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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Whistleblower plans to sue lottery over alleged retaliation
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A former
employee has filed notice
he intends to sue the Oregon
Lottery for retaliating against
him for blowing the whistle
on the agency’s leadership
for questionable manage-
ment practices.
Trinh Tran, a former
lottery procurement officer,
resigned from the agency in
October, several weeks after
then-acting Lottery Director
Barry Pack took disciplinary
steps against him, according
to a tort claim notice filed
Dec. 6.
Tran claims the disci-
plinary action came after he
reported issues concerning
Jack Roberts, who at the
time Tran filed his report was
director of the lottery.
Tran alleged that Pack
pursued disciplinary action
against him despite an
internal investigation of Tran
that found “no evidence of
inappropriate conduct or
violations of policy.” The
investigation, initiated by
Pack in May, alleged that Tran
engaged in “intimidating”
and “belittling” behavior
toward his colleagues.
“In short, any purported
concern with Mr. Tran’s
‘management style’ was a
pretext for an investigation
that was simply and blatantly
a witch hunt in retaliation
for Mr. Tran’s raising and
escalating his concerns about
official misconduct,” the tort
claim states.
The Oregon Lottery had
no comment on the pending
litigation,
said
Joanie
Stevens-Schwenger, a lottery
spokeswoman.
Tran’s allegations are
similar to those of Roland
Iparraguirre, deputy director
MOTA: Team ended season winless, scoring only five goals
Continued from 1A
He says the words almost
as if reciting them at a 12-step
meeting, realizing how close
he came to self-destruction.
He acknowledges that “all
the guys I hung out with in
high school are behind bars
or dead,”
Mota, of Hispanic descent,
was born in California, but
headed to Mexico to be
with family after dropping
out. His road to redemption
started soon after meeting
Alicia in a beach resort town
called Manzanillo. They
married and moved back to
California five years later in
time for the birth of their first
child.
Mota opened a sporting
goods store that specialized
in soccer, a sport he played as
a young boy and continued
to love.
“I had very little experi-
ence, but I was always a fan
of the game,” he said.
His shop sat across the
street from a high school.
One day, the varsity soccer
coach purchased some
uniforms and asked if Mota
would be interested in
coaching the junior varsity
boys soccer team. Mota
became “Coach Mota.”
Mota closed the store
after a slow year in 1998 and
his father convinced him to
go back to school, offering
help with tuition. Mota
earned a bachelor’s degree
in kinesiology, making him
the first person in his family
to graduate from college.
By 2013, he had a masters
in sports psychology. He
coached
men’s
and/or
women’s soccer at three
schools — Linn Benton
Community
College,
Willamette University and
Chemeketa, all in the Salem
area.
In 2016, he headed to
Pendleton to coach soccer
and work at the Hermiston
center as a student success
coach. Soccer recruiting
season had already started
and Mota had a late start
building BMCC’s first-ever
women’s soccer team.
The roster featured all
Oregon athletes except one,
including six from Herm-
iston and Boardman.
Mota told his players he
expected success both in the
classroom and on the field.
He refers to his players as
“student athletes.”
“Education has to be a
priority,” he said. “Soccer
is not going to put food on
the table. You need to get an
education.”
On the field, Mota has a
hands-off game day philos-
ophy.
“Game day is the student
athlete’s time to shine.
Hopefully they’ll execute
the game plan in the best
manner possible,” he said.
“As coaches, our job is done
behind the scenes during
practice.”
This season unfolded
differently than he expected.
Early on, a parent complained
to college administrators
in a letter about Mota’s
coaching technique. Another
critic posted to the college’s
website. Mota was not
a guiding force during
games and he was sexist.
BMCC President Camille
Preus said an in-house
investigator
interviewed
players and coaches. Mota
was cleared, but agreed to a
plan of improvement. Preus
continues to believe that
Mota is the man for the job.
“When we extended
an offer to Art to come to
BMCC, it was because he
had rich experience,” she
said.
The team ended the
season winless, scoring only
five goals to opponents’ 158.
Mota let his players know
they would need to try out
for next year’s team.
Swirled into the disheart-
ening season were two
family deaths — Mota’s
sister-in-law, of an illness
in October, and a nephew
killed in a motorcycle
accident a month later. Mota
comforted his wife, who
remains in Albany with
their 16-year-old son and
23-year-old daughter, over
the phone until he could get
home. He missed games to
spend time with family.
The season left Mota
shaken.
“Did I know there were
going to be challenges?
Absolutely,” he said. “Did
I know the number and the
extent of the challenges? I
did not.”
Mota said he drew
support
from
athletic
director Brett Bryan, the
college as a whole, his
family and his faith in God.
Self-examination left him
resolved to move forward.
“Some of the decisions
I made with the team
might not be to everyone’s
liking, but I’m not here to
make everyone happy,” he
said. “You have to be able
to weather the storm and
maintain your composure.
As long as you’re open and
honest and transparent, you
should be alright.”
Mota brightens when
he talks about next season.
This time, he will have the
full number of months for
recruiting. An identification
clinic for men and women
revealed plenty of local
talent. He will focus on local
players and move outward in
scope as necessary.
