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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2005)
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Cannot be combined with any other offer. hRFfiON nflllYFMFRAin vour independent student newspaper s Man allowed into child care centers had criminal past Photographs of children are lost after a photographer hired by the UO is arrested on charges of incest BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF & JARED PABEN SENIOR NEWS REPORTER & NEWS EDITOR A man who photographed children at the University’s childcare facilities in mid-November was arrested in Portland on Dec. 2 on Louisiana charges of aggravated incest, raising concerns among University officials about how the man’s criminal past went undetected. Stephen Dale Jackson, 31, had sev eral photography sessions with chil dren at the Moss Street Chil dren’s Center and the Westmoreland Child Care Center between Nov. 15 and Nov. 23. The children were always accompanied by another adult, Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leav itt said in a Dec. 8 interview. University officials “are quite certain that no inap propriate behavior” oc curred during the sessions, but they have sent e-mails to parents asking them to watch their children for warning signs. “As far as we know, there has been no misconduct or crime com mitted — there’s just an anxiety,” Leavitt said. “We’re worried be cause of who he was in another community, not because of really anything he’s done here.” Leavitt said the University did not have a contract with Jackson and did not pay him. The University did not perform a background check on Jack son, Leavitt said, because the Univer sity does not conduct background checks on parents and family mem bers using child-care center services. Leavitt said the state has exten sive policies regarding the security and accessibility of child-care facili ties and the University always abides by them. “They’re state mandated,” Leavitt said. “We follow them to the letter. ” Jackson was a member of the University’s child care community, living in family housing with a fami ly that used the child-care center’s services, Leavitt said, adding that he also had parent references, busi ness cards and examples of his work. “It never occurred to us that a member of our own community tnat would otter a service like this would end up being a person who we wouldn’t want to have near children,” Leavitt said. Leavitt said University officials will meet to discuss how a man wanted on felony charges gained access to the center and how to prevent it in the fu ture. They are also going to review pro cedures at other universities, she said. PHOTOS, page 7 HM STEPHEN DALE JACKSON University to seek approval for funds for bakery locale The University has until Jan. 15 to purchase the Williams Bakery site, which would cost $24.7 million BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER There’s something about the Williams Bakery site that makes it worth almost $25 million to the Uni versity, and it isn’t the lingering aro ma of fresh-baked bread. Located on the corner of 13th Avenue and Moss Street, the bak ery’s proximity to the University and the soon-to-be constructed Bus Rapid Transit system are valuable qualities, qualities that University of ficials say make the location perti nent to the long-term development of the University. During a Dec. 10 telephone confer ence, the State Board of Higher Edu cation allowed the University to seek approval from the Legislative Emer gency Board to release $24.7 million in state-backed bonds for the Univer sity to use in acquiring the site. United States Bakery, the company that owns the bakery site, gave the University until Jan. 15 to purchase the property. University Vice President for Ad ministration Dan Williams said the date is not so much a deadline as it is a check-in date and reflection of the bakery’s needs. “They know what our schedule is for receiving authorization,” Williams said. “Our part of it is complicated and their part of it is complicated.” University President Dave Frohn mayer told the board during the Dec. 10 meeting that obtaining approval from the emergency board to release the bonds is “just the next step in the land acquisition process.” Frohnmayer said the situation qualifies as an emergency “because of the seller’s timeline,” and the mag nitude of the land acquisition makes it crucial that all necessary steps be taken as soon as possible. “We have a major project but a very small time frame in which to constitute it,” Frohnmayer said. Jerry Boness, chief financial offi cer for United States Bakery, said the company “absolutely under stands” the complicated process the University must go through to ac quire the land. “We’ve always had a good rela tionship with our neighbors,” Boness said. “There’s just a lot going on, and we have to make a decision. ” The University’s goal is to build a new basketball arena on the site, Williams said, but University officials say the land can be used for just BAKERY, page 10
