7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
Cazee: ‘I would
deeply apologize
to anyone who
feels like a victim’
Continued from Page 1A
Turmoil shakes up agency
in charge of vast US lands
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Mount Katahdin, just west of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, is a site administered by the U.S.
Interior Department near Patten, Maine.
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. — A
year of upheaval at the U.S.
Interior Department has seen
dozens of senior staff members
reassigned and key leadership
positions left unfilled, rules
considered burdensome to
industry shelved, and a sweep-
ing reorganization proposed for
its 70,000 employees.
The evolving status quo
at the agency responsible for
more than 780,000 square
miles (2 million square kilome-
ters) of public lands, mostly in
the American West, has led to
praise from energy and mining
companies and Republicans,
who welcomed the departure
from perceived heavy-handed
regulation under President
Barack Obama.
But the changes have drawn
increasingly sharp criticism
from conservationists, Demo-
crats and some agency employ-
ees. Under President Donald
Trump, the critics say, Inte-
rior Secretary Ryan Zinke has
curbed outside input into how
the land is used and elevated
corporate interests above the
duty to safeguard treasured
sites.
The differing views illus-
trate longstanding tensions
over the role of America’s
public lands — an amalgam
of pristine wilderness, recre-
ational playgrounds and abun-
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke
dant energy reserves.
A year into his tenure,
Zinke, a former U.S. Navy
SEAL and Montana congress-
man, has emerged as the point
person for the administration’s
goal of American “energy
dominance.” He’s targeted
regulations perceived to ham-
per development of oil, natu-
ral gas and coal beneath public
lands primarily in the West and
Alaska.
He’s also made plans to
realign the agency’s bureau-
cracy, trimming the equivalent
of 4,600 jobs — about 7 per-
cent of its workforce — and
proposed a massive overhaul
that would move decision-mak-
ing out of Washington, D.C.,
relocating headquarters staff to
Western states at a cost of $17.5
million.
The intent is to delegate
more power to personnel in
the field who oversee activ-
ities ranging from mining to
livestock grazing to protecting
endangered plants and animals.
Staffing reductions would
be achieved through natural
attrition and reclassifying some
positions to lower pay grades
as employees are moved out-
side the D.C. area, Zinke
spokeswoman Heather Swift
said Monday.
Zinke’s actions have stirred
dissent within and outside the
agency — from his claim that
one-third of Interior employ-
ees were disloyal to Trump to
a proposal to allow more drill-
ing off America’s coasts while
carving out an exception for
Florida at the request of Repub-
lican Gov. Rick Scott.
Along with Zinke’s full-
throated promotion of the
Trump administration’s new
agenda came the transfer of at
least 35 senior Interior employ-
ees. Among them was Matthew
Allen, who was demoted from
assistant director of communi-
cations at the agency’s Bureau
of Land Management.
He’s now in a new posi-
tion, performing “nonspecific
duties” in an Interior branch
that oversees offshore drilling.
Allen sued in December, chal-
lenging his reassignment as
retaliation for his support of
government transparency.
“There appears to be a col-
lective effort to suppress infor-
mation being shared with the
public, the press and the Con-
gress,” he said.
At the agency’s highest lev-
els, 11 leadership positions are
vacant a year after Trump took
office, including the directors
of the Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice, the Bureau of Land Man-
agement and the National Park
Service.
Panels such as the National
Park System Advisory Board
have languished, according to a
letter submitted by board mem-
bers who resigned last month.
Board Chairman and former
Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles,
a Democrat, complained that
requests to engage with Zinke’s
team were ignored and mem-
bers were concerned steward-
ship and protection of the parks
was being pushed aside.
When the Park Service in
October proposed increasing
entrance fees at 17 of the most
highly visited parks — from
Grand Canyon to Yellowstone
and Zion — the board wasn’t
consulted, said Carolyn Fin-
ney, a University of Kentucky
geography professor who was
among those who resigned.
“How do we make parks
more accessible? It’s cost,”
Finney said. She said the fee
increase would hinder the abil-
ity of a “more diverse and
wider group of the public to
visit the parks.”
The board’s charter expired
in December after it collected
comments from more than 100
experts on how parks should
deal with climate change,
increase visitor diversity and
protect wildlife.
Medina: Questioned truthfulness of two victims
Continued from Page 1A
about a decade, and the couple
had two children together.
“She was struggling with
the loss of my parents,” the
mother said. “I believed that
God placed him in our lives
when we needed him most.”
But the relationship soured
over time, she said.
“I began to feel like I had
lost her. She became so dis-
tant from her family because
Gary was her whole world,”
the mother said before turning
to Medina. “She was a vulner-
able child and you took advan-
tage of her and took control of
every part of her life. She was
brainwashed to love you, and
she was brainwashed to defend
you. I know you believe your
lies. These little girls paid the
price.”
