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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Effort to guide visitors to downtown Stayton ended Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK STAYTON – It’s two blocks, but it may as well be two miles. Hundreds of thousands of public and private dol- lars and much effort is being poured into making downtown Stayton attractive for businesses and cus- tomers. The problem is thousands of people pass within a few hundred feet of those businesses each day and never go to downtown Stayton. Unlike most small towns where the downtown is on a main thoroughfare, Stayton has a unique situation: its downtown is situated on North Third Street while the majority of traffic through the city goes up North First Street or far away on Highway 22. “You have to give them something to get them to go down there,” said Steve Poisson, president of Revital- ize Downtown Stayton. One of the goals laid out in the city’s 2007 revital- ization plan was to create gateways into downtown, something that has never happened. The efforts to alert the public to downtown Stayton haven’t had much impact. See DOWNTOWN, Page 2A One of the few indications in Stayton of where downtown is located is this sign on Third Street and Washington. BILL POEHLER | STATESMAN JOURNAL Locked-in tuition plan has risks and rewards UO considers proposal to guarantee students’ costs won’t rise for five years Jordyn Brown The Register-Guard The exterior of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 1400 Western Avenue in Stayton. MADELEINE COOK/STATESMAN JOURNAL WOMAN SUES LOCAL CHURCH Lawsuit asks for $10M for reporting husband’s child sex confession Whitney Woodworth Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A Turner woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for $9.54 million after her husband’s confession to church leaders led to his ar- rest, conviction and imprisonment on child sexual abuse charges. The lawsuit, which accuses local church leaders of violating confidentiality and the “priest-penitent privilege,” contrasts sharply with other cases accus- ing the church claiming the exact opposite — failing to report abuse to authorities and treating sex abuse like a sin instead of a crime. The lawsuit, filed in Marion County Circuit Court, involves a Turner man convicted of abuse after he confessed to Stayton clergy that he had repeated sex- ual contact with a minor. Church officials did not respond Tuesday to re- quests for comment on whether the actions of local leaders were sanctioned by the church. The man’s confession was meant to be confiden- tial, said the family’s attorney Bill Brandt. He said lo- cal clergy’s actions “totally violated church policy.” “It’s been devasting on the family,” Brandt said. “They lost a husband and a father.” The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has about 16.3 million members worldwide and about 153,300 members and 300 con- gregations, also known as wards, in Oregon. The wards are led by unpaid, laymen clergy. Timothy Samuel Johnson and his wife Kristine Johnson were members of a Stayton ward when his wife learned he had “engaged in inappropriate con- duct” with a minor known to him, according to the See CHURCH, Page 4A Women of the Century honors Oregon leaders Capi Lynn Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK The deaths of two influential Oregon women book- marked 2019. Norma Paulus, a political pioneer who helped ad- vance women's rights and environmental protection, died in February. She was the first woman to be elect- ed to statewide office in Oregon as secretary of state in 1976. Gert Boyle, a no-nonsense businesswoman who helped build a brand synonymous with the Pacific Northwest, died in November. She was the longtime chairman of Columbia Sportswear and star of the iconic "One Tough Mother" campaign. Paulus and Boyle could be Oregon's poster women for an upcoming national project commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. USA Today Network will name 10 American women from each state and the District of Columbia who've made a significant difference in the world as Women of the Century. The Statesman Journal is coordinating Oregon's part of the project. We'll assemble an expert panel to brainstorm can- didates and consider public nominations. You can get started nominating women at usatoday.com/womenofthecentury/. Project organizers recognize not every woman worthy of being celebrated will make the list, but they're committed to having a strong selection that is "powerful, thoughtful, inspiring, diverse and inclu- sive." See LEADERS, Page 4A Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Vol. 139, No. 4 News updates: ❚ Breaking news ❚ Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: ❚ Photo galleries Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal QEAJAB-07403y ©2020 50 cents Printed on recycled paper Lindsay Luallen chose to move from Alabama to enroll at the University of Oregon five years ago be- cause the university was able to accommodate the fact that she only had herself to rely on for financial support. She hadn’t lived at home since she was 16 years old. At the time, she was met with support from the university and able to afford college. But since then, years of tuition increases have forced her to take min- imal classes, forego internship opportunities and make tough choices about where the extra tuition money would come from. “I look at my finances week to week, month to month and year to year,” Luallen said. “With the tu- ition increases, it’s just a little harder to plan because I don’t know what they’re going to do next. What am I going to have to take out of next? Am I going to have some skimp on the car payment? I don’t know.” Since the 2009-2010 school year, annual tuition costs at University of Oregon have increased by about $3,500 for in-state students and $7,380 for out-of-state students, according to UO data adjusted for inflation. As these rising costs weigh on students’ shoulders and UO administrators plan for next year, the univer- sity is considering a tuition guarantee model that would, if moved forward, fix tuition costs for stu- dents for five years to eliminate the uncertainty and increased financial burden. It’s a change that the university hopes will give students and families peace of mind while improving its recruiting power and retention. But those benefits also carry a significant risk for the UO’s bottom line, leaving it one less tool to manage its budget. What’s being considered At the Dec. 10 UO Board of Trustees meeting, Ja- mie Moffitt, vice president for finance and admini- stration, gave a presentation updating the board on the university’s financial standing that included a conceptual discussion about a tuition guarantee. The presentation provided the board members a basic structure of the tuition guarantee model so they could determine if staff should continue devel- oping the idea along with the Tuition and Fee Adviso- ry Board. It did not include any dollar amounts for what the set tuition rate would be. However, it did state what- ever rate was decided would be fixed for five years. All students who enter the UO in fall 2021, for ex- ample, would pay the same amount each year until graduating in 2026. Every student who entered the UO that year — whether it be as a freshman or transfer student — would be part of one cohort. The rate could differ based on the cohort, though it would be locked in at that rate for each cohort for five years. Roger Thompson, vice president for student ser- vices and enrollment management, helped present the concept to the board. “Students will know the full expected costs of their education before they decide to come to the University of Oregon,” he said. If students did not complete their degree within five years, the cost of their sixth year would change to match the student cohort that started the year after them. All mandatory fees also would be protected from increases, but course-specific fees would not. “We read the research all the time, that the second largest investment a family will make is in higher education,” Thompson said. “That assumes that they own a home. If they don’t own their own home, that is See TUITION, Page 3A