Decision on state prison budget won’t come easily
SALEM (AP) — Is
the Oregon Legisla
ture going soft on
crime?
It's a question
thiit’c hiMttu ikLix{ in
some circles as committees go to work on
budgets for corrections and public safety
agencies.
And policy differences, especially over
prisons, appear to have the House and
Senate on a collision course.
Oregon has gotten tougher on crime
over the past several years, completing a
massive prison construction program and
adopting sentencing guidelines intended
to make sure the time behind bars fits the
crime.
Among the state’s worst criminals. 48
percent were sent to prison in 1992. up
from 34 percent in 1988, according to fig
ures compiled by the Oregon Criminal
Justice Council. Among the worst crimi
nals sent to prison in 1992, the average
stay was 49 months, up from 34 months
in 1989.
But the consensus among those moni
toring crime and prisons issues, said
Rosennna Creighton of Citizens for a Drug
Free Oregon, "is that nothing is happen
in# to move us forward/'
"I think wp ow'd to clarify there’s spac e
in prisons that isn't being utilised." she
said ”1 think the public needs to know
that."
There is indeed space in prisons.
Two small prisons have been c losed
House smoking ban
will focus on minors
SALEM (AP) — Smoking
would bo banned in virtually
all places where minors can
be present under a bill
approved Monday by the
House Judiciary Committee
The measure was endorsed
on a fi-2 vote and now goes to
the entire House.
The bill, HB3086. would be
the broadest expansion of the
state’s Indoor Clean Air Act
since it was passed in J981.
"This is something we can
do to help kids now." said
the committee chairman.
Rep. Del Parks. R-Klamath
Falls.
He said the tougher taw
could ease peer pressure to
smoke as well as reduce chil
dren's exposure to second
hand smoke.
Under the bill, smoking
would not be permitted in
such places as restaurants,
airports, arenas, bowling
alleys, colleges and business
es where minors are
employed
Smoking still would be
allowed in liars and taverns,
including bars in restaurants
and airports, and in business
es that do not employ minors
and where minors are not
present
Stores selling primarily
liquor and tobacco also
would be exempt from the
smoking ban
Hotel and motel operators
could continue providing
rooms for smokers as long as
they also had a "reasonable
number” of non-smoking
rooms available.
The ban would not apply to
any private residents, includ
ing one that also is used for a
business.
Violators could be fined up
to $100.
Dick Kosesan. the Oregon
lobbyist for the Tobacco Insti
tute. said the organization
opposes all of the bill.
"We've got an Indoor Clean
Air Act that works." he said.
"This goes too far."
Teen doing well after freak accident
RICHLAND (AP) —The temperature hart soared
into the 90s that day last summer
Steve Sharp was working alone on a ram h near
this small Pastern Oregon town
Something became i logged in the ha\ baler he
was operating, so he turned the ix|utpmtmt olf and
climbed off the tractor
"I was working on the tinier, trying to get the hav
out." said Sharp. 1H "All of a sudden, it kicked on
and sucked both my arms in."
The old hay Iwler that gnawed off his arms still
is in the meadow not far from Sharp's home But
he barely spares it a glance now.
•‘It's just something that happened," he said "It
wasn't its fault That's the way it is "
Sharp fought the rollers and belts that were
moving thousands of revolutions per minute, but
he couldn't break free
IBs only chance was to allow the machine to cut
off his amis, then walk for help
"I had to do er," he said "I had to keep turning
them so it cut. so I could get loose "
Surrendering to the machine never seemed to
cross his mind.
"No reason to.” Sharp said. "I was still alive and
kicking. I was pretty scared, but it was more I was
really serious. I knew if I didn't get out of there and
up to the house. I'd go the rest of the way through "
Finally free, he staggered 300 yards to the house
of rancher Steve Saunders. 65
"I lost so much blood, my sight started going."
he said. "I started really feeling drowsy. I was hav
ing a hard time walking and a hard time seeing."
He found Saunders dozing on the couch.
"1 kind of hid my arms behind me and woke
him up.” he said. “He's kind of old. and I didn't
want to scare him too much. I told him. 'My baler
chewed my arms off, call 911.'"
