2B ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 ❚ APPEAL TRIBUNE
Famed
local pup
shines in
Gig Harbor
Oregon to consider new
whistleblower protection
Justin Much Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
One famed Mt. Angel dachshund
joined his sister recently by gaining
some notoriety of his own.
Meatloaf, who was in the litter of
Mt. Angel BB (Beautiful Baby), became
an AKC champion on Jan. 14 during the
Gig Harbor Kennel Club Show.
Meatloaf and Mt. Angel BB were
both born during the Oktoberfest Wie-
ner Dog Races on Sept. 18, 2016, to
owner Jacque Keller-McCormick, a
dachshund breeder from rural Mt. An-
gel/Brooks area. The latter dog was
adopted by Thornton, Pa. broker Deb-
bie Kiotis and became a show-dog un-
der the tutelage of professional dog
handler Margery Good.
Meatloaf was taken in by Michelle
Kutzler, an Oregon State University
veterinarian and Greater Portland
Dachshund Club member who also
happened to deliver both pups that
day in Mt. Angel.
Mt. Angel BB was celebrated last
year for becoming a champion dog-
show dachshund before her first birth-
day. Kutzler notified us in January that
Meatloaf joined the ranks at Gig Har-
bor.
Literally born during the 2016 Mt.
Angel wiener dog races, Mt. Angel BB
(beautiful baby) went on to become a
champion dog-show dachshund
before her first birthday. Recently,
her brother Meatloaf, became an AKC
champion on Jan. 14 during the Gig
Harbor Kennel Club Show.
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
An Oregon Department of Transportation weigh station along the I-5 in October. An ODOT employee settled a lawsuit
with the state after he says he was fired for pointing out problems. MOLLY J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Senate Republican Leader Jackie
Winters has introduced a bill to expand
whistleblower protections in Oregon.
The Salem lawmaker said she was
moved to draft the legislation after
reading a November story in the States-
man Journal about former Oregon De-
partment of Transportation employee
Gerritt Law.
Law, a technician in the Motor Carri-
er Division, repeatedly informed his su-
periors about problems he found after
taking the job in 2013. He ended up get-
ting fired.
Among his concerns: Employees
lacked safety training and were asked
to work in dangerous conditions.
Equipment costing thousands of dol-
lars was purchased without compati-
bility testing, and later found to not
work. Contracts were being split so the
dollar amounts stayed below open-bid-
ding requirements. And contractors
were overbilling for work.
Law’s complaints eventually trig-
gered multiple investigations that con-
firmed most of his concerns. But they
also led to his firing. The state settled
Law’s retaliation lawsuit in May 2017
for $95,000.
Winters said the report made her
think about how important it is to en-
sure that public employees are free to
bring forth concerns without fear of re-
taliation.
Oregon law already prohibits public
and private employers from retaliating
against employees who report in good
faith information the employee be-
lieves is a violation of a state or federal
law or regulation. That could include
sexual harassment, failure to provide
required breaks, or unfair trade prac-
tices.
Oregon’s public-sector whistleblow-
er law also protects public employees
from retaliation for disclosing any in-
formation the employee reasonably be-
lieves is evidence of mismanagement,
gross misuse or waste or public re-
sources or funds, abuse of authority, or
a substantial and specific danger to
public health or safety.
Winters' bill, HB 1599, allows state-
employee whistleblowers to remain
anonymous, and sets up a complaint
reporting procedure.
It requires the Oregon Department of
Justice to establish a mandatory, uni-
form whistleblowing training program
for all supervisors and employees, and
produce a manual describing whistle-
blowing rules and employee rights.
And it directs the state Bureau of La-
bor and Industries to study whistle-
blowing activities in Oregon and pro-
duce a report and recommendations.
“We know there isn’t any real sys-
tematic way of training. We don’t have a
manual put together that says, ‘Here
state employees, here are your rights’,”
Winters said.
The bill will be considered during the
35-day legislative session that begins
Feb. 5.
Winters praised Law, saying she
hopes he knows his efforts were not in
vain.
“He wanted to make sure, not only
that we weren’t wasting dollars, but
that what we were doing was within the
rules and regulations that we promul-
gate," Winters said. "When you have a
good employee, I believe that employee
should be encouraged, not discour-
aged."
“I’m sure there was a lot of risk that
he took,” she said. “I want others to
know they can do that without feeling
what he felt.”
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-
399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tra-
cy_Loew
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Kennedy's Kalyssa Kleinschmit grimaces after failing to get the ball before it
went out of bounds against Regis on Jan. 31. BILL POEHLER/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Title
Continued from Page 1B
member of Kennedy’s starting five –
Carley, Kleinschmit, Arritola, Molly Jae-
ger and Kaylin Cantu – is the team’s
leading scorer.
There have been nights a reserve,
sophomore Ibeth Gomez, has been the
leading scorer.
This Trojans have become impossi-
ble for opposing coaches to game plan
against.
“Our goal, as well, was to develop a
big, deep bench because (the state tour-
nament in) Pendleton is three days of
hard basketball and you see a lot of
teams, they play awesome on the first
day and then slowly start going down-
hill because they run out of gas because
they only have five players or six play-
ers,” Kerry Hall said.
“We said we have to have more than
five players who could play. We did that
with (the 2016 team), and we have de-
veloped that again.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or
Twitter.com/bpoehler
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