0210461
339 E. 11th Avenue
open until 3am Thursday, Friday, Saturday
344-3300
One Medium 1-item pizza
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SPECIAL
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PIZZAS
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u<m
University Commons
Uniformed security
7 days a week
Resident Amenity Cards
Security alarm system
Fully furnished
Monitored alarm system
Full size washer A dryer
Sand volleyball court
Heated pool
Caged basketball
Private balconies
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u n s versiTY
COMMONS
apartments
338-4000
90 Commons Drive, Eugene, OR 97401
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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