7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015
Will new focus on rape kit tests put thousands behind bars? Series of
Kits that had been left to gather
dust could bring rapists to justice.
By SHARON COHEN
AP National Writer
The evidence piled up for
years, abandoned in police prop-
erty rooms, warehouses and crime
labs. Now, thousands of sexual
assault kits are giving up their se-
crets — and rapists who’ve long
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justice.
A dramatic shift is now tak-
ing hold across the country as
police and prosecutors scramble
to process these kits, and use
DNA matches to track down
predators, many of whom have
attacked more women while
evidence of their crimes sat in
storage.
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tum,” says Sarah Haacke Byrd,
managing director of the Joyful
Heart Foundation, an advocacy
group working on the issue. “In
the last year we really are seeing
the tide turn where federal and
state governments are offering
critically needed leadership and
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the problem.”
In Cleveland, the county pros-
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than 300 rape suspects since 2013,
based on newly tested DNA evi-
dence from old kits. Ultimately,
1,000 are expected to be charged.
In Houston, authorities re-
cently cleared a backlog of nearly
6,700 kits, some decades old. The
project turned up 850 matches in a
national DNA database.
In Detroit, the prosecutor’s
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raise $10 million to help analyze,
investigate and prosecute cases
stemming from more than 11,000
untested kits.
There’s a new urgency, too,
among lawmakers. Legislators in
more than 20 states are consider-
ing — and in some cases, passing
— measures that include counting
all kits and setting deadlines for
submitting and processing DNA
evidence.
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boost: at least $76 million for test-
ing, prosecution and reforms.
It’s too soon to know how
much testing will cost. But in
some cases, it’s too late for jus-
tice because statutes of limitations
have expired. In others, investiga-
tors will have to dig through old
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rape survivors. It’s an enormously
time-consuming venture.
“It’s great entertainment on
television that in one hour’s time,
we have a crime, we take the
(DNA) sample, we get a ‘hit,’ we
arrest the suspect and then he’s
prosecuted and off to jail,” says
Doug McGowen, coordinator
of Memphis’ Sexual Assault Kit
Task Force. “That’s just not the
case, clearly.”
In Memphis, where about half
of more than 12,300 kits have
been tested or are waiting to be
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years to complete the investiga-
tions and prosecutions, McGow-
en says.
In resurrecting old crimes,
investigators have detected an
alarming pattern: Many rapists are
repeat offenders who might have
been stopped with a timely testing
of sexual assault kits. In Wayne
County, home to Detroit, authori-
ties say 288 potential serial rapists
have already been found among
the kits analyzed.
“Yes, it is an embarrassment,”
said Kym Worthy, Wayne County
prosecutor. “It shows that we, as
this country, do not respect rape
victims to the extent that we re-
spect other victims.”
This new spotlight on rape kits
stems from the work of groups
such as Joyful Heart, the willing-
ness of survivors to speak out, in-
‘It shows that
we, as this
country, do
not respect
rape victims
to the extent
that we
respect other
victims.’
— Kym Worthy
prosecutor
vestigative media reports and the
attention of political leaders from
statehouses to the White House.
Two frequently cited reasons
for the backlog are money — it
can cost $500 to $1500 to test
each kit — and technology. DNA
wasn’t widely used until the mid
to late 1990s.
Some police departments also
haven’t tested kits if the assailant
was known, the woman wouldn’t
press charges or the attacker con-
fessed.
“There is no smoking gun
that you can point to in any city
in America to say this is the one
reason why we have this accu-
mulation of kits that have been
untested,” McGowen says.
Mary Lentschke, an assistant
Houston police chief, says even
with DNA, police still didn’t have
enough money and crime lab
workers, who also were assigned
to solve homicides. “When you
don’t have the funding and you
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decisions on a case-by-case ba-
sis,” she says.
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though, will help. President
Barack Obama’s 2015 budget set
aside $41 million to help reduce
the backlog. Another $41 million
has been proposed for the 2016
budget, along with $20 million for
reforms.
And Manhattan District Attor-
ney Cyrus Vance Jr. has pledged
up to $35 million he estimates will
be enough to test 70,000 kits. “We
felt this was an essential invest-
ment,” he says.
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lice, prosecutors and others from
30 states have expressed interest
in the funds.
Money, though, is just part of
the solution.
Rebecca Campbell, a Mich-
igan State University professor
who has consulted and trained
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often doesn’t understand trauma.
“If a victim is very calm and quiet
they think there’s no possible way
she could have been raped,” she
says.
Campbell was chief author
of a recently released multi-year
study that reviewed 1,595 untest-
ed sexual assault kits in Detroit.
