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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 ‘Suspicious behavior’ on energy tax credits OBITUARY Joean Kennedy Fransen Astoria Feb. 18, 1922 — Sept. 5, 2016 No direct evidence of fraud found Joean Kennedy Fransen, age 94 — wife, Children of the Great Depression, she and mom, educator, author, welcoming neighbor Walter carried with them an understanding of and friend to those in need — passed away in hard times, and were always very generous to Astoria, Oregon, on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. those in need. In an era much less inclusive Born in the wheat country of than today, Joean’s best friends came Condon, Oregon, in 1922, and raised from all cultures and backgrounds. in Pendleton, Oregon, she graduated Intertwined through her long life, from St. Joseph’s Academy in 1940 her achievements, and her children, and entered Marylhurst College in was a deep and abiding faith in our Portland. In 1942, she suspended loving creator. her academic plans and jumped into She was preceded in death by the war effort, becoming an appren- brother Maurice; sister Rita Jean; tice electrician who helped wire her and husband of 65 years, Walt Fran- sen, who passed away on April 11 share of the 455 ships built between this year. She is survived by her 1942 and 1945 at the Kaiser ship- Joean Fransen yard at Swan Island in Portland. children, Sue Rickey and her hus- band, Meryl, of Tri-Cities, Wash- Following the war, the Irish girl ington, Katie Ryding and her hus- from Eastern Oregon moved to Astoria and took another position of service — band, Scott, of Astoria, Bill Fransen and his with the American Red Cross. Renting a room wife, Katherine, of Olympia, Washington, in the home of Norwegian isherman Trygve and Trygve Fransen and his wife, Kathy, of Johansen and his wife Bertha, she embraced Knappa, Oregon. She was also blessed with 11 grandchil- the Scandinavian culture and learned from the best to cook and bake Rolle’polse, krumkake, dren, Eileen Savoy, Lara Terry, Alison Trum- lefse, fruit soup and prune tarts as good as any pore, Melinda Rickey, Gregory Ryding, Adri- ana Ryding, Jeffrey Ryding, Emily Fransen, Norwegian or Finn. In the late 1940s, at Amato’s Supper Club, Alec Fransen, Jennifer Young and Toivo Fran- she met a handsome young Finn by the name sen; and 13 great-grandchildren. In addition, of Walter Fransen; they married in 1950, and she is survived by three dear sisters-in-law, together they settled into the south slope of Shirley Tinner of Astoria, Helen Mack of Palm Astoria. They raised a family centered on faith, Desert, California, and Cannon Beach, Ore- expectations and compassion … and lots of gon, and Audrey Brown of San Francisco; and many, many wonderful nieces and nephews. ish. A neighborhood mom, she hosted the annual She was so grateful, and blessed, with a lov- marshmallow roasts, the backyard carnival, the ing, caring family. The family of Walter and Joean would like neighborhood picnics and organized the annual neighborhood climb of Saddle Mountain. She to express their deepest appreciation for the was the neighbor who always brought a wel- kindness, the tender care, and the compassion coming dish to the new neighbors and had a showered on our parents by the most amaz- particular soft spot for young U.S. Coast Guard ing people who work at Clatsop Care. What a families. Active in Beta Sigma Phi, St. Grego- blessing each of you were in their lives, and ry’s Circle at St Mary’s Catholic Church, the ours. Please know that we are very grateful. Columbia River Maritime Museum and the A Mass of Christian Burial will be Monday, Astoria Library, gatherings were common at Sept. 12, 2016, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary, Star of her home. the Sea Catholic Church, Astoria, Oregon. The A strong advocate of reading, she was on mass will be preceded by a rosary at 10:30 a.m. the board of directors that oversaw the con- at the church. Following the mass, there will be struction of the Astoria Library. As her chil- a celebration of her life with a reception at The dren came of age, she returned to Marylhurst Loft at the Red Building, 20 Basin St., Astoria, College and earned her bachelor’s degree in Oregon. Friends, neighbors, family and former 1970, and commenced a career in education. students are warmly invited. She devoted 16 years to the library and Relecting her compassion for those less