30
Wednesday,June29,2016The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon
state police probe
fingerprint alteration
BEND (AP) — Oregon
StatePoliceareinvestigating
the agency’s own Portland-
arealabaftertheysayafin-
gerprint analysis appears
to have been improperly
altered.
OregonStatePoliceCapt.
Alex Gardner informed
Crook County District
Attorney Daina Vitolins
abouttheinquiryinaJune17
letter, The Bulletin of Bend
reported.
Accordingtotheletter,a
forensicscientistmatcheda
fingerprint to a database in
a way that violated normal
procedure.
Normally a print is run
through an Oregon data-
base, then if no match is
made a second search is
made against a regional
database. If no regional
match is made, the analyst
willrunanationaldatabase
search.
The analyst appears to
have missed a match at the
statelevel,butthenmatched
the fingerprint to the same
individual after moving up
thesearch,accordingtothe
letter.
Thescientistthenaltered
a report to make it appear
he had followed appropri-
ate procedure, the letter
said.
Gardnerwrotethatnoth-
ing about the incident sug-
gest this error would have
resultedinunjustifiedpros-
ecution. He said every fin-
gerprintmatchisverifiedby
asecondanalyst.
Theanalystwhoisbeing
investigatedhastestifiedfive
timessince2009.
Capt. Bill Fugate, state
police spokesman, would
not identify the examiner
Wednesday, saying the
inquirywasinternalandnot
criminalinnature.
Vi t o l i n s c o n f i r m e d
Wednesdaythatshereceived
the letter from Gardner but
said it would be “inappro-
priate” for her to comment
because the investigation is
pending.
The internal investiga-
tion comes as the Oregon
Department of Justice is
investigating Bend lab ana-
lyst Nika Larsen, who is
on leave and suspected of
removingdrugs and replac-
ingthemwithover-the-coun-
termedications.
Land use: Project
hasbeendelayed
byappeals
Continued from page 1
McKenzie Meadow Village
(MMV).
The modification would
accommodate shifting the
location of the proposed
assisted living facility by
more than 25 feet to allow
for the construction of a
smaller facility than origi-
nallyapprovedin2010.The
modificationofthesiteplan
would entitle the develop-
ment details associated with
theassistedlivingfacility.
Council’s prior approval
had been appealed by PAG
to LUBA and due to some
technicalities and missing
documentation, it had been
remandedtoCounciltorecon-
siderandcorrect.
A letter was received on
June23,thedayofthehear-
ing, from PAG’s attorneys,
Perkins Coie of Portland,
requesting that the City
CouncildenyMMV’sappli-
cationsforthemodifications.
Theletterbasicallyreiterated
theargumentsmadebyPAG
in their original appeal to
the Council in July 2015 of
the Planning Commission’s
decision, which they later
appealedtoLUBA.
They argued that new
i m p a c t s t u d i e s s h o u l d
have been required for the
requested modifications.
Therewillbefewerunitsin
theassisted-livingfacilitythan
originallyproposed—57vs.
82.TheCitystaff,trafficengi-
neer,publicworksstaff,and
assisted-livingfacilitydevel-
operKevinCoxallprovided
information and data neces-
sarytosupportthedecreased
impactofthemodifiedplan.
MMV’s attorneys pre-
sented detailed findings of
fact to counteritem-by-item
PAG’sassertions.Noonerep-
resentingPAGwasinatten-
danceatthehearing.Council
voted 5-0 to deny PAG’s
appealandapprovedamended
conditions of approval for
theiroriginaldecision.
TheballisnowinPAG’s
court. They can accept the
Council’s decision or they
can appeal again to LUBA.
If LUBA were to dismisses
theirappeal,PAGcouldtake
it to the Court of Appeals
and eventually all the way
to the State Supreme Court.
Iftheyweretogothatroute,
development of the MMV
assisted-livingfacilitycould
bedelayedindefinitely.
MMV attorney Laura
Craska Cooper told City
Council that MMV partner
Bill Willitts told her, “Not
asingleweekgoesbythatI
don’tgetaskedwhenwewill
bebuildingtheassisted-living
facilitysothataSistersresi-
dentcanmovetheirfatheror
motherheretoSisters.”
Also delayed is cot-
tage housing and afford-
able apartments for seniors
plannedaspartoftheMMV
development.
Still to be considered by
LUBAisPAG’sthirdappeal
regardingthePlanningCom-
mission’sextensiongrantedto
theMMVsubdivision.
In the meantime, no
work has begun on PAG’s
own assisted-living facility
approvedforthepropertynext
to the post office, between
LarchandLocust.Noexpla-
nationforthedelayhasbeen
offeredbyPAG,despitepast
attempts by The Nugget to
contactPAGdeveloperMark
Adolf.
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