Her research, funded by the Na-
tional Institute of Justice, found
evidence of “police treating vic-
tims in dehumanizing ways.”
Women were often assumed
to be prostitutes, the study found,
and adolescents frequently per-
ceived as concocting stories to
avoid getting in trouble.
But progress is being made
in Detroit and elsewhere with
new police training and rules for
handling kits, improved under-
standing of trauma and legislative
reforms.
When law enforcement deals
with rape survivors now, says Sgt.
Amy Mills, head of the Dallas po-
lice sex assault unit, “We always
start with, ‘We believe you,’ not
‘Convince us.”’
For rape survivors, the delays
have been infuriating and inexpli-
cable.
Meaghan Ybos was just 16
in 2003 when she was raped by
a knife-wielding, masked man in
her suburban Memphis home.
In 2012, she called Memphis
police after hearing TV reports of
a serial rapist in the community.
She thought it might be her attack-
er. It was only then — nine years
later — that she realized her kit
hadn’t been tested.
When it was, the results led to
Anthony Alliano, who later plead-
ed guilty to assaulting Ybos and
six other girls and women. His
sentence: 178 years.
“Before he was caught, I told
myself I had moved on and I had
healed, which was the furthest
thing from the truth,” Ybos says.
“I realize how the attack and the
disregard of law enforcement just
informed every second of my life.
... It was always with me in every
second of those nine years.”
Ybos became a driving force
for reform, helping draft and lob-
by for a measure in Tennessee that
eliminates the statute of limitation
on rapes reported within three
years of the crime. It was signed
into law in 2014.
“She stepped forward ... for
survivors in ways many don’t,”
says Tennessee State Sen. Mark
Norris, the bill’s sponsor. “She did
the right thing.”
quakes
rumble
near the
Oregon
Coast
The Associated Press
SALEM — A series of
earthquakes struck off the
Oregon coast Monday but
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were triggered.
A magnitude 5.8 earth-
quake struck at 12:52 a.m.
and a 5.5 hit at 4:46 a.m.
Monday morning. A third
smaller quake measuring
magnitude 4.4 hit at 7:46
a.m.
Paul Caruso with the
U.S. Geological Survey
says the quakes hit a fault
west of the Oregon and
Washington coast. They
were about 330 miles west
of Salem and 288 miles
from Coos Bay Oregon.
Caruso says they were
6 miles deep, which is rel-
atively shallow. He says
the deeper the quake, the
less likely people will
feel it. The magnitude 7.8
quake that recently struck
Japan did little damage
because it was 420 miles
deep.
Caruso says the quakes
were not big enough to
trigger tsunamis. He says
it usually takes a magni-
tude 7 for that to happen.
Junes: ‘I plan on staying involved for years and years’
“You have to have good
grades and be respectful,” she
said. “If you’re wearing an
Astoria jersey, then you’re not
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baseball, but really the last two
or three years is when I got su-
“The whole goal is to keep
perinvolved,” said Junes, who
kids active and busy,” Junes
actually holds down three other
said. “We are just trying to get
jobs during the school year.
kids out of the house and onto
“It is a big job to keep it all
Busy, busy
WKH ¿HOG DZD\ IURP WKH YLGHR
together and ready to go. It’s a
7KHUH¶VFHUWDLQO\QRJRR¿QJ lot of work, but it’s worth it.”
games, staying out of trouble,
off in running a youth baseball
and staying active.”
And it’s Junes who enlists
Sports “are so good for them,” organization.
the help of other parents.
Astoria Youth Baseball does
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“By the time (the players)
four of whom are playing base- QRW KDYH DQ RI¿FLDO RI¿FH HY- are 12, all the parents know the
ball. “They don’t really have time eryone’s a volunteer, and the drill, they’re all willing to help
to do anything else, except base- YROXQWHHUVKDYHQRRI¿FLDOWLWOHV and they know how everything
ball and school. And they love it.” Technically speaking, they just works.”
And there are some high do stuff.
Like fundraising — a never-
standards to being a youth base-
“I have been helping since ending pursuit in youth baseball,
ball player in Astoria.
Colby (her oldest son) started in any city.
Continued from Page 1A
Last year, when the Lower
Columbia 12U All-Stars won
the state tournament (hosted by
Astoria), there was a mad dash
to raise funds for the team’s trip
to regionals in Montana, where
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“The big fundraising is when
we hit All-Stars,” Junes said. “If
we were to win state and go to
Idaho this year, it’s huge to have
that community help, because
we want every kid to go, and at
least one of their parents.
“Last year, the community
was behind us so much, it was
incredible. We were all able to
go. We paid for the fees to get
in the tournament, paid for their
travel and paid for them to have
a place to stay.
