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%!
No wrestling required.
vTTTS
Enter the coupon code
“STUDENT”
at checkout and we ll
take 10% off our
everyday low prices!*
The legendary independent bookstore
USED • NEW • OUT-OF-PBINT
‘Expires 1/31/05.
Cannot be
combined with
any other offer.