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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 2011)
in case you missed it may24 2011 “Alice in Wonderland” is Magical The Vernonia Ballet, directed by Jessica Davis, presented “Alice in Wonderland” on Saturday evening May 21, 2011at the Washington Grade School. 19 As usual the troupe did a wonderful job, with beautifully choreographed dances, amazing costumes, and well interpreted characters. It was a magical evening for everyone involved. Starring in the production were: Nicole Glass as Alice, Laura Rice as the White Rabbit, Jessica Gardner as the Queen of Hearts, Sarah Wagner as the Mad Hatter, Makayla Adams as the March Hare, Emily Carter as the Caterpillar, Lauren Glass and Megan Rice as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum , and Kaitlyn Eyrrick as the Cheshire Cat. Over twenty dancers participated in the show. The Vernonia Ballet is starting to prepare for their annual presentation of the Nutcracker for the holidays and is planning for a production of “The Wizard of Oz” for their Spring Recital next year. Left-Right: Laura Rice is the White Rabbit. Nicole Glass (center) as Alice dances with members of the Advanced Ballet class. Young dancers watch the performance while waiting for their chance to go on stage. DPSST Committee Recommends Revocation of Kay’s Certifications continued from page 5 • Kay asserts that the standards for K9 certification from the American Council on Criminal Justice Training (ACCJT), an organization for which he himself created the Certification standards, are equivalent to OPCA standards. Certification that Kay received retroactively from ACCJT for 2006-2010 for himself and Kreuger for Narcotics Detection, Tracking and Patrol are from ACCJT, which is located in Montana. • According to the DPSST staff report, the ACCJT website does not contain any information about offering K9 Training or Certification. • Kay acknowledged that the certificates from ACCJT were based on significantly lessor and different criteria than Kay required of others when he would certify them. Kay admits that no one saw him actually run through any actual K9 certification tests, and that ACCJT Executive Director Howard Webb issued the certificates based on watching video clips from a television show that featured Krueger, watching unrelated K9 demonstrations of Krueger and reports Kay had sent him. • In February, 2010 Kay engaged the services of Denise Mullenix to evaluate him and Krueger and prepare a written report. Mullenix states that Kay instructed her to write her evaluations only on exercises he and Krueger completed successfully; that Kay contaminated the narcotics used in the testing by handled them with his bare hands and that they were narcotics previously used by Kay and Krueger in practice and that the search area was familiar to Kay and Krueger. Mullenix also states that the standards she was provided by Kay for the evaluation were different than the standards that ACCJT provided to DPSST. • Mullenix states that she had concerns about Krueger’s poor performance during the evaluation, including a weak bite, improper behavior during tracking, and inappropriate responses to commands. • Portland Police Bureau K9 Officer Alex Fyfe, a recognized K9 expert in the area of Narcotics detection, analyzed a number of documents concerning Kay and Kruegers certifications and provided a sworn affidavit to DPSST of his findings. Among those findings: that the ACCJT certification test is inconsistent with industry standards for a valid test; that the Kay/Krueger K9 team never completed a comprehensive exam of the teams abilities in front of anyone qualified to offer or evaluate it; that Kay essentially certified himself; that the tests that Kay had Mullenix evaluate him on were not up to industry standards and did not even meet the ACCJT requirements for certification. Fyfe also stated that the situation in which a police dog is owned by an officer and leased by the city is “exceptionally rare.” • DPSST also consulted with Springfield Police K9 Sergeant Richard Charboneau, another recognized K9 expert, on the Kay investigation. Among Charboneau’s findings were the following: Kay appears to have a lack of K9 dog/training/trainer knowledge; that training records maintained by Kay are inadequate and below industry standards; that ACCJT Standards are not consistent with Industry standards; and that Mullenix and Kay had trained together previously and at one point Kay had “certified” Mullenix. Charboneau made the following statements concerning his review of the evaluation done by Mullenix: “My concern is not with Ms. Mullenix, as she honestly stated that she did not feel comfortable with the format or administration of the test. This was a self-serving evaluation whose criteria was dictated by Sergreant Kay, a police officer who used his influence and position to steer a well meaning civilian dog trainer to write a report with a conclusion that he agreed with and needed.” • In regards to the pre- employment questionnaire for the Vernonia Police Department position, King investigated concerns that Kay falsely answered “No” in response to questions 45, 46, 48, 49 and 50 relating to the subject of any police investigation, charged with a crime, questioned by law enforcement, been in a diversion program or been under investigation. According to King’s report, Kay relies on a previous inquiry as to how he responded to those questions. Former Vernonia Police Chief Matt Workman in a signed affidavit states, “I believe Mr. Kay did not answer those questions truthfully. I believe Mr. Kay demonstrated the dishonesty component of falsification. By falsely marking “No” to the questions, he omitted and misrepresented material facts. He engaged in deception.” • According to the DPSST report Kay was a suspect in a domestic violence investigation and violation of a restraining order investigation; in 1998 Kay was charged with assault in the fourth degree--a felony, three assault in the fourth degree misdemeanor crimes and the crime of Coercion felony, and in 1999 Kay was charged with three counts of Contempt of Court; in the above sited investigations Kay was at a minimum questioned by law enforcement; subsequent to the Contempt of Court sentencing, Kay was placed on probation and was required to fulfill court requirements related to abuse interventions. • Workman was also questioned about Kay’s affirmative response to being the subject of a Civil Restraining Order and his omission of a Contempt of Court conviction. “Kay’s explanation to me demonstrated the dishonesty component of misrepresentation; he misrepresented material facts.” According to the DPSST memo, OAR 259-008-0070 states that misconduct can be grounds for denial or revocation of certifications of a public safety officer and include: Dishonesty, which includes untruthfulness, dishonesty by admission or omission, deception, misrepresentation, and falsification.
