WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2018 ܂ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Lawmaker optimistic on dam plans
Community leaders voice opinions to Rep. Schrader
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
STAYTON – When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
released its initial plan to draw down the water level of
Detroit Lake in an effort to help fish, much of the back-
lash about the plan concerned the two- or three-year
duration of the low water level.
The Corps has since presented a proposal for a one-
year draw down and another that would require no
massive draw down.
After a forum of stakeholders, U.S. Rep. Kurt
Schrader, D-Ore., said he is pleased that the Corps of
Engineers has already altered its initial plan.
“The fact that they’re commenting now on a one-
year vs. a two- or a three-, it’s maybe not enough to be
frank with you, we’ll see, but at least they’re moving
and they’re listening,” Schrader said. “That’s huge for
the community to see.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ current plan
would draw down the water level at Detroit Lake to
1,310 feet between November of 2021 and December of
2022 to build a 300-foot temperature control tower
and football-field size fish collecting screen.
The Corps made it clear the current plan is just in
the proposal stages.
“Everything is preliminary here. We don’t have all
the answers,” said Jeff Ament, Detroit Dam project
manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The $100 million to $250 million project is projected
to improve chinook and steelhead runs in the North
Detroit Lake is on schedule to reach its regular
summer water level this year. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
See DAM, Page 3A
Lawsuit alleges asbestos BACKLOG
exposure at MacLaren
BUSTED
2 years after law forces
action, audit finds just 1,100
rape kits left untested
Lauren Hernandez
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
The hallways of Lord High School at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn are shown in April
2014. The school was among eight buildings named in a lawsuit accusing the Oregon Youth Authority of
knowingly exposing workers and students to asbestos. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A former MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility em-
ployee has filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit
against the state, saying supervisors knowingly ex-
posed workers and students to asbestos.
Silverton resident John Neves spent 18 months su-
pervising a team of six youth offenders who helped
remodel cottages and other buildings at the Wood-
burn facility as part of a $52 million upgrade the Ore-
gon Legislature approved in 2015.
According to the lawsuit, on Feb. 22, 2017, as Neves
was working on the final cottage, his supervisor, Steve
Babcock, ordered him to quickly replace panels he
had pulled off the walls of the living area.
“Mr. Babcock explained that a tour of public offi-
cials was about to come through Kincaid Cottage and
MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility did not want
them to know about the asbestos in the walls,” the
lawsuit reads.
“Plaintiff was shocked. He had never been told that
MYCF knew there was asbestos in the walls of the liv-
ing units he remodeled,” it continues. “Mr. Babcock
said there was asbestos ‘all over the place.’”
Asbestos fibers are known to cause lung cancer,
mesothelioma and asbestiosis. There is no safe level
of exposure.
That evening, the lawsuit alleges, Neves and a
painter who had been working in the cottage were put
on administrative leave. Neves was told that he was
accused of helping or knowing about youth creating
hiding spots for contraband in the units that were be-
ing remodeled.
On March 23, 2017, Neves filed a complaint with
Oregon OSHA.
Neves was fired July 21, four days before OSHA
cited Oregon Youth Authority for two serious viola-
tions of the Oregon Safe Employment Act and fined it
$500.
The OSHA investigation found that OYA did not
notify employees doing the renovations that the work
could disturb known or suspected asbestos-contain-
ing materials; and OYA didn’t provide initial and year-
ly training about asbestos to the employees, as re-
quired.
Oregon law prohibits employers from discriminat-
ing against employees who lodge complaints against
their employer for unsafe or unhealthful work condi-
tions.
Neves’ lawsuit, filed Feb. 20, 2018, names the Ore-
gon Youth Authority; Babcock; MacLaren superinten-
dent Dan Berger; and OYA employees Rex Emery,
John Cummings and Abe Rios.
It asks a court to award him $935,000.
Neither Neves nor his lawyer, Charese Rohny of
Portland, responded to interview requests.
The state has not yet filed an answer with the
court. Oregon Youth Authority officials declined to an-
swer questions about the lawsuit.
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or
follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew
Woodburn woman accused of assaulting boy
Two years after passing a law requiring Oregon
crime labs to process the state’s growing rape-kit
backlog, a Secretary of State audit found Oregon
State Police’s crime lab is making a significant dent —
with 1,100 kits in the backlog compared to 4,900 kits
in 2015.
The number of new untested kits had quadrupled
in recent years despite Oregon officials sending
2,800 untested kits — some from cases more than a
decade old — to a Utah laboratory in 2016 because the
Oregon labs couldn’t handle so many.
But changes to Oregon State Police’s crime lab
analysis, prioritization of biology and DNA requests
that include sexual assault forensic evidence, or
SAFE kits, and suspension of property crime evi-
dence has helped officials process more kits each
month.
The Secretary of State Audits Division report re-
leased May 2 found OSP is complying with state law
by hiring more staff and equipment and streamlining
processing of kits by following best practices out-
lined by the National Institute of Justice.
Crime labs streamlining processing
of rape kits
State Police officials hired nine crime lab analysts
for the state’s crime labs with $1.5 million allocated as
part of Senate Bill 1571, also known as Melissa’s Law.
Three of OSP’s five crime labs received the new
hires including: One forensic laboratory specialist;
one DNA supervisor; one biology processing analyst;
four DNA analysts at the Portland lab; one biology
processing analyst at the Bend lab; and one biology
processing analyst at the Central Point lab.
Two additional positions were funded through
legislation separate from Melissa’s Law, which al-
lowed hiring of one biology processing analyst and
one DNA analyst for the Portland laboratory.
Oregon State Police also operates crime labs in
Pendleton and Springfield. The Portland lab is the
largest, with 86 full-time staff, and is the only lab that
analyzes DNA evidence.
In October 2017, the DNA unit was split into three
teams to better streamline the processing analysis,
according to the audit report.
One team of eight analysts focuses on processing
SAFE kits. Another team conducts technical review
of kits that are outsourced through Multnomah
County.
The third team dedicates their time on criminal
cases with a pending trial date, homicide cases or
cases where public safety is a concern.
See BACKLOG, Page 2A
Lauren Hernandez
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A Woodburn woman is facing multiple child sexual
abuse charges for allegedly sexually abusing a boy un-
der 14 years old over the course of a two year period.
Isabel Cortes-Flores, 19, was arrested April 29 for
allegedly engaging in sexual intercourse with the boy
starting around February 2, 2016 and lasting up until
March 16, 2018, according to Marion County court
documents.
She is facing one count of first-degree sexual abuse
and three counts of second-degree rape.
Cortes-Flores is in Marion County
Jail on no bail. A warrant had been is-
sued for her arrest April 18, according
to Marion County court documents.
First-degree sexual abuse and sec-
ond-degree rape are Measure 11
crimes and carry mandatory mini-
Isabel
Cortes-Flores mum sentences of roughly six years
each if convicted.
Cortes-Flores was scheduled to be arraigned April
30 with Judge Channing Bennett.
Email Lauren Hernandez at lehernande@states-
manjournal.com, call 503-399-6743 or follow on Twit-
ter @LaurenPorFavor
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
Vol. 137, No. 20
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Forensic scientist Jennifer Buttler puts a cutting
from a sample cotton swab into a test tube as she
demonstrates the steps required to process a
sexual assault forensic evidence kit at the Oregon
State Police Forensics Services Division. MOLLY J.
SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE