' Walker said, ``but a lot of readers don't see that.''

King Features' comics editor, Jay Kennedy, said creating a stronger woman character has been a priority for Walker over the years.

``In the past, I don't think it has always been clear that he's really making fun of the general,'' Kennedy said. ``Now he's doing that by strengthening the Ms. Buxley character.''

Kennedy said the rejected strip dealt with Buxley's receiving harassing phone calls from a soldier who found her number scrawled upon the wall of a telephone booth.

When Ms. Buxley discovers this, she searches the base to find the booth so she can erase it. What she found was that her number was in every telephone booth at Camp Swampy.

``She takes action to erase her telephone number from every booth in the place,'' Kennedy explained. ``(Walker) saw that as Ms. Buxley taking charge of her life, but I didn't see it that way.

``This stranger has forced her to take time out of her life to combat sexual harassment,'' Kennedy added. ``I didn't think Ms. Buxley had her comeuppance in the end.''

Despite numerous transformations the comic strip has undergone, the complaints have been unrelenting.

```I get complaints about the general's drinking,'' Walker said. ``I get complaints about Sarge beating up Beetle. People say it's too violent.''

Laura Miller, a Harvard sociologist and expert on gender issues in the military, said the comic strip ``perpetuates the old Army culture'' in which men were in charge and women were scarce.

Although she said she doesn't read the strip much anymore, Miller said its repeating themes about sexual harassment and violence ``could be a valuable social commentary'' about Army life.

While Walker originally based the strip on his experiences as a lieutenant in the Army during World War II, he said he isn't attempting to make social statements.

``I don't want to put any messages in there,'' he said. ``I just want to get a laugh.''

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Photo: Mort Walker has poked fun at Army life in ``Beetle Bailey'' for 46 years.

Associated Press