WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Marion County to launch
short-term housing
Tiny home village would give fire
survivors base to rebuild
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
Ron Carmickle knows how important
it is for someone to live near the home
they’re trying to rebuild.
After the Labor Day wildfires of 2020,
Gates’ mayor lived in his RV in front of
his son’s home in Mill City for a few
months. For nearly a year he has been
living in a FEMA trailer in a park in Mill
City while acquiring and renovating a
used manufactured home on his proper-
ty in Gates.
“It will be real nice when I get done
with it,” Carmickle said.
But not living on-site, like hundreds
of Santiam Canyon residents displaced
by the wildfires, has meant it has taken
significantly longer than he hoped to get
the place ready to be occupied.
To give wildfire survivors a better
chance to focus on rebuilding, Marion
County is trying to launch short-term
housing options in their own communi-
ties.
In Gates, the county is planning to
See TINY, Page 4A
FEWER EYES
ON PATIENTS
The Oak Park Motel & Mobile Home
Park in Gates burned when the Beachie
Creek Fire rushed through the area in
the early morning hours of Sept. 8,
2020. Marion County now hopes to
temporarily put tiny homes on the
property for those who lost houses in
the fire. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
$280M proposal
for casino
draws support
and concern
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Sonja Mullian visits her mom, Lois Dumont, 76, on Nov. 4 at McMinnville's Cherrywood Memory Care.
Mullian worries about how her mother, who has Alzheimer's, is handling being isolated during the
pandemic. ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Ban on visits, pause on thorough inspections meant fewer
resources devoted to checking on Oregon eldercare residents
Claire Withycombe Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
W
hen Becky Shelton saw her mom for the first time in nearly a year, she was
shocked. h Norma Kliever was lying in a bed in a hospital in Newberg. Her
face looked somewhat sunken, and she didn’t have her teeth in or her
glasses on. h “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s so thin,’” Shelton recalled. “And
when the doctor had come in, that was my comment to him: ‘She’s so thin.’” h Just over a
month later, on March 10, 2021, Kliever died in her sleep.
“I feel that she starved to death,” Shelton said.
Praised as a critical move to stave off COVID-19
by advocates, some say a state policy limiting visits
to elder care facilities also had negative social and
health consequences for residents.
While the state ramped up its focus on helping
facilities slow the spread of COVID-19, it stopped
doing more thorough regulatory inspections at
community-based care facilities for a year, and un-
til November 2021 at nursing facilities, which took a
second set of eyes off vulnerable residents.
Virginia Barreda
USA TODAY NETWORK
A former Silverton fire volunteer was sentenced to
five years of supervised probation and ordered to reg-
ister as a sex offender for inappropriately touching a
minor while working at the fire station.
Jonathan Drew Lieuallen, 48, pleaded guilty to mis-
demeanor third-degree sexual abuse in Marion Coun-
ty Circuit Court earlier this month following a com-
plaint and an investigation into a report of inappropri-
ate touching, court records show,
A prior failed Salem effort
“During the suspension, resources were focused
on intensive infection control reviews in facilities
with outbreaks including reviews through the Ex-
ecutive Order process,” DHS spokesperson Elisa
Williams said in an email to the Statesman Journal.
“Investigations of serious complaints remained on-
going and were never suspended during the pan-
demic, however, investigation practices were
adapted to limit potential COVID-19 exposure.”
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the authority of
tribes to establish gaming operations in 1987, open-
ing the door for tribes in Oregon to establish casinos.
Now, eight casinos are run by Oregon tribes. Ef-
forts to build private casinos and casinos closer to
urban areas have repeatedly failed.
Proposals for a north Salem casino from the Siletz
faced strident opposition in the 1990s. A 9th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals ruling in 1997 upheld a gover-
nor’s ability to limit or deny gambling facilities in ur-
ban areas like Salem, the Statesman Journal report-
ed at the time. Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber was op-
posed to that kind of build-up off of reservations.
The ruling set a precedent for “one tribe, one casi-
no” away from urban centers, but the rule is not set in
stone.
See EYES, Page 4A
‘Impact would be devastating’
Former Silverton fire volunteer
gets 5 years supervised probation
Salem Statesman Journal
If approved by federal and state leaders, a pro-
posed $280 million casino could bring jobs, enter-
tainment and tourism to north Salem, supporters
say.
Supporters say the project proposed by the Con-
federated Tribes of Siletz Indians would be an eco-
nomic boon to the region and all Oregon tribes.
But opponents say the creation of the casino
would be unfair to other tribes and harm the nearest
casino to Salem. They warn it could bring traffic and
crime problems to the area.
The public is invited to weigh in on the project as
the federal government considers giving the casino
the green light.
The plan includes a 180,800-square-foot casino, a
four-star 500-room hotel, restaurants, nightclub,
sports bar and event center on property the Siletz
Tribe owns.
The political hurdles — review by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, a decision from the Secretary of Inte-
rior and either a rejection or concurrence from Gov.
Kate Brown — means it would be years before any
casino could open on Portland Road near Interstate
5.
It would open in 2024 at the earliest.
The tribe said its casino would bring 1,200 living
wage jobs in addition to 2,300 construction jobs. And
it promises to share an “unprecedented 25% of the
net gaming revenue with state and local government
while splitting 50% of the net revenues with partici-
pating tribes,” tribe officials said.
Silverton police received a complaint on Dec. 13,
2020, and were told the incident happened earlier in
the day while Lieuallen and the minor were volun-
teering at the Silverton Fire District headquarters.
Liueallen volunteered as a support service mem-
ber with the fire district for 10 years, Assistant Fire
Chief Ed Grambusch previously told the Statesman
Journal. His duties included directing traffic and as-
sisting firefighters.
Grambusch said the fire district had not received
similar complaints about Lieuallen previously.
While the proposal creeps through government
red tape, formal opposition has formed against the
project.
The No Salem Casino website says, in bold letters,
“Salem Doesn’t Need More Traffic and a Las Vegas
Casino in Our Neighborhood” and features state-
ments of opposition by Marion County Commission-
er Kevin Cameron and Salem City Councilor Jose
Gonzalez.
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which oper-
See CASINO, Page 2A
See VOLUNTEER, Page 3A
Vol. 141, No. 7
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
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Land owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz is
proposed to be a casino near Astoria Street NE in
Salem. ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL