April 17, 2024
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The
Week in Review
Women Charged with Theft
and Money Laundering
Multnomah County District
Attorney Mike Schmidt today
announced that Chantail Wil-
liams, 39, was arraigned on a
secret grand jury indictment
for seven charges related to
stealing and laundering public
funds from the City of Portland
in May 2022. A charging doc-
ument is only an accusation of
a crime. Williams is innocent
unless and until proven guilty.
Winning Ticket Sold in Portland
A Powerball player in Oregon
has won a jackpot worth more
than $1.3 billion, ending a win-
less streak that had stretched
more than three months. The
lottery ticket was purchased
at a Plaid Pantry convenience
store in the northeast part of
Portland, Oregon Lottery said
in a statement.
Application for Preschool
Opens
Multnomah County’s Preschool for
All (PFA) application for the 2024-
25 year opened on Tuesday, April 2.
Preschool for All seats are free and
new seats start in September 2024.
Children who will be 3 or 4 years
old on or before September 1, 2024
and who have at least one parent or
legal guardian living in Multnomah
County are eligible to apply through
Tuesday, April 30.
Farmers Market Returns
Rocky Butte Farmers Market,
Portland’s dog & kid friendly
neighborhood market with a
block party vibe, will re-open
June 1, 2024 at its new more
visible and convenient location
on the border of the Roseway
and Madison South neighbor-
hoods at NE Siskiyou, between
80th & 82nd Avenues.
Daytime Show Ending
(AP) “The Talk” is ending its
long-running daytime conversa-
tion. The CBS talk show will end
in December after 15 seasons, the
network announced. The 11-time
Daytime Emmy winner is airing its
14th season, which will end in June.
Its final 15th season will premiere in
the fall.
Page 3
Local Engineer Receives
National Award
Nominated by
Supervisors,
Peers, and
Employees
The USDA Forest Service Pa-
cific Northwest Region recently
awarded Amy Thomas, a Port-
land, OR based Forest Service
employee and U.S. Army veter-
an, as the Region’s Managerial
Engineer of the Year for 2023.
In March 2024 Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Region identi-
fied winners for annual Engineer
of the Year Awards in four cat-
egories. Award recipients were
nominated by their supervisors,
peers, and employees.
“Amy has been a champion
of ‘doing our work different-
ly’ and integrating across and
among agency offices, other fed-
eral agencies, and external stake-
holders,” said Christy Darden,
Director of Engineering & Fleet
for the Forest Service Pacific
Northwest Region. “Her ded-
ication and contributions have
resulted in successful implemen-
tation of key initiatives includ-
ing the Great American Outdoor
Act and collective hiring events.
While this award is for her man-
aging skills, Amy is also a great
supervisor, coach, and mentor.”
Thomas was recognized for
her support to critical regional
and director area initiatives in
providing engineering, fleet, and
sustainable operations policy,
guidance, and program across
national forest lands across Or-
egon and Washington. During
the agency’s inaugural national
and regional hiring events for
engineers, Thomas provided key
Amy Thomas, Managerial Engineer of the Year for 2023
leadership and helped streamline
the hiring process, which result-
ed in the appointment of many
internal and external candidates.
This crucial employment effort
resulted in an increase of overall
agency engineers throughout the
Pacific Northwest Region.
According to her colleagues
Thomas’s success is a direct re-
sult of her dedication to agen-
cy mission, commitment to the
agency values, and her profes-
sional communication skills that
incorporate her experiences as
supervisor, manager, coach, and
mentor.She is known to focus,
invest, and lead in team build-
ing, improved program manage-
ment, and innovative outreach
and recruitment approaches.
“My favorite part of this agen-
cy is the diversity of people and
professions I get to work along-
side of and with to solve complex
problems,” Thomas remarked.
“The opportunities are endless
New Sullivan West Campground Picnic Shelter. USDA Forest
Service photo.
and, after 14 years working in
engineering roles for the For-
est Service, I recently moved to
the Congressional Justification
Branch in Strategic Planning,
Budget & Accountability. I am
looking forward to bringing my
regional engineering experienc-
es to this position to contribute
to budget formulation.”
Thomas currently works in
the Congressional Justification
Branch of Strategic Planning,
Budget, and Accountability for
the agency’s national office. In
her previous role she served as
the Deputy Director of Engineer-
ing & Fleet for the Forest Ser-
vice Pacific Northwest Region.
Prior to joining the USDA
Forest Service, Thomas worked
for various agencies within the
Department of Defense, begin-
ning her professional career as
an active-duty US Army engi-
neer officer. Thomas is a 1998
graduate of West Point, US Mil-
itary Academy, with a Bachelor
of Science in Civil Engineering
and earned her Master of Sci-
ence in Civil Engineering from
the University of Hawaii, Manoa
in 2005.
Thomas in no stranger to
change. When she was growing
up her father was active-duty
Army so her family moved all
over the country and spent a few
years overseas in South Korea.
She is now working remotely
for the national Forest Service
office in Washington D.C., and
continues to make her home in
Portland, OR which she calls her
“forever home.”