Boy Scout council accused
of inflating troop numbers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEDFORD — A Wyoming man
has filed a lawsuit against a Boy Scout
council in southern Oregon, alleging
it forced him to resign when he un
covered that troop totals were inflat
ed to boost executive salaries.
John Mangan, 62, is seeking a
$296,000 judgment for lost wages
and emotional distress.
Mangan's case is the first reported
instance of "phantom" Boy Scout
troops in the state, said Victoria Cox,
spokeswoman for the Oregon Depart
ment of Justice. The FBI has opened
investigations around the country
into similar allegations against the
Boy Scouts of America.
Mangan discovered numerous
Scouts who did not exist but had
been identified on the council's
books, according to his suit, filed
in December in Jackson County
Circuit Court.
"I was shocked," he said Wednes
day. "After I found out about all this
stuff, I was really disheartened to go
out and raise money for that council."
The Crater Lake Council serves 10
counties in Southern Oregon and
Northern California and lists a
membership of 5,300. Mangan said
seven phantom troops of about
eight to 24 scouts each were on the
books in Jackson, Josephine and
Siskiyou counties.
Mangan says the district manager
previously in charge of scouting
membership acknowledged to him
that the records were doctored be
cause annual salary increases were
determined by scouting participation.
After Boy Scout officials heard his
allegation, the council's membership
records showed a reduction of more
than 600 scouts between 2001 and
2002, Mangan said. The biggest drop
was in Josephine County, he added,
from 942 youth to 703.
Mangan alleges that his investiga
tion rubbed executives the wrong
way, and he was told to quit or be
fired in September 2003.
Mangan now works for the Boy
Scouts in Wyoming. But he said he
failed to find employment with the
organization until January of this
year because local Boy Scout Exec
utive Director Ed Weiseth
falsely characterized him as an
unsatisfactory employee.
Weiseth told the Medford Mail TH
bune he would not respond to
Mangan's allegations.
United Way of Jackson County Ex
ecutive Director Dee Anne Everson,
whose organization funds the Boy
Scouts, said she called the local coun
cil office Wednesday after being con
tacted by the Mail Tfibune. She said
Scout officials denied keeping ghost
troops on the books.
Doctor loses suit over former
lover's alleged theft of sperm
BY CARLA K. JOHNSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — A man who says
his former lover deceived him by
getting pregnant using semen
obtained through oral sex can sue
for emotional distress, but not
theft, an appeals court ruled.
Dr. Richard O. Phillips accuses Dr.
Sharon Irons of a “calculated,
profound personal betrayal” six
years ago, but she says they had the
baby through sexual intercourse.
The Illinois Appeals Court said
Wednesday that Phillips can press
a claim for emotional distress after
alleging Irons had used his sperm
to have a baby, but agreed that
however the baby was conceived,
Irons didn’t steal the sperm.
“She asserts that when plaintiff
‘delivered’ his sperm, it was
a gift,” the decision said. “There
was no agreement that the original
deposit would be returned upon
request.”
The ruling sends the case back
to Cook County Circuit Court.
Phillips, a Chicago family doctor,
alleges he and Irons never had
intercourse during their four
month tryst, but they had oral sex
three times. His suit contends that
Irons, without his knowledge, kept
some of his semen.
The appeals court ruling follow
ing a decision by a lower court
judge who dismissed Phillips’ suit
in 2003.
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Victims of terrorism
congregate, pledge
to defeat attackers
BY ANDREW SELSKY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOGOTA, Colombia — From Okla
homa City and New York to Beslan,
Russia, men and women who were
wounded or lost loved ones in terror
ist attacks met Thursday at a victims’
congress, where they mourned their
losses but vowed to defeat terrorism
and not be passive victims.
“I think if we join together and say
‘We are still here. You may have tak
en our loved ones, but you can’t
break our spirit,’ that the terrorists
will know they can’t win,” said Ken
Thompson, whose mother was killed
in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Hundreds of people, some in
wheelchairs after being paralyzed in
terrorist attacks, packed a large meet
ing room in a downtown Bogota ho
tel for the two-day International Con
gress on Victims of Terrorism that
began Wednesday.
To speak at the conference, Robert
Mcllvaine stepped onto a plane for
the first time since his 26-year-old
son Bobby was killed in one of the
World Ttade Center towers that was
hit by a hijacked airliner in the Sept.
