10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015
Local
Oath Keepers present ideas Predatory
for inexpensive food storage sex offender
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
• BEING PREPARED
IS CHEAPER THAN
MOST THINK
BY KERRY McQUISTEN
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday night’s Oath
Keeper’s meeting showed
that the group has estab-
lished a flow to its monthly
gathering at the Sunridge.
The meetings begin and
end with roundtable
discussions and updates
on issues of interest to the
members.
In between those items,
a presentation featuring an
idea for helping members
and the community prepare
their families and neigh-
borhoods for any kind of
emergency is highlighted.
This month, Michelle
Cooper let members know
that long-term food stor-
age—enough to hold a
family for up to a year in
the event of a disaster—
isn’t as daunting as one
might think.
Says Cooper, “I know
people who eat lunch out
every day at work. For fast
food, it will likely cost you
between $6 to $8 per day
or more. My husband tells
me it is likely more than
$8, but at Dairy Queen, I
could get the $5 lunch and
upgrade my Sunday to a
small Blizzard for $6.”
Cooper says by cutting
back on the restaurant
lunches and brown-bag-
ging it for a while, a person
could save as much as $30
per week.
Cooper is a fan of the
Mormon Home Storage
Center in the Boise area, a
center that sells basic bulk
foods at economical prices.
Kerry McQuisten/ The Baker County Press
Michelle and Jeff Cooper talk about food storage ideas on a budget—as well as
a little on radio operations and certifications.
According to Cooper,
“$30 will purchase, from
the Mormon Home Storage
Center, 25 lbs. pinto beans,
25 lbs. rice or oats and 25
lbs. wheat. That is 75 lbs.
of food! Taking your lunch
for eight weeks would save
you $240—almost enough
to buy nearly one year of
the basics—$287.43.”
Cooper has also come
up with an HE washer-
friendly laundry detergent
recipe. “It doesn’t foam
up a lot. It’s biodegradable
and it doesn’t burn your
skin,” she said.
The recipe takes two
bars of Fels Naptha soap,
grated, one cup of Super
Washing Soda and a cup of
Borax.
She then says to place
a gallon of water in a pot
and boil it, stirring the Fels
Naptha in along the way
until it’s dissolved.
Meanwhile, fill a five-
gallon bucket about half
full of warm tap water and
mix the other ingredients
into that, then combine the
melted Fels Naptha to it.
The mixture should gell
up overnight, and will need
stirred to liquify again
before uses.
This recipe brings in the
cost of laundry soap at just
85-cents per gallon. That,
says Cooper, is $4.25 for
a five-month supply of
detergent.
Cooper has written up
her suggestion and posted
them, and more, at www.
bakercountysolutions.com.
She has also outlined
some basic food lists for
the supplies a family may
need.
“It’s the basics,” she
said. “But it will keep you
alive—your family won’t
starve.”
Other informal discus-
sions included updates on
coordination, cooperation
and collaboration in regard
to the County’s dealing
with Federal entities, a
lively banter about GMOs,
the progress of some mem-
bers toward Ham radio
technician education and
certification and more.
The Baker County
Chapter of the Oath Keep-
ers meets monthly at the
Sunridge, 6 p.m. on the
third Tuesday.
The public is always
welcome to attend and
learn more about commu-
nity issues and prepared-
ness.
School
Board
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Mr. Li thanked Witty and
other community members
for their hospitality and
for the experience, and pre-
sented a gift to the Board,
a banner, which included
in its translation, “mor-
als, virtue, knowledge,
and diligence,” from his
hometown school in China.
Cassidy presented Mr. Li
with books from the local
area.
The minutes from the
June 23, 2015 Board meet-
ing were approved, and
then Cassidy listed the Para
Pro Instructional Assistant
New Hires: Janette George,
Leanne Cripe, Lakisha
Garner, Janet Conant, Andi
Jesenko, Misty Anderson,
Megan Curry, Calli Gulick,
Lisa Ensworth, and Dixie
Sutton.
