FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Human trafficking event
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“These are our children
and we need to do a better
job protecting them. We
need to be parents, not
their friends, teach them
to be more critical,” said
Stradley.
Included in the audi-
ence were members of the
Baker County Juvenile
Department, Baker County
District Attorney Matt
Shirtcliff, Sergeant Mike
Regan of the Baker City
Police Department and
victim advocates Tammy
Cornelius and Fonda Siex
of Mayday.
Stradley stressed that
the children affected come
from all social-economic
classes and it is happening
in epidemic proportions.
“This is also not a girl
only problem. Boys are ef-
fected as well, I want to be
real clear on that,” he said.
Many of America’s
youth who fall into the
human trafficking trap
are not typically abused
or abandoned. They often
meet someone online and
begin dialogue with them.
NBC’s Dateline’s “To
Catch a Predator” is eerily
similar.
As Stradley stated, it is
often an unrealistic view
of their lives being boring
and dull that prompts the
grooming of our youth by
online human trafficking
predators. Promises of
excitement, money, travel,
lavish gifts, whatever it
takes are simply bait to
obtain “product.”
Once acquired, all
connections to their for-
mer life are severed and
victimization begins. It
often starts with a simple
cajoling to perform acts
like stripping or posing for
pornography when money
“gets tight” but eventually
these victims become drug-
addicted by their victimizer
and are sold by the hour as
prostitutes.
Victims often lack the
tools necessary to get out
of the lifestyle—no job
skills, beaten down to the
point of having no self-
esteem or self-worth. They
have no possessions or
access to money. Stradley
mentioned that society,
even police and prosecut-
ing attorneys, may have
targeted the victims in the
past, but times they are
changing as law enforce-
ment and other organiza-
tions are realizing the
depth of this problem,
often not the fault of the
victim.
According to Stadley
all of our young people,
including victims of this
horrible crime as they are
rescued and rehabilitated,
“Need to be taught no one
has a right to treat you with
disrespect.”
And he said about this
epidemic, “It’s not like
Pretty Woman,” referenc-
ing a 1990 movie starring
Richard Gere and Julia
Roberts with a happy end-
ing for a prostitute. “This
is real life and these are
real situations.”
Mike Stradley has
worked in law enforce-
ment since 1983 and over
the course of his 30-plus
years that have spanned
three departments, he has
seen a lot. The majority
of his years were spent
with the Portland Police
Department. His wife
worked 34 years with the
asset forfeiture unit for the
city of Portland. She spent
much of her time working
the drugs and vice division.
“The vice division is
human trafficking,” said
Stradley and he indicated
that Portland now has a
human trafficking division
that agencies work with for
federal prosecution.
Stradley had spoken
earlier in the day to the
Baker Middle School as
well and seemed genuinely
impressed by the student
body.
Currently there are 530
bills from 42 States and
the District of Columbia
before congress regarding
this issue.
37 states have enacted
123 bills relating to sex
trafficking.
Coincidently, during the
meeting an Amber Alert
began going off on numer-
ous cell phones in the
audience.
In addition to Thursday
evening’s presentation
sponsored by the Soropti-
mists International, Gentry
Ford hosted a Drive-A-
Thon, Drive for Your Com-
munity, Saturday from 9
a.m. - 4 p.m. in the parking
lot of the of the Sunridge.
The Ford Foundation
generously agreed to
donate up to $6,000 to the
Shared Hope International
Organization, $25 for each
test drive.
The goal was met and the
full $6,000 will be donated
on behalf of our commu-
nity.
The event was manned
by volunteers from the
Baker City Soroptimists
and Gentry Ford with a
variety of Ford cars and
trucks available to drive.
Sadly, no Mustangs were
included in the event.
“We even had a young
guy driving through hear
of the event on the radio
and stop in to take a test
drive and contribute to the
cause,” said Bloomer.