11 attacks.
“I’m petrified of flying. I think
about death all the time,” Mcllvaine
said. But he came to Bogota to de
scribe the unceasing pain he and his
wife suffer from losing their son.
“Why was that beautiful human
being snuffed out like that?” he
asked, his voice cracking. Members
of the audience dabbed at their eyes
with handkerchiefs as he spoke.
Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Tony
Rose told how one of the hijacked
planes plowed into the Pentagon, hit
ting just 30 feet from where he was
standing. A fireball incinerated troops
near him.
“The only way we knew a pile of
ash was one of my soldiers was from
a watch or ring in the ash,” he said.
He told of retrieving body parts from
water and jet fuel that was flowing
into a drain. Rose’s hands were full
when the severed hand of a child ap
peared, but he managed to grab it
and put it in his pocket.
“We can allow ourselves to con
tinue to be victims, but we can rise
one step higher and take charge and
kick butt if we need to,” Rose told
the audience.
Juan Pablo Letelier — whose fa
ther, former Chilean Foreign Minister
Orlando Letelier, was killed by Chile’s
military dictatorship with a bomb in
Washington in 1976 — said all terror
ism must be condemned, no matter
who is carrying it out.
“We must be consistent in the bat
tle against terrorism,” Letelier said
Thursday, adding that he believes the
treatment of prisoners at the U.S.
base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, also
amounts to terrorism.
IN BRIEF
School board member
arrested a second time
HILLSBORO — A Portland School
Board member has been arrested a
second time for allegedly violating a
restraining order taken out by his
estranged wife.
Derry Jackson, 42, was arrested
Wednesday afternoon after deputies
received a call from Bernel Jackson.
He was arrested without incident a
short distance from her home. Bail
was set at $200,000.
The restraining order requires
Jackson to come no closer than 50
feet from his wife.
Jackson has rejected demands that
he resign from the school board and
says he may run for re-election. His
term ends in June.
Two Oregonians honored
for aiding fire victim
SALEM — A woman and her
grandson have been honored with an
award from firefighters after they
came to the aid of a house fire victim.
Patricia Bradshaw, 57, and her 13
year-old grandson, TVeven Johnson,
were driving to a fast-food restaurant
on Jan. 2 when they saw a fire at a
manufactured-home park in Keizer.
Instead of calling the fire depart
ment, Bradshaw jumped out of her
van to see whether anyone was hurt.
Bradshaw said she saw people
with cell phones stopped alongside
the road calling 911. When she got
closer to the burning home, Brad
shaw saw Patricia Wilson, 52, the
owner of the house, standing near a
Dumpster with a thick rug wrapped
over her skin.
Wilson had been severely burned.
She said something about going back
inside the house to save her pet cats,
Bradshaw said.
“I told her ‘You can’t go in there
now. You need to stay away.’ I was ei
ther going to drag her or pick her up,
but I wasn’t going to let her go back
in there,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw stayed calm and tried to
soothe Wilson until fire trucks ar
rived, said Keizer Fire District
spokesman Jim TLett.
By taking control of the situation,
Bradshaw and her grandson likely
saved Wilson’s life, TVett said.
For their efforts, the fire district hon
ored Bradshaw and her grandson with
the Bob Wickman Lifesaving Award.
Lindsay Lohan's dad says
he hasn't hurt her career
NEW YORK — Lindsay Lohan’s fa
ther says his headline-grabbing prob
lems have helped, not hurt, his
teenage daughter’s film career.
“She’s got more offers than ever
now.... Don’t they say any publicity is
good publicity?” Michael Lohan asked
ABC’s “Primetime Live” in an inter
view to be broadcast Thursday night.
“People don’t want the good
things, they want the dirt.”
The interview was conducted two
weeks ago, before Michael Lohan
was arrested following a fiery car
crash in the Long Island town of
Syosset and charged with driving
while intoxicated.
Michael Lohan, 44, was the only
occupant of the vehicle, which left
the road and struck a utility pole
shortly after midnight Saturday. He
got out before it burst into flames and
was not injured.
In December, he pleaded guilty to
several charges, including assaulting
a brother-in-law at his son’s com
munion party, and was ordered into
drug and alcohol treatment and ther
apy. He also was arrested in June for
allegedly skipping out on a $3,800
bill for severed suites at a hotel.
— The Associated Press
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