teaching at Capt. Robert Gray School. During fortunate, and her love for the Columbia River that tenure, an absence of resource material and all things Astoria, memorial contribu- on Capt. Robert Gray led her to a retirement tions may be made to: The Maritime Memorial project: Researching and writing a book for Association, in care of the Uniontown Associ- young adults that chronicled Gray’s discovery ation, P.O. Box 392, Astoria, OR 97103; St. of the Columbia River. “Gray and Columbia’s Vincent de Paul Society — St. Mary Star of River,” published in 1992, took her on research the Sea Conference, 1465 Grand Ave, Asto- trips to Massachusetts, the Portuguese colony ria, OR 97103; or the St. Mary Star of the Sea of Macao and the west coast of Vancouver Education Fund, 1465 Grand Ave, Astoria, OR 97103. Island. Astoria hosts City Hall Week event The Daily Astorian Astoria is one of 17 cities in Oregon participating in “City Hall Week,” when city ofi- cials will lead a public forum with legislators and candidates on issues that support the eco- nomic vitality and stability of Oregon communities. The Astoria event — sched- uled for 1 p.m. Monday at City Hall — will provide an oppor- By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — Finding no direct evidence of fraud, Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins nevertheless has for- warded “circumstantial evi- dence of suspicious behav- ior” in 79 projects that received business energy tax credits to the state Depart- ment of Justice. The Secretary of State’s Ofice released Thursday the results of an indepen- dent audit of records kept by the program, which was administered by the Oregon Department of Energy. The tax credits became mired in controversy after allegations of fraud and other suspicious activity surfaced; the program ended in 2014 at the behest of the Legislature. Between 2007, when the program was expanded, and 2014, when it ended, the department issued more than $1 billion in business energy tax credits. In a letter to the state Legislature Thursday, Atkins said there was about $347 million worth of tax credits where records con- tained evidence of risk fac- tors that were concerning to auditors. The auditors, a private vendor contracted for the service earlier this year, performed a forensic data analysis of the 14,494 proj- ects that received business energy tax credits between 2007 and 2014. Auditors found conlicts of interest, insuficient doc- umentation, projects that never got off the ground, businesses that closed or failed, and “illogical proj- ects,” among other issues PLEASE ADOPT A PET! tunity for city oficials, state lawmakers and legislative can- didates to share ideas and per- spectives prior to the next leg- islative session. City Councilor Zetty Nem- lowill will lead the discussion with City Manager Brett Estes. State Sen. Betsy Johnson, state Rep. Deborah Boone and Bruce Bobek, Boone’s Repub- lican challenger, are slated to attend. Crystal 8 -yea r o ld Pit Terrier M u lti-fa ceted in telligen c w ith a hea rt o f go ld . A rea l trea su re! See her u n iq u e sto ry o n Petfin d er.co m that were concerning. The auditors examined most of the large projects — those with costs exceeding $1 mil- lion — individually. Of the 311 large projects they examined, more than 25 percent showed one concerning characteristic, according to Atkins’ letter. Auditors also reviewed a small sample of smaller projects and extrapolated their indings to the rest of the projects, esti- mating that about $7.2 million of tax credits issued for smaller projects was concerning. Atkins also said that the department left itself vulnera- ble to inancial risks by doing only what statute required when it came to “major pro- gram controls.” “The records show that the priority for department man- agement was achieving the goals of the program as directed by state leadership,” Atkins wrote. “Past leadership of the agency did not further reine the boundaries of the program by employing formalized risk management assessments or by establishing management controls to assure that projects and credits met high standards of inancial management. As a result, there were many inan- cial risks for which there were no adequate controls.” Atkins also released a slate of recommendations for improving inancial controls at the agency. The audit of the records kept about the program, which is also referred to by its acronym, BETC, was announced earlier this