The victim then testified
that Medina abused her.
“The wool was pulled over
every person’s eyes,” the vic-
tim said. “Putting Gary behind
bars may silence him for a
while, but I know in my heart
he will come back and start this
cycle again.”
Cherish Nunnally, who
was staying with Medina at
17, talked about how Medina
had used her vulnerability to
manipulate her. The Daily
Astorian does not typically
identify victims of sexual
abuse, but Nunnally agreed to
have her name disclosed.
After being born to a hero-
in-addicted mother, Nunnally
bounced between numerous
foster homes as a child before
living with Medina. She was
given medication to treat an
ear infection and migraine one
night and climbed into Medi-
na’s bed in between him and
his wife, who has since died.
“You and I didn’t grow up
Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian
Former Astoria High School wrestling coach Gary Medina
after a court appearance in April.
with good role models to teach
us what good boundaries were.
I’ve had to be a mother as long
as I can remember, so I don’t
mind being a mother to you
now and telling you, ‘No,’”
Nunnally said. “Gary, you
used your power and control to
manipulate people, and today I
am taking back my power.”
Buzzard lauded the two
women.
“Many people don’t realize
that Mr. Medina is the quint-
essential sex abuser,” Buz-
zard said. “He’s the one every-
body should be mad at, but he
flipped it around. It was genius,
really.”
‘Me Too’ movement
Christine Mascal, Medi-
na’s Portland-based attorney,
filed two motions to reconsider
the verdict prior to sentencing.
McIntosh denied both.
“Nothing in the memo
changes what was argued in
trial,” McIntosh said.
After everyone involved in
the defense and prosecution
said their piece, Medina, who
did not testify at the trial, came
forward.
He admitted to drinking
heavily at the time of the crimes
due to his late wife’s cancer
diagnosis, often impairing his
judgment and his ability to be
a good father and husband. He
also described how his life was
going smoothly — a new fian-
cee, a new house, multiple chil-
dren to raise and recent success
as a wrestling coach at Beaver-
ton High School — before he
was arrested in February 2017.
“While in trial, everybody
got a two-day snapshot of me
— only 10 percent of the entire
truth,” Medina said. “In the
wave of this ‘Me Too’ move-
ment, it seems like men are
considered guilty immediately.
It isn’t fair all the time.”
Medina pointed to what
he believed were holes in the
prosecution’s arguments. He
said he was out of town with
the Coast Guard when he was
said to have had sex with the
15-year-old victim. He said
Nunnally’s position in bed
with him — and next to his
light-sleeping wife — would
have made it impossible to
reach up her shirt and down
her pants.
Medina also questioned the
truthfulness of the two victims,
saying he maintained a rela-
tionship with both for years
afterward.
In her testimony, Nunnally
alluded to the fact that several
witnesses questioned the vic-
tims’ veracity.
“If those same people were
asked about Gary, there would
have been significant pause
before answering that ques-
tion,” she said.
At the end of his comments,
Medina tearfully apologized
to the victims for his behavior
but said he did not commit the
crimes.
“Every story has two sides,”
Medina said. “If I’m going to
prison when I’m innocent, I
wanted you to hear mine.”
‘Turned my stomach’
The comments did not sit
well with McIntosh, who said
she wished she could issue a
longer sentence.
The judge said his com-
ments were not subject to
cross-examination and could
not be construed as evidence,
pointed to interview transcripts
in which Medina discussed
how teenage girls would flirt
with him, and said a recorded
conversation between him and
one of the victims proved he
was controlling.
“It turned my stomach to
listen to you,” McIntosh said.
“The last 30 minutes of you
talking about what liars they
are did nothing but solidify my
opinion.”
The judge then turned to the
victims.
“I found you incredibly
believable. You withstood
substantial cross-examination
from a skilled lawyer,” McIn-
tosh said. “You have not been
destroyed by this.”
Around 10 p.m. the night
of his first arrest, sheriff’s
deputies found Cazee walk-
ing in the area without a
flashlight minutes after yet
another complaint of a man
searching through windows.
Authorities also found that
Cazee, a surgical nurse in
Portland at the time, had sto-
len mail from one of the vic-
tims and kept it at his Port-
land mobile home.
One of the victims, due to
repeated suspicions of some-
one prowling outside her
home, placed a surveillance
camera outside her residence
in early 2017.
“I felt like I was losing
my mind,” she said.
Victims speak out
In one of the videos, the
man was wearing a camou-
flage jacket that appeared
identical to the one Cazee
wore when he was arrested.
Nearly all of the victims
— and a few family mem-
bers — spoke at the sen-
tencing hearing. Common
themes surfaced in their
statements: anger, lack of
sleep, weariness of surround-
ings at home, lost feelings of
privacy and keeping weap-
ons nearby as they sleep at
night.