After the test drive
“goodie bags” were given
to each driver that con-
tained items such as key
chains from Joe Scott’s
Premier Auto Body, sticky
note pads, notebooks fea-
turing Ford cars and trucks,
lightbulbs and a buy-one-
get-one-free coupon for
Subway Restaurant. Also
tucked in those bags were
informational pamphlets
about our own local do-
mestic violence programs
through MayDay, Inc.
and a pamphlet on Shared
Hope International, the
largest organization that
fights human trafficking
The Shared Hope Inter-
national organization was
founded by Linda Smith,
a former Washington state
legislator who also served
in Congress after being
elected in 1994 until 1999.
Sheryl Blankenship of
Soroptimists International
became involved when
her soon-to-be daughter-
Notice to readers: Because of the way
our print schedule lands each year for
Memorial Day, we are running our
greetings for the holiday today, the
Friday before, and will follow up next
Friday with an array of Memorial Day
coverage much as we did last year. We
are thankful for all our men and women
in the military, and their families. We
remember those who were lost.
Election results
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Speaker Mike Stradley draws on a decades-long
career to speak about human trafficking.
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Behind the table, Carole Dyke of the Soroptimists
volunteers to hand out goodie bags to people who
signed up for the Drive-a-Thon.
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Pat Custer of Ford stands with volunteer Sheryl
Blankenship, who helped start this event.
in-law, who is very active
toward this cause, “lit a
fire under me. I didn’t even
realize this was happen-
ing in the U.S. That shows
how naïve I was. I went to
the Soroptimists and said,
‘Oh my word, average age
in the U.S. is 13. We have
got to help.’ Everyone just
jumped in and said, ‘What
can we do? Let’s get the
word out.’”
Teaming up and provid-
ing the vehicles for the
event was Gentry Ford of
Baker City.
“I was telling him how
much I wanted to help
with human trafficking and
he suggested this event
to partner up with Gentry
Ford,” said Blankenship.
Pat Custer, Gen-
eral Sales Manager said,
“Child/human trafficking
is the second most profit-
able crime next to drugs,
worldwide. It’s atrocious.
It’s not that they are going
after adults. They are going
after weak-minded young
people. It’s everywhere.
It’s not just a U.S. prob-
lem. It’s a Baker County
problem. Whether it has
happened or not the op-
portunity is there, and it
probably has, we just don’t
know it. The runaway that
the parents have given up
could very well be a child
prostitute somewhere right
now. We’re not going to
stop it or put an end to it
but if we can put a dent in
it at all that’s why we’re
out here.”
Blankenship added, “The
whole purpose it to bring
awareness. The Soropti-
mists raised money to pay
his (Stradley) way here, I
handed him a check and he
handed it right back and
said, ‘I want this to go to-
ward the cause.’ I thought
that was just awesome.”
Sumpter Junction pro-
vided lunch for all of the
volunteers of the event.
If you know of anyone
who could be helped by
this organization please
call 1-888-HER-LIFE.
More information can
also be obtained at www.
sharedhope.org.
For the Malheur County ESD Director at Large posi-
tion, John McDonough received 46 votes with 2 write-ins
against him. David Westerberg received 44 votes with 2
write-ins for other candidates for Director, Zone 4.
For Director, Zone 6 of the Intermountain ESD, Dale
Bingham received 2,720 votes with 23 write-ins for oth-
ers. Joe McElligott received 2,327 for Director, Zone 7
and there were 17 write-ins.
For Burnt River School District 30J, Director Position
4, Scott Swindelhurst received 74 votes and there were
4 write-ins. For Position 5, Waynette Morin received 81
votes with 4 write-ins.
For the Huntington School District 16J, no candidate
filed for Position 3 so the 15 write-in votes will tell the
tale, but for Position 5, Maxine Murray received 60 votes
with 2 write-ins against.
Pine-Eagle School District 61, Director, Zone 1 saw
Becky Kaaen with 190 votes, Kim Stutzman-Rowan with
244 and 3 write-ins. Zone 2 Heather Farley earned 405
votes with 2 write-ins. For 5, John Miniarch received 316
votes with 48 write-ins against. For Zone 6, Michelle
Butner got 425 votes with 7 write-ins for others. For Zone
7, Mark Butler received 380 votes with 10 write-ins for
others.
For North Powder District 8J, Director Position 3,
Ross Fritz defeated Drew Martin 17 to 36. For Position
4, Larry Wogman received 35 votes to Jason Williams’
18. For Position 5, Janis Hill received 27 votes and Justin
Bingham received 26.
