Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, November 29, 2000, Page 2, Image 2

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    N ovem ber 29, 2000
Page A2
(The ÿlorthniô (íDbeeruer
i Police News/Vancouver
Police P onder L ife U nder
N ew ly-P assed M easure 3
Weather
Inside-A
Through the
Weekend
Tips for Your Holiday
Travel Plans...........A5
Central Catholic Plans
Renovation............ A5
Joe Reese Passes on
Oil Company
Legacy.................... A6
Ioday
Rain
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Thursday
Metro-
Spiritual Master Vocalist
Performs.................. B2
Honoring Oregon's
Athletes of Color.... B3
El Observador........ B4
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Friday
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This Week
N ovem ber 29, 1947, the U.N.
General Assembly passed a reso­
lution calling for the partitioning of
Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
N ovem ber 30 1995, President
Clinton became the first U.S. chief
executive to visit Northern Ireland.
December 1 1959, representa­
tives o f 12 countries, including the
United States, signed a treaty in
W ashington setting aside Antarc­
tica as a scientific preserve, free
from military activity.
December 2 1954, the Senate
voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R.
M cCarthy, R W is., for “conduct
that tends to bring the Senate into
dishonor and disrepute.”
49°F High
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Saturday
in History
■M m m
48°FHigh
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Sunday
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Thought for
the Week
The most beautiful thing
we can experience is the
mysterious. It is the source
o f all true art and science.
—Albert Einstein
O regon’s police are beginning to
assess how voter-approved Mea­
sure 3 will change how they fight
crime, and they don’t like the answer.
Measure 3, approved by a 2-to-l
margin on Nov. 7, narrows police
power to confiscate cash, cars and
other property from suspected drug
dealers.
Police officers say while well- in­
tended, the constitutional amend­
ment threatens their ability to fight
drug dealers by requiring them to get
a conviction before they confiscate
property. Worse, they say, is the
provision that only allows law en­
forcement to keep 25 percent o f pro­
ceeds from any forfeiture, instead o f
the traditional 100 percent.
“I guess the single greatest im­
pact I saw, just from a police officer’s
point o f view, was the sense o f ju s­
tice,” said Salem PoliceCpt. BiU Kincfr
“In the criminal arena, first offense,
sometimes second offense, little or
nothing was happening. At least with
this, you could literally take the car
from the dealer or take $ 1,000 from his
pocket when he was selling balloons
o f cocaine and heroin.”
Form ore than adecade, O regon’s
civil forfeiture law has allowed au­
thorities to seize property from people
— mostly suspected drug dealers —
based on a determination o f “prob­
able cause” o f wrongdoing. No ar­
rest or conviction was required.
Police agencies throughout the
state used the law to confiscate ev­
erything from boats to houses to
land. They used the proceeds to the
forfeiture program by training new
police officers, buying police radios
and surveillance equipment and sup­
plying grants for drug-prevention
programs in schools.
Under Measure 3, 75 percent o f
the proceeds from forfeited property
are to go toward drug treatment, edu­
cation and prevention programs in­
stead o f to police work. Law enforce­
ment officials say instead the new
rules mean forfeitures may become a
thing o f the past because o f the re­
sulting budget crunch.
“ If the city is limited to 2 5 percent
out o f each case, that means w e’re
pretty much squeezing a lemon that
is dry,” said G eorge Stevenson,
Salem’s assistant city attorney. But
a supporter o f the new law says that
w on’t happen because local govern­
ments can pour funding into the for­
feiture programs suffering under
Measure 3.
“They’re overreacting. They’re
assuming that the city councils and
county commissions aren’t going to
think these programs are important
when weighed against other priori­
ties,” said Dave Fidanque, executive
director o f the Oregon branch o f the
American Civil Liberties Union.
“I think that’s a ridiculous assump­
tion. W hat it will mean is that they
will have to compete against other
policy priorities as opposed to hav­
ing a free lunch,” he said. The AC LU
and other proponents o f M easure 3
sought to reform the forfeiture sys­
tem, in part, because they said it
defied the concept o f innocent until
proven guilty. Supporters o f the
measure also maintained that reforms
were needed to rein in overzealous
police agencies. Fidanque said he
was not surprised by the lopsided
vote in favor o f the measure. “Under
the law currently, the entire proceeds
(Bcfajic ifvu DIG, qcithc
Underground utilities exist everywhere, even in your yard
Whether you're a homeowner or excavator, digging without knowing
where it's safe to dig can cause tremendous damage and even
serious injury. Before you pick up a shovel, pick up a phone
Portland 503-246-6699
Clark County 360-696-4848
IN OREGON 1-800-332-2344
The Beaverton Police De­
partment, in cooperation with
Crime Stoppers, is asking for
4> NW
www
Man Wanted for Robbery
Jeffery Jay Fahey
can go back to the very agencies that
have the responsibility for seizing
the p ro p e rty ,” F id a n q u e said.
“That ’ s one o f the inherent problems
in the civil forfeiture process. It en­
couraged police to look at law en­
forcement as a profit center.”
N a tu ra l
r\yv n a t u r a l
com
jects displayed a knife and Fahey
physically forced an occupant
to the floor while the apartment
was stripped of valuables.
Jeffery Jay Fahey is a 27-
year-old male white. He is 6’ 1”
tall and weighs approximately
170 pounds, with blond hair and
blue eyes.
Crime Stoppers is offering a
cash reward of up to $ 1,000 for
information, reported to Crime
Stoppers, which leads to an ar­
rest in this case, or any unsolved
felony crime, and you can re­
main anonymous. Call Crime
Stoppers at (503) 823-HELP.
your help in locating and appre­
hending Jeffery Jay Fahey.
A felony arrest warrant, on
file in Washington County and
extraditable
nationw ide,
charges Jeffery Fahey with two
counts of robbery in the first
degree, two counts of robbery
in the second degree, and one
count of burglary in the first
degree. According to Beaverton
detectives, on Wednesday, Oct.
11, Fahey and three compan­
ions entered a Beaverton apart­
ment on the ruse of recovering
personal property. Once inside
the apartment, one of the sub­
Zoo Fined $ 10,000 for Elephant Abuse
The U.S. Dept. o f Agriculture fined
he Oregon Zoo $ 10,000 for its mis-
reatment o f Rose-Tu, a six-year-old
ilephant The zoo was charged ear-
ier this month with violations o f the
Animal Welfare Act after abuse alle­
gations led to the firing o f elephant
îandler Fred Marion.
Investigators said Rose-Tu suf­
fered 176 gashes and cuts after being
repeatedly poked with a metal tipped
device. “I’m outraged by this and
share that concern expressed by ani­
mal rights groups about the outrage.
I’ll fight like hell to make sure this
individual doesn’t come back to our
facility,” said Burton.
The zoo agriculture department
will use halfofthe $ 10,000 fine to hire
outside experts to review the zoo’s
care o f elephants. The Oregon Zoo
is considered to have one o f the
best A sian elephant program s in
the nation. Zoo officials were con­
cerned this may dam age that repu­
tation.
Three animal welfare groups also
pursued efforts to implement harsh
penalties against the Oregon Zoo
over Rose-Tu's abuse.
Neil Kelly
v o ic e
d a ta
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