“This violation was not
physical, but it was more dif-
ficult than I ever could have
imagined. How could you
know a year after a trauma
like how much of a toll it will
have on your life?” one vic-
tim said. “To put it freely, the
thought of Mr. Cazee walk-
ing around in public, whether
now or 30 years from now,
makes me want to crawl out
of my own skin.”
Two other young women
detailed how their lack of
sleep has affected their per-
formance at school. One
dropped out of high school
her senior year, while
another— a college student
— said she went from earn-
ing a 4.0 GPA to a 0.86 GPA.
“I will definitely not
be the same person I was
before,” one victim said. “It
has made my anxiety worse,
my depression worse. I’m
afraid to get out of my car in
the driveway and walk in the
front door at night.”
Another victim described
how she has been having a
difficult time being intimate
with her boyfriend out of fear
that someone is watching.
Some said they almost panic
when they encounter some-
one who looks like Cazee.
“It wasn’t just my anxiety
or somebody playing tricks
on me. Someone was actu-
ally outside my window,”
a victim said. “If he didn’t
get caught, what would’ve
happened?”
For the parents and guard-
ians of the victims, feelings
of an inability to protect their
children were pervasive.
Some exuded their anger
at Cazee, even asking him
to look at them during their
remarks and calling his facial
expression “smug.”
One of the victim’s
grandmother’s said she and
her husband moved to Surf
Pines with their granddaugh-
ters because they heard the
community was safe. They
often left their blinds up and
curtains open.
“Shame on you. Shame
on you for doing this to my
granddaughter and to all the
other girls,” she said. “It’s so
sick. It’s really sick.”
During the January trial,
Cazee’s wife and son testified
that he often went for walks
by himself late at night. They
also spoke Friday.
“I love you and I will
always love you, but I am
deeply hurt and confused by
your actions,” his son said.
“You’ve stayed my personal
Superman until you were
arrested.”
Peering through
windows
Cazee admitted to peer-
ing through windows in a
psychosexual
evaluation
released minutes before
the sentencing hearing.
The evaluation, and sev-
eral comments by lawyers
in the hearing, revealed that
Cazee is likely to face sev-
eral other charges from the
U.S. Department of Justice.
He apologized to the victims
during the hearing.
“I had absolutely no idea
of the impact of my actions
before. I do now,” Cazee
said. “I feel like some think
that I have no remorse, but
that is not true. I would
deeply apologize to anyone
who feels like a victim.”
Soon before sentencing
Cazee, Judge Dawn McIn-
tosh said the psychosexual
evaluation described a long-
standing problem that he
failed to address.
“The work that the sher-
iff’s office did in this case
is what got you,” the judge
said. “I don’t think you
cared. I don’t think you
thought about anybody but
yourself when you were
doing this. I think you’re a
dangerous man. I don’t think
you’re likely to change your
spots.”
McIntosh commended
the “articulate,” “strong”
and “heartfelt” words of the
victims.
“I hope you were listen-
ing because I certainly was,”
she told Cazee. “You see
words like ‘invasion of per-
sonal privacy’ and you don’t
think off the bat about the
damage that is done.”
Clayton: ‘I’m still new
to this. I want to learn’
Continued from Page 1A
“I can’t do anything artis-
tic myself. But I appreci-
ate the skill. I’m fascinated
by it,” he said. “My love of
art always balanced out my
career in the business world.
Sure, you need creativity in
business, but where do you
draw that creativity from?
Art was my way to balance
my life.”
So as he prepared to
retire, Clayton stayed on the
lookout for available galler-
ies to manage. Clayton and
his wife were also looking
at the Oregon Coast for a
summer home. At the same
time, Bronze Coast Gal-
lery became available, and
the opportunity to manage
a gallery by the water lined
up.
With this being his first
venture into the gallery
world, Clayton doesn’t plan
to change much.
“Part of what made this
gallery so attractive was
how not much needs to be
changed. Kim has done a
fantastic job,” he said. “We
have great clientele, great
artists and a wonderful set of
employees. So if we’re not
broken, then it doesn’t need
to be fixed. But it would be
naive to say we can’t do
better.”
Clayton hopes to main-
tain the gallery’s relation-
ships with artists, as well as
expand and diversify pieces
with new artists. The biggest
change customers will see in
the near future is an updated
website.
“I’m still new to this.
I want to learn,” he said.
“To change for the sake of
change is not something I
believe in.”
While Clayton loves the
beauty of the Oregon Coast,
he said he plans to split his
time between Cannon Beach
and Phoenix, Arizona,
where his wife still lives.
“Sometimes I need a
week of sun,” he laughed.