For the Baker County Library District Position 4, Gary
Dielman ran unopposed and received 2,327 votes with
146 write-in votes cast for other candidates. For Position
5, Nellie Forrester also ran unopped and received 2,592
votes with 24 write-ins cast for others.
For Director at Large, Baker Fire Protection District,
Sony Vela had 242, Collin Kaseberg 290 and Alan Mel-
lott 299 votes. Three positions were open.
For Director at Large, Pine Valley RFPD, Roger Gulick
received 248 votes, Kenneth Wheeler 228 and Barry
DelCurto 242 for each of their positions.
For Medical Springs RFPD, Position 2, Jerry Baxter
received 18 and Valerie Tachenko 16 for Position 4 with
2 write-ins.
For the Powder River RFPD Steve DeFord got 42 votes
for Zone 1 and Steve Boles 45 for Zone 3.
For the Eagle Valley RFPD, Steve Sharp defeated
Robert Sharp 133 to 52 for Position 1. For Position 2, Ed
Bowmen received 167 with 2 write-ins. For Position 3,
David Simpson received 155 with 1 write-in. For Position
5, Ralph Graven received 162 with 3 write-ins.
In the Keating RFD Position 2, Perry Jacobs received
43 votes. In Position 4, Mike Miller also received 43. For
Position 5, Mike Cook got 42.
In the Haines RFPD, Position 2 election, Ken Benson
received 201 votes. Position 3, Connie Colton received
198. Dan Hansen got 180 for Position 5.
For the Greater Bowen Valley RFPD, Penny Devlin re-
ceived 61 votes for Position 2, Steve Ritch 63 for Position
4 and Janet Jensen 62 for Position 5.
In the Powder Valley RFPD election, Jay Browne
received 46 votes with 1 write-in for Position 1. No
candidate filed for Position 2, but there were 7 write-ins.
Colby Thompson received 42 votes in Position 4.
For Unity Community Hall Recreation District, Dave
Ross received 51 votes. There was 1 write-in. No candi-
date filed for the second or third opening sand there were
18 write-in votes for one and 8 for the other.
For Hereford Community Hall Recreation District, no
candidate for filed for any of the positions, but the open-
ings had 27, 25, and 24 write-ins.
For Director, Position 1, Powder Valley Water Con-
trol District, four openings were available. Jerry Gray
received 189, Alan Maxwell 196, Thomas Pierce 180 and
Jay Browne 184. There were a total of 9 write-ins.
Time Heater received 71 votes for West Eagle Water
Control District Director at Large. Tom Smit received 61
and Dan Forsea 71. There were three positions.
For the New Bridge Water Supply District, Mary
Hickox took one position with 9 votes, Don Flowers took
one with 6, Peg Coffin the third position with 7 and Ben
Becktold the last position with 5.
For the Pine Eagle Heatlh District, Linda Collier, Loren
Goracke, and Julie Stromer were elected with 253, 229,
and 243 votes respectively.
Jim Aldrich was elected to the Haines Cemetery Board
with 217 votes as was Steve Proebstel with 200..
There were 61 write-ins and no candidates for the Eagle
Valley Cemetery position.
The Pine Valley Cemetery District position of Director
at Large was filled by Janet Oliver with 270 votes and 2
write-ins.
Tim Wallender and Christina Wood were elected to the
Blue Mountain Translator District Board with 366 and
393 votes. The third slot will be determined by the write-
in votes.
Directors at Large for the Durkee Community Building
Preservation District are Dick D’Ewart with 33 and Wes
Proutly with 28 votes.
According to County Clerk, Cindy Carpenter, the names
of the 359 write-in votes were scheduled to be counted on
Thursday, with results coming in after this issue goes to
press.
Carpenter said, “Then we still have 20 Challenged sig-
natures and approximately five ballots that were dropped
at other counties to count if received or updated within
14 days. The abstracts would be certified at that point
and the districts notified. June 2nd is the 14-day mark.
Then the district notifies the qualified write-ins to fill the
position. They do not have to accept. So it is going to be
a few weeks before any names can be released.”