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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1995)
Rising prison population threatens state budget SAI.KM (AIM The state s prison population is mcreas mg (aster than expe< ted and threaten* lo carve a $140 mil lion hole in the 1 <195*97 bud gel. Gov John Kitzhaber wild Monday The governor told legisia live loaders they might have to take money (nan oilier parts of his proposed budget to d«wil with the crowded prisons The state prison popula tion has risen from 8.660 in September to 7,058 this month. Kitzhaher said. The slate Criminal Juste e Council, whii h prepares fon> casts of prison needs, esti mates that inmate total will increase by 4,510 by the end of the next budget period in June 1007. Some Kepuhliiitn legislative leaders questioned the Dtmto i rath governor's figures, and kit/Jialmr emphasized that the estimate was based on a trend of just a few months "I felt it im|Hirtnnt to inform the legislative leadership and he prepared for a potential budget realignment," he said at a news conference He said a more detailed prison forei act would Ih* issued in April kitzhalier had no spe< ifir ideas about where to gel the money to pay for the extra prison space He said social serve es budgets are tight and "the only other plat u with that kind of money is education." Raising taxes to deal with the problem "is last on every body's list," he said live governor said the nxent inmate increase appears to have I teen fanned by parole and probation revocations, rather than hy a measure passed by voters last Novem ber ballot Measure 11, setting new minimum sentences for .1 variety of felonies, is exje* t wd to swell prison populations hut doesn't take affix t until April 1 Tlie governor said he thinks the system is "toughening up" as judges, pnrux utors and oth ers anticipate the new law Kitrhaber'a proposed bud get includes S’t.t million for adult and juvenile prisons l’lans include building four 100-bed regional juvenile facilities and adding to one. building a 200-bed adult prison and adding 200 lexis at another Another part of the gover nor's plan is to finance coun ty jail expansion in esc hange for the local governments housing prisoners with sen tences of a year or less House Speaker Bov Clamo, R Bend, said the Legislature will provide the money if the projections hold up. but not from new taxes "M\ preference Is that the funds ( otne from lottery dol lars, i uts in other government programs or in< reoxed effi cient les." Clamo said She mentioned scaling down the state Economic Development Department. eliminating the stole motor pool and using $S() million that Kitzhaher put in the bud get for selix live pay im nets os State takes 6 kids from family PORTLAND CAP) — Capt Gordon Whitohead, Iht socond iiH ommand for Marini* recruit ing in Oregon, returned home from a two-week meeting in Washington to find that his ms children had just been taken away by the state The children, ages 2 4, 6. 8, to and 11. were taken from their mother at a school where she had tw***u attending a Valentine's party Friday The younger ones were s< reaming as they were [lulled awav Diane Whitehead was cited for harassment for resisting as an offiier tried to take her 2-year old son from h«r arms The court document justifying the action said she had spanked her t Tyear-old son with a fielt the previous night ami that her hoUM was filthy "They took our children with out any noth e, without doing a full investigation." Gordon Whitehead said Monday 'They just swept them out away from us." Karen Lee. spokeswoman for the Oregon Children’s Services Division, said there is more to the case than is apparent and that the seizure of the children, ordered by a Washington Coun ty judge, was justified The Whiteheads, who have never been investigated by the OSD before, strongly disagree "1 don't like to spank,” Diane Whitehead said "This was the last resort, and I do not abuse my children." Lee said the matter would have been resolved the next day had the children not been taken on the Friday l«*fore a three-day weekend A i oupi, who live near tile family s home in suburban Alo ha colled the sheriff’s office when they heard the bos lemming Thursday night. Diane Whitehead said her son had been ai ting up throughout the day and had refused to help clean the house in preparation for hts father * return "Finally. 1 vud. 'Christopher, what's it going to take for you to get your work done?'" Diane Whitehead said “I could |ust sue in hi* eyes that he was test ing me Me said. 