year. Energy department Direc- tor Michael Kaplan, who has acknowledged problems with the program and the depart- ment’s management of it, wrote in a response to Atkins: “We take full responsibility for BETC’s problems in light of glaring and yearslong evi- dence that shows unequivocally that ODOE simply did not man- age BETC well,” Kaplan wrote in a letter to Atkins that was also released Thursday. However, auditors also con- cluded that the department lacked the necessary internal support to reduce possible inan- cial risks posed by the program. “The ODOE is an energy agency, not a inancial agency, and lacked functional roles rea- sonably needed to mitigate the BETC risks,” the report states. But Kaplan also said in his response to Atkins that, despite those structural challenges, the agency did not require legisla- tive changes to ix its manage- ment problems. “It is not enough for a state agency to merely lag problems and expect solutions; ODOE also had the responsibility to solve those problems using a variety of tools, including better in-house oversight and manage- ment,” Kaplan wrote. “Request- ing ixes in the Legislature is a resource to address policy issues and not a mechanism to correct systemic management challenges.” Auditors could not ind a risk assessment or internal or exter- nal audits speciic to the BETC program. According to the auditors’ indings, the agency also faced political pressure to keep the tax credit program rolling. B rownsmead C orn F eed S unday S eptember 11 2 - 6 th pm e signs Follow th the from t estauran Logger R nappa in K Adults $9 Kids (under 12) $7 A complete ham dinner and all the corn you can eat. SEASIDE Oregon/Utah Concealed Carry Class Utah includes Washington & 30 other States Sunday, September 11 TH at 11 AM The Shilo Inn on the Prom 30 North Prom, Seaside www.dogsncats.org CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS 1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY BAY BREEZE BOARDING • Philomath football season canceled Associated Press PHILOMATH — An Ore- gon high school shaken by a hazing scandal will not play varsity football this season. The Gazette-Times reported the Philomath School Board canceled the season at a meeting Thursday night, but will allow some junior varsity game to be played. A volunteer assistant coach and six players face criminal charges for a hazing initiation in which a prosecutor says 11 freshmen were targeted. The incident happened during the team’s July trip to Camp Rilea on the north coast. All football activities were suspended during the investigation and players only resumed practice this week. Superintendent Melissa Goff told board members that outside experts evaluated this week’s practices to deter- mine the readiness of the ath- letes for competition. She said they unanimously agreed the school isn’t ready to play var- sity football. Get y chom our p read ers y! • • Concealed Carry Permits • • How to React in a Workplace Shooting • Children and Guns • Home Firearm Safety How to Choose a Concealed Carry Pistol Safe Storage Considerations Cleaning Techniques Ammunition Identifi cation For More Information, Call 541-921-5861 O LD - FASHIONED FUN GAMES AND M USIC •C ONTESTS •P RIZES s t n e E v Wednesdays * 6-11 pm Open Mic & Jam Session Hosted by Richard T. Port of Call Bistro & Bar Free Admission S ATURDAY & S UNDAY S EPT . 10 & 11 • 11 AM -4 PM SEPT. 25 * 5 pm Pacifi c Northwest Professional Wrestling Pacifi c sept. 25 * 8-11 pm Joshua Cook & the Key of Now Free Tickets @ & brownpaperbag.com Port of Call Bistro & Bar www.keyofnow.com (Last Sunday of Every Month) Join the Clatsop County Historical Society for some old-fashioned family fun and games on the Flavel House Museum lawn! FREE! FREE! Event sponsored by: Astoria Event Center Doors Open at 4:30PM $10 Sept. 23 & 24 Come join us for the unoffi cial offi cial BrewFest Afterparty! September 17 * 7 pm Bruce Thomas Smith and Friends O RIGINAL T EXAS R OADHOUSE R OCK Free For more info. contact the Clatsop County Historical Society by phone at 503-325-2203 or email at cchs@cumtux.org Southwest meets Northwest: Texas native Bruce Thomas Smith plays Original “Texas Roadhouse Rock”. You know, guitar in the driver seat and a story teller in the back, top down, cruisin’ just below the speed-limit, open highway, and tons of fresh scenery... “Texas Roadhouse Rock”... The REAL LIVE best, Period. Port of Call Bistro & Bar 894 Commercial Street 503*325*4356