“It’s very expensive,” she
said. “I was blown away with
how much it ended up being.
The fact that we all got over
there was awesome. It’s a once-
in-a-lifetime thing for the kids.”
And if this summer is like
the rest, the Lower Columbia
All-Star teams will pound the
cookies out of every team they
play, win a few tournaments,
WKHQ ¿QLVK XS ZLQQLQJ D VWDWH
championship or two. “I think
we got it,” Junes said. “But I’m
a mom.”
Lower Columbia’s 12U All-
Stars, coached by Kenny Hage-
man, host the Majors’ state tour-
nament, July 10-12 at Columbia
Field.
6R LI \RX KDSSHQ WR ¿QG
yourself at a ball game this
summer — and Kati Perry
Junes happens to be working
the concession stand (what are
the odds?), stop by and tell her
thank you for all that she does.
“I plan on staying involved
for years and years. I don’t think
I could give it up.”
Oh — and ask her if she
could stir that drink.
— Gary Henley
CL ASSIF IE D M ARK ETPL A CE
N EW
TOD AY !
P lace classified ad s o n lin e at w w w .d ailyasto rian .co m o r call 503-325-3211
Look a t these
a ds first
N EW T ODAY
N EW T ODAY
Comfort Inn & Suites - Seaside,
a Lincoln Asset Management
Hotel, under new management
and looking to build a team of
associates that have the desire
to serve.
Now hiring fulltime
Housekeepers ($10-$13 DOE)
and Facilities Technicians ($12-15
DOE), schedule will include
weekends and holidays. Must
be customer service oriented
with 50 lbs. push, pull, lift
requirement. Includes free
breakfast. Apply between
9:00 - 3:00 at
545 Broadway Seaside.
Accepting Applications:
Help chart a course!
Hiring!
Full-time Day/Evening Cook
Work Schedule: Mon, Tues, Thurs
and Fri from 12pm-8pm!
Please apply online at:
www.teamavamere.com
or in person, at facility!
Suzanne Elise Assisted Living
101 Forest Drive
Seaside, OR 97138
(503) 738-0307
*Avamere offers a full benefits package
(including paid vacation!) for full-time
employees
Part-time bartender.
Experienced only.
Apply in person at Golden Star,
599 Bond St.
Hiring!
Full-time/Part-time Wait staff
Day (6:30am-2pm) Evening
(3:30pm-7:30pm) Opportunities
Available!
Please apply online at:
www.teamavamere.com
or in person, at facility!
Suzanne Elise Assisted Living
101 Forest Drive
Seaside, OR 97138
(503) 738-0307
*Avamere offers a full benefits package
(including paid vacation!) for full-time
employees
Our counselors are like navigators
helping our students find the best
path to successful completion.
This challenging but rewarding job
allows you to witness our
students grow and change with
the help of your guidance.
Bachelorʼs degree with 15 social
service related credit hours and
one year of related exp. required.
Apply at www.mtc.jobs
Questions? Call 503-338-4961.
Management & Training
Corporation is an
Equal Opportunity Employer
Minority/Female/Veteran/Disability
MTC Values Diversity!
Applications available
Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Point Adams Packing Co.
482 Fleet St. Hammond, OR
Hiring!
Part-time Medication Aides
Swing (2pm-10pm)
and Noc (10pm-6am)
Opportunities Available!
The primary responsibility of this
position is to administer medications
to residents and assist with other
aspects of their daily care and
routine.
Please apply online at:
www.teamavamere.com
or in person, at facility!
Suzanne Elise Assisted Living
101 Forest Drive
Seaside, OR 97138
(503) 738-0307
Competitive Pay
Join our team today!
Receptionist/ Entry-level Office
Busy Seaside law firm looking for
multi-line phone, computer, and
customer-service skills. Spanish
speaking and legal experience a
plus. Send resume to
seasideoregonoffice@gmail.com.
Competitive Pay
Join our team today
School Psychologist (2 Positions)
Ocean Beach School District
Naselle/Wahkiakum/
Toutle School Districts
Full-Time;
2015-16 School Yr Schedule
Starting Annual Salary Range:
$40,820 - $64,174
Student Assistance Professional:
P/I
Ocean Beach School District
Full-Time; 2015-16 School Yr
Schedule
Starting Annual Salary Range:
$31,566 - $38,574
For job description and online
application visit our website:
www.esd112.org/hropenings/
ESD 112 Vancouver, WA - EOE
61 B ANKRUPTCY
70 H ELP W ANTED
BANKRUPTCY $250
25 Years Experience.
(503)440-0281 / (503)678-7939
Now hiring processing workers for
the whiting season.