'CJo ahead and spank me.' and he started flick mg some of the kids with a wet rag he had ” She said she spanked him with her hand, and he made a smart-alls.k remark about how it didn't hurt Then she got the fielt. and had to sit on him to try to cjiltii him down She admitted the boy was yelling loudly I had his anti around behind him Me was veiling, ’You're breaking my arm You're killing me." Diane Whitehead said She said it took some time to hit him with the belt on his bot* tom because he kept covering it with his h-gs The incident was over by the time two sheriff’s deputies arrived Diane Whitehead said one of the officers, who was extremely rude, interviewed the boy alone The officer noticed a red mark on the boy's lower back and Diane Whitehead said she must have missed with the lielt because she was trying to hit only his bottom The red mark was cited in the document sup porting having the children tak en away. She said the two of fit ers told her there was no evidence of abuse and that the matter would end there The next day. a CSD worker and sheriffs deputy came to the school, not knowing that Diane Whitehead wu there for her 10 year-old son s party Ufa no Whitehead said the offi < (>r (old her ho was picking up her children and she said. "No you're not ’’ Eventually, Diane Whitehead was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car while her children were removed from the school "It took two officers to hand cuff rno," she said. "I'm not that big but 1 wasn't going to let them take my kids away." It was the kind of scene the CSD tries to avoid. Le* said "We would agree that that was not the w ay we want to pick up the kids." she said. "You don't want to create a scene." As Diane Whitehead was being led to the patrol car. she spotted a friend from the fami ly's Mormon church, and he telephoned the church bishop, who picked up Cordon White head at the airport Lee said the action by her agency was justified and that the facts will t ome out at a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Hillsboro. The Whiteheads have hired a lawyer and plan to have many neighbors and friends there to stand behind thorn. Diane Whitehead said she has had numerous disputes with CSD officials while acting on behalf of her brother, whose children were taken away by the agency. She and her husband wonder if the agency’s action was in any way a retaliation. "CSD knows me," she said. “They know my name. They hang up when I call.” But Lee said the agency doesn’t retaliate. "My guess is the branch doesn't even know about any connection.” she said. "It clear ly had nothing to do with this incident whatsoever." Governor proposes to cut $80 million from health plan SAIJ.M(AI’) Gov John kitKhalier has proposed trimming $ho million from the Oregon health plan, which provided mwl it id rare to Ihoutunuk of poor Oregonians for the first lime Despite the proposed i uts. Republic.!n legislators say they still art! worried the program t In* Dotnot rat it: governor helped craft is too expensive and might have to lie m a let! bail even more In particular, GOP lawmakers say tlu*v may fight plans to begin making health plan partii i|Kints eligible for mental health serve es "I don't cast aspersions on the value of mental health, but only on our ability to afford what wo already have in the plan, let alone more." said Senate President Gor don Smith, Kitzhalxtr and sih ial vers it es advocates say they will strongly oppose any moves to dump mental health services. " They are assuming that if you don't treat these people (he costs somehow will go away." the governor said. "Hot these people show up os homeless individuals, they show up in hospital emergency rooms and they show up in our corn* 1 tonal system " he said "We still pay the costs, only it 's a much larger cost long term " Oregon gained national recognition a year ago In rationing its health services to extend medical care to 100,000 of the state's poorest »itinns A 10-t enta-pack < (garotte tax increase also helped pay for the expansion. Kitzhaber, who wrote the health plan when he was Senate president, has pro posed cutting it bj« k. in certain areas to help balance the state's 1985-9? budget For instant e. the governor is propos ing to redui«the number of covered med ical services, including thrush in infants, pelvic pain syndrome and some digestive and stomach disorders The governor also proposes to tighten eligibility requirements and require health plan members to pay a $r> j*tr visit to dm tors and dentists However. Kbtzhnhor wants more than 40 mental health conditions to also qualify for coverage The services now are being offered to about one-quarter of the health plan participants, with statewide cover age scheduled to take effei t in Septem ber IfHKi The $20 million pm e tog of including mental health services in the health plan is well worth the i ost, he says "In the old days, people who had men tal health problems would go into treat ment and never get out of treatment." kitzhaber said "Today, there are enormously effei live and cost-effei live treatments," he said "There an* a lot of people who e®n lie com pletely functional with some pharmaceu th als and some minor treatments." Thu statu Mental Health Division inis estimated that 30,000 people may not nx eive treatment if the Legislature refus es to pay for mental health services Smith and other Republicans say they are sympathetic but it puts too much finan c tal burden on Oregon taxpayer* “On the national level, we see what's going on with Medicare and Social Secu rity." said House Majority Leader Ray Baum of Li Grande "We don’t want to put Oregon in the position of trying to fund uni ontrolled entitlements A loading six tal services advocate says refusal to fund mental health services would !x> shortsighted "We can’t afford not to do it." said Elion Lowe, co-chairwoman of the Human Ser vices Coalition of Oregon "Early inter vention and treatment of mental health problems hel|>s many people lead very pro ductive lives. 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