“Our goal is to recruit
local players which creates
more interest and more
support from the commu-
nity,” he said. “We’ve
already identified a talented
(local) young man who
is potentially the first-
ever recruit for the men’s
program.”
BMCC athletic director
Brett Bryan said he thinks
Mota will find his groove.
“We got Art hired late
which put him behind in
regards to recruiting,” Bryan
said. “This time he’ll have a
full year to recruit for men
and women. I’m excited to
see both of our programs
next fall. We’ll have a better
idea of what soccer is going
to look like at Blue Mountain
Community College.”
As he goes forward, Mota
plans to follow the advice he
gives students in the student
success program.
“Don’t let anything or
anyone keep you from
achieving your goals,” he
said. “If you have a setback,
just get up and keep plug-
ging away.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
CLUB: Majority of workout machines no longer functional
Continued from 1A
system. The insurance
company doesn’t want to
pay for that.
“The insurance company
wants to rebuild exactly as
it was at the moment before
the fire, but the state says
no,” Watkinds said. “We
can’t rewire with 1970s-era
wiring; it needs to be ADA
accessible.”
The process of negoti-
ating over every piece of
what needs to be rebuilt
has been extremely slow,
Watkinds said. Adding
things like elevators and
handicapped-accessible
showers will take up extra
space the club doesn’t
have, so they would rather
rebuild completely. But the
insurance company has yet
to give them a final answer
on whether it will pay for a
complete rebuild instead of
tearing everything down to
the studs then remodeling.
From the outside, the
building looks usable, but
inside the upper floor where
the fire started is charred.
Light shines through small
holes dotting the roof and
puddles of melted snow
collect underneath. Steel
beams around the point of
origin are warped.
Down
below,
the
former locker rooms have
been stripped down to
the wooden studs and the
pool has been drained. The
pool’s pump equipment
and the vast majority of the
club’s workout machines
are no longer functional
after the corrosive influence
of smoke, soot and fire
suppression chemicals. The
free weights have already
rusted for the same reason.
“All this machinery is
now ruined,” Watkinds said.
“It’s not salvageable.”
In areas not damaged
directly by fire or water,
black marks fan out from
electrical sockets and other
breaches in the drywall,
showing where the smoke
that billowed through the
walls tried to escape. The
of the Oregon State Lottery.
Iparraguirre resigned Aug.
31, the same day the tort
claim says Pack placed Tran
on a disciplinary plan.
“Mr. Iparraguirre’s place-
ment on administrative leave
was a blatant act of retaliation
for whistleblowing by former
Director Roberts,” wrote
Loren Collins, Iparraguirre’s
former attorney, in a letter
to state officials. The letter
requested that the state offi-
cials reinstate Iparraguirre to
his job.
Collins said Tuesday,
Dec. 20, he is no longer
representing Iparraguirre and
had no comment on Tran’s
claim.
Tran and Iparraguirre
both played roles in the April
26 termination of Roberts, a
former state labor commis-
sioner
and
Republican
gubernatorial candidate, as
lottery director.
POLICE: City typically
has low person crime rate,
high property crime rate
Continued from 1A
including
a
detective
lieutenant
specializing
in arsons, an additional
school resource officer and
a training officer/evidence
technician.
The detective lieutenant
will be a partnership
with the fire department,
Edmiston said.
“The fire department
will pay the city $12,000 a
year for that position,” he
said. “The detective lieu-
tenant will take an existing
detective slot and turn it
into a supervisor position
in partnership with the fire
department,” he said.
Detective Randy Stude-
baker will take on the role
in July, but before he does
he will attend a national fire
academy course for two
weeks to learn about arson
investigation.
“Any suspicious fire —
Randy will have the proper
knowledge to investigate,”
Edmiston said. “Currently
there are only five or six
arson investigators in
Oregon, and they’re all
Oregon State Police. ... By
making it a lieutenant, we
can avoid overtime, and
can throw that person into
on-call rotation.”
Edmiston said the new
position would save the
department some money
and also create a good part-
nership with the fire depart-
ment. He said he hopes that
as Studebaker learns more
about suspicious fires, he
will be able to assist other
detectives around Eastern
Oregon.
In addition to Stude-
baker, the department has
two general detectives and
one detective assigned to
the drug task force.
The other structural
change, Edmiston said, is
a second school resource
officer. Several duties were
moved around and reas-
signed so that one officer
could become a full-time
school resource officer.
Edmiston said there has
been a desire and need for
several years to increase
the presence of officers in
the schools. Since 2009, he
said, there has only been
one officer assigned to the
entire district.
The restructuring also
led to another revised role
— a training officer and
evidence technician who
will be trained on assessing
evidence out in the field.
Edmiston also discussed
the year-end crime report
for 2016, which will be
released in January. He
said that overall, things
have been fairly calm, but
he anticipates there will
be a couple of notable
increases — in the catego-
ries of aggravated assault
and rape. But he added that
because the rate of those
incidents in Hermiston are
typically low, one or two
additional incidents can
skew data.