The Richland Volunteer Ambulance arrived
within minute* The < rew sped Sharp to Baker
City. about 45 miles away
Lmergency room iittendants stabilized the teen
liter's condition find in jet led pain killing drugs,
then put lum on .1 too mile flight to ()regon Health
Schmc es University in Portland for treatment
Now. the junior at Pine l.ugle High School is on
the mend In Novemlwr. he was lilted with pros
thetit arms that have steel rotator hooks for hands
Most of the i ost was paid by the slate workers'
compensation program Other money < ante from
neighbors' donations.
"The community has been terrific to stand by us
financially in every way possible." said his moth
er. Hetty Sharp. 46.
Sharp's positive attitude and lack of emotional
trauma initially worried experts at Shriners Hos
pital. where the teen undergoes physical therapy.
They thought he might let repressing his feelings
before long, though, everyone agreed Sharp was
merely a resilient, stoic young man
"He is really incredible," said Kristin Gulick. his
occupational therapist.
She figures it has something to do with his
strong family.
"They fish. They hunt. They jump off cliffs into
rivers." she said
Betty Sharp says her son "is strong headed He's
been that way ever since he was born, I guess. Get
him aimed in the right direction and it turns out
pretty good."
The family is also devoutly religious and attends
the nearby Nazarene Church that his grandmoth
er founded and preached in for years.
Lately, Steve Sharp has been thinking about his
future. He may become a farm mechanic, like his
father, or perhaps a computer graphics ortisl.
"I'm still looking around.'' he said. "I'll find some
thing I can do. It shouldn't lie too much of <b^roh
lem."
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much in auuuinn,
half of the new Snake
River Correctional Insti
tution in Ontario sits
empty and unused. And
Gov. Barbara Roberts
has proposed dosing
two more prisons to
help narrow the state s
projected $1.2 billion
hudvet can
Tim Senate Judiciary Committee has
adopted a plan following Roberts’ outline
and sent it to the Senate's budget-writing
Ways and Means Committee, where it
awaits further work
The measure, SBC)'*, would tut sever
al hundred prison IhhIs from the system.
It increases spending on such things as
day reporting centers, where convicts on
probation are supers ised and have access
to services to help them find jobs, stay off
drugs and slay out of trouble.
Within the constraints of Measure 5.
the governor wants to do what she can to
reform ft corrections system that performs
poorly, said Roberts' chief of staff. Patri
cia McCaig
McCeig pointed out that four-fifths of
the state's 6,500 prison bed* are occupied
‘If we back away,
then I’ll be the first
to scream, to yell.’
— Rep Kevin Manntx.
D-Salem
uy repeal uiiviuiwro. » iit*
governor believes
putting greater empha
sis on preventative mea
sures will help break
the cycle of recidivism,
she said.
That approach clash
es with the vision of
House Appropriations
Chairman John Minim,
who expects the demand for prison space
to increase no matter what
"The bottom line is we have the oblig
ation," the Portland Republican said
"We're going to have to pa\ for it
Minnis. a Portland police detective on
leave to serve in the Legislature, has a
subcommittee reviewing prisons policy
The subcommittee chairman. Rep.
Kevin Mannix. DSalem. said the three
mem tier panel was in the midst of a broad
review of prison policy
Ho said il was clear a number of l»»^is
lator* would reject what ho characterized
as the governor's "retreat" on prisons.
"Cutting hack 10 percent of the prison
beds is a dead-end policy." Mannix said
"l didn’t net elected to soften up the
prison system."
The House plan is likely to add up to
>M)0 prison bods to the system by reopen
ing the closed prisons, keeping the ones
targeted for closure by Roberts open,
phasing in the 323 empty lieds at Snake
River, and funding up to 319 temporary
bods.
The projected state budget shortfall
does mean there won't Ihj any "extras" on
the corrections and crime front in 1993.
Mamux said.
Rut he warned the get-tough-on-< rime
i rowd to bo careful in its analysis of the
Legislature's achievements.
With the budget i rum h. Mannix said,
legislators are being "softer on higher
education, softer on i omimimtv i olleges.
softer on education, softer on human
resources
"So in that context. I guess we're lieing
softer on crime, too. Mannix said
Rut. he said. If we bat k away, then I’ll
lie the first to si ream, to yell