Dr. Melissa Knutson,
from the Baker Clinic,
discussed with the Board
details for the physicals for
grades 7, 9 and 11.
Witty administered the
Oath of Office to Bryan,
Hawkins and Irvine, who
will all fulfill four-year
terms as Board members:
“I, (name filled in), do
solemnly swear that I will
support the Constitution
of the United States, the
constitution and the laws
of the state of Oregon,
and the policies of Baker
School District. During
my term, I will faithfully
Todd Arriola/ The Baker County Press
Mark Witty (left) introduced two guests, Mr. and Ms. Li, from China.
and impartially discharge
the responsibilities of the
office to the best of my
ability.”
Action items for the
2015-2016 school year, ap-
proved at the meeting, in-
clude the following: Witty
as the chief administrative
officer/district clerk; Dal-
ton as the CFO/business
manager/deputy clerk; Wit-
ty and Dalton as custodians
of the funds and authorized
signatures for district
clerks; Dalton as budget
officer; Oster Group as
the official auditors for
the school year; Dan Van
Thiel, the Hungerford Law
Firm, and OSBA (Oregon
School Board Association)
as legal counsels; Baker
City Herald as the legal
newspaper, qualified to
issue an affidavit; Fidel-
ity bonds in the amount of
$100,000 a piece for Witty
and Dalton; Authorization
for Baker School District
5J to apply for and expend
state and federal funds;
Resolution 16-01, Desig-
nation Of Single Source
Vendors; Resolution 16-02,
Authorization For Short
Term Loans From General
To Special Fund; Resolu-
tion 16-03, Designation Of
Depositories For School
Funds; Resolution 16-04,
Local Public Contract Re-
view Board; Designation
of SAIF as Worker’s Com-
pensation carrier; Desig-
nation of PACE Property
and Casualty Trust as Fire,
Liability and Boiler insur-
ance carrier; Designation
of Clarke and Clarke as the
insurance agents of record;
Authorization for Baker
School District to apply
for and expend funds from
grant applications submit-
ted on behalf of 5J toward
the continuing education
of students and staff; Dan
Srack as Safety Officer;
Establish licensed substi-
tute rate at approximately
$173.19 per day; Barry
Nemec as the Section 504
Compliance Officer; Barry
Nemec as Title IX Coordi-
nator; and Betty Palmer as
Title II Coordinator.
The following Certified
New Hires were men-
tioned: Sharon Foster, .5
FTE Developmental, 4-5
Grade at South Baker; Kar-
en Law, .5 FTE Develop-
mental, 4-5 Grade at South
Baker; Kevin Marley, BHS
Special Ed/Language Arts
Teacher; Griffin Judy, BTI/
BHS Welding Instructor;
Mandie Rose, 6 Grade
Teacher at South Baker;
and Hope Watts, 7-12
Grades Band Teacher.
Extra Duty New Hires
included Tim Smith, BHS
Athletic Director, and
Warren Wilson, BHS Head
Volleyball Coach. Extra
Duty Resignations in-
cluded Brand Dunten, BHS
Athletic Director.
The second and final
reading of Policy JFG,
Student Searches, was
approved, as well as the
Umatilla Morrow Head
Start Lease Agreement.
Regular Board meetings
are held the third Tuesday
of each month, at 6 p.m.,
in the District Office North
Conference room.
Jones’s prey of preference is eight- to 12-year-old girls,
and he did not personally know his victims, one criteria
in making him a true predator in the legal sense. After
being released from prison in Oregon in 2002, having
served time for the conviction in Malheur County, Jones
eventually landed in New Mexico where he reoffended.
Alex Tomlin, public affairs director for the New
Mexico Department of Corrections said that Jones was
originally arrested and convicted on eight separate
charges, and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
At least two New Mexico newspapers reported that
Jones pled guilty in 2010 to possession of child pornog-
raphy—the articles state photographs were located on his
computer. Tomlin said the charges actually all fell under
the umbrella term “child exploitation,” which, in New
Mexico may include possession of child pornography
as well as other related crimes. He began his sentence in
October 2010.