Tongue Point is a drug-free workplace
and has a tobacco-free campus.
Hiring!
Full-time/Part-time Caregivers
Day (6am-2pm) and Evening
(2pm-10pm) Shifts Available
Please apply online at:
www.teamavamere.com
or in person, at facility!
Suzanne Elise Assisted Living
101 Forest Drive
Seaside, OR 97138
(503) 738-0307
N EW T ODAY
WE DELIVER!
McMenamins Sand Trap is
now hiring for a
Sous Chef II (Production).
Previous culinary experience/
education and supervisory
experience in a high volume kitchen
required. Qualified applicants must
also possess the following:
a willingness to learn; an open and
flexible schedule including days,
evenings, weekends, holidays; an
open summertime schedule; and
an enthusiasm for working in a
busy, customer service-oriented
environment. Previous experience
is a plus! We have seasonal and
long term opportunities. Looking
for a career in the hospitality
industry? We offer opportunities for
growth and great benefits to
eligible employees.
Apply online at
www.mcmenamins.com
or pick up a paper application
here at the Sand Trap
(or any other McMenamins
location). Mail to:
430 N. Killingsworth, Portland,
OR, 97217 (Attn: HR); or fax to
503-221-8749. E.O.E.
Please leave a light on or install
motion detector lights to make
your carrierʼs job easier. Thanks!
THE DAILY ASTORIAN
70 H ELP W ANTED
Accepting Applications:
Now hiring processing workers for
the whiting season.
Applications available
Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Point Adams Packing Co.
482 Fleet St. Hammond, OR
ALL ABOUT CANDY
SEASIDE CANDYMAN
NEEDS YOUR HELP
$10/hr to start increasing to
$14 with proven experience.
!!START IMMEDIATELY!!
21 N. Columbia, #105, Seaside Or.
(503)738-5280,
candyman@seasurf.net
Warrenton-Hammond School District
Assistant Principal/
Athletic Director for
Warrenton High School
Application/job details
available online at
www.warrentonschools.com
or contact (503) 861-2281
CLASSIFIED ADS are used by people
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or services. For fast results, use a
Classified ad to attract people who
are ready to buy your product.
45 P UBLIC N OTICES
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rian and customers are under no
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If you would like to contact the at-
torney general or be put on the do
not call list, here are the links to
both of them
Complaint form link:
http://www.doj.state.or.us/
finfraud/
Are you looking to make a
difference in someoneʼs life?
Coast Rehabilitation Services is
seeking caring and compassionate
people who are seeking rewarding
opportunities as he/she assists
adults with disabilities to lead
quality lives of their choosing in
a residential setting. Warrenton,
Gearhart, and Seaside.
Successful applicants must be at
least 18 years of age, have a
High School diploma or GED,
and pass a criminal background
check, pre-employment drug
test, and pre-employment
physical. You must also possess
a valid driverʼs license.
Applications can be
obtained and returned at our
admin office at 89451 Hwy. 101 in
Warrenton,
Billʼs Tavern and Brewhouse
is now hiring PT/FT line cooks,
must be availbale nights and
weekends.
(503)436-2202 or pick up
application at 188 N. Hemlock,
Cannon Beach, OR.
BioOregon Protein is hiring seasonal
production workers for our Whiting
Season. Competitive wages.
Apply in person at
1935 NW Warrenton Drive in
Warrenton. 503-861-2256.
Pre-Employment screening required.
EEO Company.
Cashier/Clerk
Accepting application for honest,
friendly, self-motivated individual for
a full-time position. Starting pay
$10.25 per hour.
Pre Employment screening
required.
Applications available at
Budʼs RV in Gearhart
4412 Hwy. 101 North
Gearhart, OR. 97138
City of Warrenton
Finance Director
$5,745.64 to $6,983.84
Deadline: June 19, 2015, 5:00 pm
Download application and full
job description at
www.ci.warrenton.or.us.
Mail application, resume, and
cover letter to City Manager,
City of Warrenton, PO Box 250,
Warrenton, OR. 97146.
Questions Contact:
Linda Engbretson,
(503)861-0823
Linda Engbretson
lengbretson@ci.warrenton.or.us
AA/EOE
Comfort Inn & Suites - Seaside,
a Lincoln Asset Management
Hotel, under new management
and looking to build a team of
associates that have the desire
to serve.
Now hiring fulltime
Housekeepers ($10-$13 DOE)
and Facilities Technicians ($12-15
DOE), schedule will include
weekends and holidays. Must
be customer service oriented
with 50 lbs. push, pull, lift
requirement. Includes free
breakfast. Apply between
9:00 - 3:00 at
545 Broadway Seaside.