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➣↔↕➣➙➛➙➜➝➣
Continued from Page 1A
According to Rule 8.6.6 of
the OSAA handbook, a mid-
year transfer is “a student
who transfers during the
school year without a move
of the student’s parents.”
Under the guidelines, a stu-
dent in this case is “ineligible
for one calendar year.”
Wells made the deter-
mination of Even’s mid-
year transfer within a day
of learning of his return to
Enterprise based on discus-
⑥⑦⑧⑨⑥
⑩⑦❶❷
❸❹❺❺
⑧❻❼⑦❽❾⑥
about the rule and his un-
derstanding of it.
“There was never a ques-
tion that it was a mid-year
transfer. That was estab-
lished right away based on
the facts we had,” Wells said.
“The question was whether
there was a hardship.”
A hardship is, in part, de-
scribed as a circumstance
“beyond the control of each
of the student and the stu-
dent’s parent(s)” in Rule
8.6.8 of the OSAA hand-
book.
Wells did additional re-
search into the case and con-
cluded about three weeks
later a hardship request by
the student did not have
enough merit to put forward
to the Blue Mountain Con-
ference’s District Athletic
Committee, of which the
fourth-year athletic director
was the chair.
“There were no circum-
stances beyond the control
of the athlete,” Wells said.
Several events, though,
took place in the months
following Wells’ ruling on
the hardship request and
nior Jacie his resignation, though it’s
ed to the unclear if there is a direct
correlation between them.
rned in Wells said the board and
since superintendent attempted
won 20 to circumvent his conclu-
❶ ⑥⑦⑧⑨❿ ❽➀➀❽➁➂⑨❶❾➃ ⑦⑨ ❽⑨ ➂➄⑧➁❶
to help the student gain his
-9 overall sought-for eligibility; Even’s
the GOL attendance records were
he Tigers’ tampered with; Wells’ access
es where to the school’s attendance
ponent to and grade database was re-
duced; and the school board
mean- held several executive ses-
e players sions discussing Even’s eli-
uad, with gibility and wrote a letter to
l earning Even claiming his case had
➆ been mishandled by both
ungblood Wells and Principal Carlsen.
gaining a Wells said the school board
team. has yet to tell him how he al-
legedly mishandled the case.
of 7-13, Carlsen did not respond
and to multiple requests to speak
round to The Observer. The Even
family has been advised by
berth. their legal counsel not to
comment at this time.
➆
The initial move
Even started preparing
for the 2018 football season
with the Enterprise Out-
❾❽⑩⑥ ➅➃ ❽❶❶➂⑨➆⑦⑨➇ ❶❷➂ ➈➁⑥❶
week of practice, which be-
gan Aug. 13. It was a short
stay with the team, though.
According to documents
obtained by The Observer
from Wells, Even enrolled
at Long Beach Polytechnic
in California and attended
❶❷➂ ➈➁⑥❶ ➆❽➃ ⑧➉ ⑥❼❷⑧⑧❾ ❶❷➂➁➂
on Aug. 29. Wells, in his
personal notes on the case,
which he shared with The
Observer, remarked that
the student had “informed
friends he was leaving to
Long Beach to live (with) his
uncle,” in mid-July.
Even’s father, Mac Even,
wrote in a letter of sup-
port supplementing Justus’
hardship request that he
backed the move.
“I was in support of this
idea (to move to California)
and thought it would give
him a chance to experience
some independence,” Mac
Even wrote in the letter,
which The Observer ob-
tained from Wells.
Prior to the start of the
football season, Justus
Even was cited for a minor
in possession of alcohol on
Aug. 4 at the Union County
Fairgrounds in La Grande
along with a 17-year-old
Wallowa County youth, ac-
cording to the police log on
the incident. According to a
previous interview with En-
❶➂➁➀➁⑦⑥➂ ❹❼❷⑧⑧❾ ➊⑦⑥❶➁⑦❼❶ ⑧❻ -
cials, the school’s MIP policy
brings with it a three-week
suspension from athletics,
among other penalties, but
the description of the inci-
dent during that period of
time on 7th Street.”
The return to Enterprise
By Sept. 10, Even had
moved back to Wallowa
County and was looking at
re-enrolling at EHS. The
student met with Principal
Carlsen that day, according
to documents obtained by
The Observer from Wells,
❖✘✙✚✛✜✢ ✣✤✥✦✧★✩
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♦
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❡✲ ✹✰ ✮✼✽❧
✬
❃✷✱②✷❃❁❁✳❡♦
❛
②
✭❡❛✺✭✴❛✭✇✹✰
❛❀✿
✬✭❛✭❡
✹✰✬✴✵✶ ♦❛✬✭✬✶✳✵✰✲❄
❽⑨➆ ❽❶❶➂⑨➆➂➆ ❷⑦⑥ ➈➁⑥❶ ➆❽➃ ⑧➉
school on Sept. 11.
