WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Ratchet Brewing Silverton opens new digs
Emily Teel
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
It's not a full opening, and especially not a grand
one, but this weekend Ratchet Brewery co-owners
Dan Miletta and William Mary will quietly welcome
the first guests to their new space in Silverton.
Coinciding with the nearby Mt. Angel's annual Ok-
toberfest weekend, they're inviting visitors in for a
preview of the brewery.
Ratchet Brewery Silverton is located at 990 North
First Street in the space that, for eight years, was home
to Seven Brides Brewing.
From 3 until 9 p.m. Thursday, September 12 through
Sunday, September 15, visitors can check out the new-
ly revamped space.
For the time being, Ratchet Brewery Silverton will
be closed on Mondays. Operating hours for the coming
weeks have not been set.
To drink
Adding the Silverton space represents a tremen-
dous jump in brewing capacity from a half-barrel sys-
tem in Salem brewing 15 gallons of beer at a time, to a
15-barrel system brewing 400-plus gallons at a time.
Miletta and Mary are brewing in the new space, but
their 20-tap bar is still in need of finishing touches.
During this weekend's preview they'll be pouring
See RATCHET, Page 2A
Ratchet Brewery in Silverton on Sep. 12, 2019. The
brewery is opening with a preview this weekend.
ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL
MOUNT ANGEL OKTOBERFEST Funeral home
oversight
falling short
in Oregon
Ben Botkin
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Richard Moles, 82, of Silverton, and a self-described strolling minstrel, plays his accordion
during Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel on Sep. 12, 2019. The 54th Annual Mount Angel Oktoberfest took
over the town last week, drawing more than 300,000 visitors. The festival continues through
Sunday. More photos inside on page 4A. ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Supreme Court case questions
countless convictions
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A case soon to be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court
dealing with a man convicted of murder in Louisiana
may seem far removed from Oregon.
But the case, which takes a 47-year-old ruling in-
volving a Salem man to task, could “invalidate convic-
tions in hundreds if not thousands of cases,” in Ore-
gon and Louisiana, according to a brief filed by the
Oregon Department of Justice to the Supreme Court.
In the case at hand, Ramos v. Louisiana, Evange-
listo Ramos, an oil rig worker, was convicted by a non-
unanimous jury of stabbing a woman to death in 2014
and stuffing her body in a garbage can. After the jury
convicted him in a 10-2 split, Ramos was sentenced to
life in prison.
Split verdicts of 10-to-2 and 11-to-1 are allowed in
Oregon on all felony cases except for murders and ag-
gravated murders.
Before Lousiana voters opted to end its non-unani-
mous system in 2018, defendants there could be con-
victed of murder by split juries.
Ramos appealed his conviction in Lousiana to no
avail, but in March, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to
consider the constitutionality of his non-unanimous
conviction.
The court is scheduled hear arguments on the case
on Oct. 7 and determine whether it should overrule
Apodaca v. Oregon and hold that the sixth amend-
ment of the constitution guarantees a state criminal
defendant the right to a unanimous jury verdict.
Salem man takes case to Supreme Court
Oregon mortuaries and crematories are supposed
to be inspected by state regulators at least every two
years.
State law requires it. But Oregon doesn’t come
close.
Oregon has nearly 200 mortuaries, 66 crematori-
ums and more than 400 operating cemeteries. But
only about 10 percent of licensed facilities were in-
spected in 2018, state data show.
Regulating the funeral home and cemetery indus-
try falls to The Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board
, a state agency.
Funeral homes in Oregon rarely attract publicity
for shoddy operations. Still, records of facilities that
have faced fines and other sanctions from the state
show that planning and executing a loved one’s fu-
neral and burial carries potential pitfalls.
One inspector found unsanitary equipment in the
preparation room for bodies. In another instance, a
crematory accidentally switched the cremains of two
people. One family member found out months later
after opening the urn and finding a bag of ashes la-
beled with a different name.
The most common violations come from consum-
er complaints and often deal with issues like fees, the
services provided and whether the agreement was
fulfilled. Another common complaint is over delays
in headstone installation at cemeteries.
There are few state public records available for Or-
egonians to gauge the quality of a funeral home’s ser-
vices if it hasn’t faced a formal board action for vio-
lations.
Consumers can’t get copies of complaints filed
with the board.
The public also is not allowed to view results of
inspections because of a decades-old state law. The
public is only privy to the details of inspections dis-
closed in public board actions likes fines or other
sanctions for violations.
Not all shortcomings become public.
The board reviews summary inspection reports in
closed-door sessions. And a funeral home is allowed
to take voluntary correction action to fix any viola-
tions, which essentially keeps them confidential.
So unlike other state-inspected operations, such
as restaurants, nursing homes and school cafeterias,
there are no publicly available records showing how
See FUNERAL HOMES, Page 3B
Apodaca v. Oregon refers to Robert Apodaca and
two other Oregon men convicted of felonies whose
cases went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.
Apodaca, then 23, of Salem, was convicted by a
See CONVICTIONS, Page 3A
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A visitor brings flowers to City View Cemetery last
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