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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2005)
UO takes steps to avoid future hiring slips Officials will meet with parents to discuss concerns following an incident at two University child-care centers BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER The University is examining its cri teria for conducting background checks on employees and volunteers after a man allowed to photograph children at two University child-care centers was arrested on prior out-of state incest charges. University officials will meet with parents in February to discuss the steps that have been taken and hear concerns about what should be done to prevent such an incident from hap pening again, Director of Student Ac tivities Gregg Lobisser said. Lobisser said the focus has been on the University’s background check policy and whether it needs to be revamped. Because the child-care centers are part of the University, they are subject to the same policies, Lobisser said, so changing policies at the child-care centers would mean changing policies for the entire Uni versity. “We should be coordinating our thinking about this into a common policy and common agreement about University policy on background checks,” Lobisser said. Though no inappropriate behavior occurred during the multiple photog raphy sessions that Stephen Dale Jackson, 31, conducted at the center, his arrest in Portland on Dec. 2 on Louisiana felony charges of aggravat ed incest caused concern among Uni versity officials about how his crimi nal past went undetected. The University did not issue a background check on Jackson be cause he was living with a family that used the center and was considered to be “a member of the child-care community,” Vice President for Stu dent Affairs Anne Leavitt said. Lobisser said University officials have been in contact with other child-care centers and organizations across Oregon to gather information on other background-check policies and procedures, specifically those pertaining to parents and family members who want to be more in volved at the center. Nancy deRonde, director of the child-care centers at Oregon State University, said criminal background checks are a regular part of the hiring process at the centers and everyone, from interns to volunteers, is subject ed to one before coming into contact with the children. Parents are strongly encouraged to spend time at the centers and be come involved in activities, Lobisser said, but after Jackson’s arrest it be came clear that some changes to pre cautionary procedures are necessary. Involvement is encouraged, but “at what point does that change their sta tus from parent, one of the family, to someone who is serving the larger community?” Lobisser asked, adding that “maximum involvement and maximum protection” are difficult to achieve. The photographs Jackson took at the centers have not been recovered, Lobisser said, and the police and FBI are still working to locate them. Lo bisser said it is “very disconcerting” that the photographs have not been found but said the University is con centrating on making necessary changes to policies and hearing par ents’ concerns rather than on the criminal investigation. “Our task is to care for children, address parents’ concerns as best we can, stay in touch with law enforce ment agencies and relay information to parents,” Lobisser said. meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com Presidential candidate calls Israel a 'Zionist enemy BY IBRAHIM BARZAK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — Pales tinian presidential candidate Mah jnoud Abbas denounced Israel as the “Zionist enemy” Tliesday — his harsh est language yet on the campaign trail — after Israeli tank shells slammed into a strawberry patch, killing seven Palestinians, some of them children. Israel insisted their shells hit mili tants who were firing mortar rounds at Israeli targets, but relatives and wit nesses said the dead were children and teenagers, and a senior army com mander apologized for civilian casual ties. It was the bloodiest strike in Gaza in three months. Abbas’ rhetoric has grown increas ingly hard-line during a four-day cam paign swing through Gaza as he reached out to younger, more militant Palestinians ahead of Sunday’s elec tion. But his comments condemning Tuesday's deaths were his most in flammatory. “We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya,” Ab bas told thousands of supporters, us ing a term for Israel usually employed by Islamic militants. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom broke with his govern ment’s policy of not criticizing Abbas during the campaign. “Israel is very concerned about Abu Mazen’s recent statements, which are very militant... and the like of which we haven’t heard in a long time,” he IN BRIEF Skull by Klamath River may be missing woman's BONANZA, Ore. — A skull found last week along the Klamath River in Northern California might be that of a woman who has been missing for almost a year, authorities said. Teri Renee Poe, 49, of Happy Camp, Calif., was last seen Jan. 27, 2004, when she drove to see family in Bonanza. It was snowing heavily when she left that day. In February 2004, two people found tracks several miles southeast of Seiad Valley that indicated a ve hicle may have spun out. A day lat er, Poe’s car was found in 8 to 9 feet of murky water. Divers found no body in the car. Periodic air and ground searches failed to find any sign of Poe. A spokesman for the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said a Seiad Valley man told police Friday that he found a skull along the river. Sheriff’s detectives think it might be Poe’s and will attempt to determine the identity by using dental charts or, if necessary, DNA comparisons. Poe lived for most of the past 25 years in Klamath Falls and Bonanza, where she was known as Teri Ed wards. She took the Poe name after a marriage in late 2003, just a few weeks before she went missing, said her mother, Carol Kosten, of Bonanza. “We’ve been praying for closure,” Kosten said. “When you don’t know where your daughter is for a year, and you see her car dragged out of the river, you wonder,” Kosten said. Two loggers injured in accident south of Dallas DALLAS — 1\vo loggers working south of Dallas were injured after a log slinDed out of the eriDS of heaw ma chinery, tumbled 300 feet downhill and struck them, sheriff’s deputies said. Jay Jones, 26, of McMinnville was transported by Life Flight to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital after the Monday accident and was re ported in good condition Tuesday morning, sheriff’s deputies said. Elijah Patty, 21, of Amity was re leased from West Valley Hospital in Dallas after receiving outpatient treatment. Both worked for Yamhill’s A-l Logging. The accident occurred as a crew hauled logs up the side of a canyon near Richardson Road, said Dean Bender, spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff’s Department. Two logs slipped out of the grips of ma chinery and one of the logs struck the men, Bender said. Both the sheriff’s office and the Ore gon Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting investi gations, Bender said. Judge rules BLM timber sale endagers animals GRANTS PASS — A judge has de layed a federal timber sale that com bined logging mature trees with re ducing fire danger, finding that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to fully analyze the combined effects of past and future logging on northern spotted owls and salmon. “We’re hoping this legal win con vinces the BLM to sit down and finally design a restoration alternative with us, instead of the old-growth logging they have pushed for over the last decade,” said Spencer Leonard of the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, an environ mental group that sued BLM. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan granted a preliminary injunction bar ring timber harvest on the Scattered Apples sale while the two sides offer suggestions on how to fix the prob lems identified in the ruling. — The Associated Press said, referring to Abbas by his nick name. In Washington, the State Depart ment responded with strong criticism. “Obviously, we find such language disturbing,” said Rhonda Shore, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. “Such rhetoric has no place in the process of resuming dia logue and rebuilding trust and confi dence between both sides. ” Also Ttiesday, an Israeli military in quiry exonerated members of an elite Israeli unit in the killing of Palestinian militant Mohamoud Kamil Dobie in the West Bank last month, refuting tes timony from a relative that the man was murdered in custody. The inquiry found that naval ISRAEL, page 12 0210231 339 E. 11th Avenue Open late Friday & Saturday 344-3300 One Medium 1-item pizza STUDENT SPECIAL Limited delivery area. Charges may apply. ADDITIONAL PIZZAS Limit 5. Must buy 1st pizza at $4.59 Limited delivery area. Charges may apply. Headiock? Does Your College Bookstore Have You In A Get your books at Powells.com, where you can save up to 80%! 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