Wells said he spoke with
OSAA Assistant Executive
Director Kris Welch on Sept.
10 after learning of Even’s
return, and he told the stu-
dent he would speak with
Brad Garrett, another as-
sistant executive director at
OSAA, on the 11th.
viewed administrators at
the Long Beach district to
gather information on the
student’s time in Southern
California.
Wells submitted his let-
ter denying the hardship on
Oct. 4, writing in part, “After
a thorough review of sub-
mitted letters by petitioners
tive unexcused absence up
to Sept. 27. The record has
since been corrected.
An internal investiga-
tion by the school showed
who altered the record, but
Wells and Superintendent
Pinkerton refused to tell The
Observer who did the altera-
tion. Wells, though, said the
kids were coming to school,”
he told The Observer.
In his position as AD, part
of the use for the database
was to make sure students
weren’t skipping school and
then coming to practice. He
would also use it late in the
season to check GPA and see
if students could gain recog-
nition as a scholar athlete.
For a week, though, he
was unable to do that part of
his job due to the limited ac-
cess, likening it to showing
➐➀ ❶⑧ ⑩⑧➁➋ ⑧⑨➂ ➆❽➃ ❶⑧ ➈⑨➆
the locks had been changed
❽⑨➆ ➃⑧➐➁ ➋➂➃ ⑨⑧ ❾⑧⑨➇➂➁ ➈❶⑥➒
➓➂ ➈⑨❽❾❾➃ ➁➂➇❽⑦⑨➂➆ ➔➁➂❽➆
only” access, crediting Prin-
cipal Carlsen with helping
him gain the access, and
found there had been stu-
dents who had skipped class
❶❷➂ ➀⑧❾⑦❼➃ ❶❽➋➂⑥ ➂➄➂❼❶ ⑧⑨❾➃
if the infraction is during the
OSAA participation year.
The policy did not apply in
this case.
Even was at Long Beach
Poly three days before being
transferred to Jordan High
School, another school with-
⑦⑨ ❶❷➂ ➌⑧⑨➇ ➍➂❽❼❷ ➎⑨⑦➈➂➆
School District, due to over-
crowding. A second transfer
from Jordan to Renaissance
High took place later in the
week.
There’s uncertainty in the
reason for the move to Re-
naissance. While letters ob-
tained by The Observer from
Wells claim there was over-
crowding at Jordan High
School and concern about
its location, Wells asserted
that, from his interviews
with the school district, Jor-
dan High had the resources
and space for Even. The
DAC later reached a simi-
lar conclusion, writing in
its conclusion letter on the
hardship request, which
Wells shared with The Ob-
server, that there was a lack
of documentation to support
overcrowding as a reason
for Even’s second transfer.
The student claimed he
was the victim of an assault
that took place on or around
Sept. 9, writing in his hard-
ship request letter, which
The Observer obtained from
Wells, “I was also attacked
and mugged and robbed in
California and threatened
to be killed.” He wrote in
the letter that he boarded
❽ ➏⑦➇❷❶ ❽⑨➆ ➁➂❶➐➁⑨➂➆ ❷⑧➑➂
immediately after the at-
tack.
Mac Even described the
assault in his supplemen-
tal letter: “While riding his
bike down 7th Street (Jus-
tus) was stopped by four
men, forced into an alley
and had all of his cash stolen
and (was) threatened with a
gun.”
The Observer contacted
Long Beach Police Depart-
ment in regard to the inci-
dent, which replied in an
email that it “was unable to
locate a report that matched
➞ ➟➠➡➡➢ ➤➥➦➦➧➨ ➩➫➡➭➥➡ ➯➲➳➥➡➵➡➸➧➥ ➺➸➻➼
➽➾➼➫➫➦ ➠➳➼➦➥➳➸➾ ➚➸➡➥➾➳➫➡
Wells said in an interview
with The Observer he was
advised by Garrett to get
more details to see if Even
would have a chance at an
appeal.
Wells said he advised the
student, though, that he
would be considered a mid-
year transfer and ineligible
to rejoin the football team
unless he learned otherwise.