“Hermiston
typically
has a low person crime
rate, and high property
crime rate,” he said. “When
you’re dealing with 5 inci-
dents (for rape) compared
to 20 (for aggravated
assault), a swing of one can
increase the percentage.”
He said that while those
types of personal crimes
will likely show an increase
in the 2016 report compared
to 2015, he expects that
over a longer period, the
rate is about the same.
“I think as compared
to the 10-year average,
we will probably be in the
normal range,” he said.
LAB: County’s emergency
manager backed commissioners
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
A power strip plugged into this wall is believed to have caused a June 20 fire at the
Columbia Court Club.
popcorn ceiling texture,
which had previously been
painted over to seal in the
asbestos, had to be scraped
clean at a cost of $67,000.
In the farthest reaches
of the club, sections of
drywall have been torn out
of the racket ball courts in
a “selective demo” by the
insurance company looking
for damage. The hardwood
floor in the courts and the
gym have gaps between the
floor and wall where the
floor contracted as a result
of months without heat.
The fire started upstairs
on June 20, in a storage area
adjacent to the childcare
area and a mirrored fitness
classroom. It was ruled
accidental, caused by an
electrical short in a power
strip.
Watkinds and office
manager Mary Marsing said
they are extremely grateful
it happened in the afternoon,
after the senior citizens and
children who were there in
the morning had already
left and before the after-
work rush. At the time, they
estimated about six gym
members were present.
Watkinds said he was
working on a repairing a
drinking fountain when the
music went out, then the
lights. Loud bangs (likely
exploding cans of treadmill
lubricant stored near the
point of origin) sounded
from upstairs, causing
Marsing to start shouting for
Watkinds, asking if he was
alright. As smoke filled the
club they realized there must
be a fire and started ushering
everyone out.
Watkinds
returned
inside twice before the fire
department arrived; once to
retrieve a woman who was
still showering in the dark
and smoke (“She must have
been in shock”) and once
to find a man’s keys so he
could move his truck from
in front of the entrance.
“I was coughing when I
came out,” he said.
Marsing said court club
members do not need to
worry that their year-long
contract will automatically
renew. No one has been
charged for membership
fees since the fire, she said,
except for some past due
accounts that a collection
agency continued to pursue.
“At the current pace, we
will not be reconstructed
by June 2017 and if by
some chance we were able
to accomplish that task,
we would always take the
honorable high road and ask
our old members to rejoin
the new facility anyway,”
she wrote in an email. “This
business philosophy is what
helped us sustain 38 years
of service to the Hermiston
market.”
Until the weather got too
cold, the club paid its staff
members to conduct free
fitness classes at McKenzie
Park so that its members
would have another option
for continuing with their
fitness goals.
Updates on the status
of the club’s insurance
claims can be followed on
their Columbia Court Club
Commit To Be Fit page on
Facebook.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
the car-sized batteries and
remove the old ones.
Sheriff’s Lt. Kathy
Lieuallen, who oversees
the emergency communica-
tions center, reported 9-1-1
went down twice in the
last month, and the battery
system bridges the gap until
the generator kicks on. She
also said she budgeted for
the batteries.
———
And
emergency
manager Roberts received
the OK to pursue two grants
and obtain letters of support
from the board for each.
One grant is a joint
submission with Morrow
County to receive at least
$90,000 to purchase two
all-terrain vehicles with
equipment and trailers for
transporting patients.
“Our hope is this will
increase our capabilities
during
mass
casualty
events, such as the bus crash
in 2012,” Roberts said.
And the second is
a $20,000 grant to buy
a remote-piloted aerial
vehicle, or drone. While
the sheriff’s office search
and rescue unit uses drones,
Roberts said he is looking at
a “robust” machine capable
of flight in high winds
and with interchangeable
cameras.
Roberts also said his
office might go after a
third grant to fund a study
of regional emergency
communications.
amount of major crimes that
do occur here in Umatilla
County, and they are a great
assistance to us,” he said.
“.... It would be a major
loss for us not to have that
at hand.”
Closing the Pendleton
lab, he continued, would
mean technicians from
Clackamas or Bend would
drive hours before reaching
a local crime scene. And
the recent weather, he
said, would make that wait
longer.
He also said those same
technicians would have
to appear in court here,
and they would not want
to drive all day round trip
to deliver 15 minutes of
testimony.
Umatilla County under-
sheriff Jim Littlefield added
losing the lab would be a
major blow to crime work
in Eastern Oregon. Tom
Roberts, the county’s emer-
gency manager, added his
voice to the chorus backing
the commissioners.
The three member board
was unanimously in favor
of the resolution. Commis-
sioner George Murdock
after the meeting said it was
time for the state to stop
putting a target on the lab.
“We’re really going to be
aggressive on this,” he said.
———
In other public safety
actions, the county board
approved the sheriff’s
office spending $6,994.89
December 26 th
for 30 batteries to provide
back-up power to 9-1-1 Saager’s Shoe Shop
equipment.
Computer
Power & Service, Inc.,
Pendleton, won the bid
to provide and install Milton-Freewater, OR
Up to 50% Off