Lohner said it was initially a mystery how Jones was
released after serving a fraction of his sentence. Then
Tomlin located the answer within her file of Jones’s New
Mexico paperwork.
Jones filed what amounted to an appeal—a habeas
petition— and a judge vacated seven of the eight original
charges. Between credit for good behavior and time al-
ready served, said Tomlin, “He had already served more
than he had been sentenced for the one charge.”
A “predatory” sex offender and other lesser level sex
offenders are not treated the same in terms of registration
under Oregon Statute.
Oregon law defines “predatory” as “an individual who
exhibits characteristics showing a tendency to victimize
or injure others and who has been convicted of certain
sex crimes. Offenders are assessed on an individual basis
to determine whether they will be designated predatory.”
The “predatory” designation means that local law
enforcement can notify the community about a particular
sex offender. ​Currently, this system is being transitioned
to a classification system.
The Department of Corrections uses a “sex offender
risk assessment tool” for use in classifying sex offenders
based on the statistical likelihood that an individual sex
offender will commit another sex crime. Application of
the risk assessment tool to a sex offender must result in
placing the sex offender in one of the following levels:
(1) A level one sex offender who presents the lowest
risk of reoffending and requires a limited range of notifi-
cation.
(2) A level two sex offender who presents a moder-
ate risk of reoffending and requires a moderate range of
notification.
(3) A level three sex offender who presents the high-
est risk of reoffending and requires the widest range of
notification.
This classification system is replacing the “predatory”
designation, according to Oregon State Police.
According to the Oregon Department of Corrections
in Salem, an offender with Jones’s background could
possibly be classified a level three sex offender due to
the age of his victims, and mandated by Oregon statute
to register his residence for the rest of his life, barring a
reclassification to a lesser offense level by court petition.
A level three offender is considered “a sexually violent
dangerous offender under ORS 137.765.”
Offenders in this category have committed and been
convicted of crime including rape in the first degree;
sodomy in the first degree; unlawful sexual penetra-
tion in the first degree; kidnapping in the first degree
as described in ORS 163.235 (1)(e) or when the victim
is under 18 years of age; or Burglary in the first degree
when committed with the intent to commit any of the
offenses listed.
Local offenders can be looked up at http://sexoffend-
ers.oregon.gov. Www.oregon.gov/osp/SOR/Pages/index.
aspx is another resource with various national links and
links to tribal sex offender sites.
Earlier this week 99 sex offenders (not categorized
as predatory) were registered locally as sex offenders.
Following the recent deaths of two, including Richard
Leroy Whitmore, within the past month, that number was
adjusted to 97. 811,389 sex offenders are currently regis-
tered in the U.S.—28,168 of those in Oregon State.
Not all sex offenders are required to register, however.
Oregon’s earliest registration laws went into effect in
1989. There are a number of people living in Oregon
whose convictions predate those registration require-
ments. Others have convictions “which allow for relief
from registration 10 years after their supervision ends.”
Under the new level 1-3 system, “Level 2 and Level
1 offenders can apply for relief from the registration
obligation 10 years after their supervision end date if they
meet very stringent criteria.”
Level 3 offenders are not given this option.
According to Laura A. Ahearn, Executive Director,
Parents for Megan’s Law and the Crime Victims Cen-
ter, recidivism among sex offenders is a topic of debate
among researchers with some newer treatment programs
showing some success. She states in a report, “Victims of
sexual assault are three times more likely to suffer from
depression, six times more likely to suffer from post-
traumatic stress disorder, 13 times more likely to abuse
alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four
times more likely to contemplate suicide.”
Jones himself appears to have made at least one
suicide attempt. In contrast to existing mug shots on file,
Jones now has gray hair. He is 5’8”, around 200 lbs. and
documented as having old scars on both wrists from what
is believed to have been an attempt on his own life.
SEE SEX OFFENDER PAGE 11