On the 11th, however,
Wells said he received a call
from EHS football coaches
Rusty Eschler and Randy
Garnett who said Even had
attended practice, and that
Even claimed he was eli-
gible to play. Wells told the
coaches that wasn’t the case,
and instructed them Even
needed to write a letter of
circumstances to the AD by
the next day that could be
used in a potential hardship
request.
Wells said the coaches
told him in a follow-up con-
versation on the 12th they
had instructed Even to write
the letter. Wells didn’t re-
ceive the letter, though, until
Sept. 20.
In the meantime, Even
proceeded to miss the next
4-1/2 days of school, which
are marked as “UA,” or un-
excused absence, from the
12th through the lunch peri-
od on the 19th, according to
redacted attendance records
obtained by The Observer
from Wells. Even attended
the rest of the 19th and the
next two school days — the
20th and 24th — before
missing the next 10 days of
school, through Oct. 10.
After 10 consecutive un-
excused absences, a student
at EHS is automatically
withdrawn.
By this point, Wells had
concluded the hardship re-
quest didn’t have the merit
to pass onto the DAC for a
vote. Wells said he inter-
and information provided
➅➃
➌⑧⑨➇
➍➂❽❼❷
➎⑨⑦➈➂➆
School District, it is deter-
mined that the ruling (of the
mid-year transfer) stands.
No Hardship Request will
be forwarded to the District
Athletic Committee under
Rule 8.6.8.”
An altered record
The tampering with
Even’s attendance record
was found on Oct. 8. The
record, which was obtained
by The Observer from Wells,
showed the 2-1/2 days Even
had attended school — Sept.
19, 20 and 24 — had been
altered to show “UA.” That
moved what would have
been Even’s 10th consecu-
person who adjusted the re-
cord “had a personal invest-
ment with the family.”
Wells also suggested the
alteration was done to set
him up.
“For one, it happened
right after my (Oct. 4) let-
ter,” he said. “I think there
was an attempt to show bias
in the attendance record
and suggest it was (done by)
me.”
In late November, Wells’
access to Schoolmaster, a
database used by the En-
terprise School District to
record attendance, grades,
class schedules and more,
was “reduced.”
“I used Schoolmaster in
my job as AD to make sure
and later gone to practice.
“By the time I got my ac-
cess back, a lot of those con-
cerns were too late (to ad-
dress),” he said.
Wells said he was told by
Carlsen that Superintendent
Pinkerton had authorized
the reduction of his School-
master account.
→⑦⑨➋➂➁❶⑧⑨
❼⑧⑨➈➁➑➂➆
See Enterprise / Page 9A
➜➝➞➟➠➜ ➡➞➢➝ ➤➥➢➝➡➠➦➢➧
❈✍✎✏✑✒✏✓❈✔✎❈
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➎➏➐➑➒➓➐➔→➣➓↔↕
➣↔↔↕➙➑↕➛
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❶⑧
The Observer that two in-
dividuals had their School-
master access changed
following the record tam-
pering, adding only a main
secretary should have full
access.
“Everyone else should
have a ‘read only’ access,”
she said.
✒ ✖ ❈✎✓ ✗ ✎ ✕ ✔ ✕
✕
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➾➾➚➾ ➪ ➶➹➘➴➷➘ ➬ ➮➱ ✃❐➱➴❒➘
❈❘ âýíçãéý ✁
❮❰ÏÐ❮❰ÑÒÓ❰Ô❮ÒÓ
❲✘❧❧✙✘✚✚ ✛✜✢✣✚ ✤ ✦✧②✚★✩✢❧✚
■✙❥✘✩✪★♦✙✚ ✤ s★✙♦r ✦r♦✩✘✫✉r✘✚
s✘✙ ✤ ❲♦✣✘✙✬✚ ✭✘✢❧✪✧
✦✘✫★✢✪r★✩ ✮✢r✘
✯✰✱✿
✲ ✳✴✵✶ ✷✴✸ ✹✺✺✻✼✽✾✵✶✽✾❁
✲ ✹❖❖✶✺✾✼✽❆ ◗✶❯ ❱✴✾✼✶✽✾❁
✲ ❂❃✾✶✽❄✶❄ ❂❅✶✽✼✽❆ ❇✻❉❑❁
✲ ◗✶❯ ❳✶❨❁✼✾✶
❩❬❭❭ ❪❫❴ ❵❫❜ ❝❞ ❢❣❞❤✐❦ ♥ ♣❪❭qt✈✇q❪❭✇t
①①①③❧✢④r✢✙✫✘⑤✢✣★❧②✣✘✫★✩★✙✘③✩♦✣