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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL December 23, 2015 11A Joint meeting honors Rotary founder McCoy In case you haven’t heard, we’re the place to be on New Year’s Eve. Join us for a festive celebration of food, drinks and fun. Cottage Grove's Lions and Rotarians got together Thursday to honor Paul McCoy, who helped found the local Rotary club in 1960, and celebrate his 96th birthday. A video interview of Mc- Coy relating tales of his life before he came to Cottage Grove was one highlight. McCoy is shown here with former business partner Lynn and Linda Ferrin. C OURT Continued from page 1A New Year's Eve Party in the Lounge! Dinner Specials Drink Specials DJ & Dancing Party Favors Champagne for all at midnight! El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant 725 Gibbs, Cottage Grove, (541) 767-0457 We Want Your News! we d be glad to hear about it: $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM In person: 116 N. Sixth Street, Cottage Grove Email: cgnews@cgsentinel.com Office phone: 942-3325 Starts December 24th 50% off on ALL Christmas “We had an agency that wasn’t particularly responsive,” he said. Thus, while the number of cases seen by the Court in- creased in 2015 and the amount of assessed fi nes also increased, the amount of outstanding fi nes increased in similar amounts. Rounsaville has been able to devote more time to aging case fi les, Fisher said, because she is no longer required to spend part of her time assisting the City’s fi nance department. “Michelle is now 100 percent dedicated to the Court, and it shows,” he said. Fisher also said that the City had in many cases not been fol- lowing through on suspending the driver’s licenses of those with unpaid fi nes, which he called a “signifi cant motivator for people who haven’t paid.” He said the fi les for such cases amount to a “big stack” and that the suspensions hadn’t been happening for “maybe as long as a year and a half.” The judge also pointed out the diffi culty of “fi ning people who have no jobs.” “Many people lack the ca- pacity to pay, even if they had the will,” he said. The Court’s software also has no way of dis- tinguishing what fi nes are being paid toward what violations. “If a person was fi ned in 2012 and has not yet paid in full, and was then fi ned again in 2015, any payment made in 2015 would fi rst be applied to the 2012 fi ne,” he said. “So people may well be paying, but some of those payments may not be credited to the current year.” Fisher said he’s also frustrat- ed that the options for another alternative form of punishment, community service, are limited to Community Sharing and Cot- tage Grove Public Works. “There are a lot of people we would recommend for commu- nity service that are quite capa- ble but not a lot of places to do it,” he said. And with regard to female of- fenders, which cannot be housed in the Cottage Grove Jail and are never held in the Lane County Jail for very long, Fisher was even more frustrated. “With women, it’s pretty much hopeless,” he said. “Many of them know it and are starting to take advantage.” New public defender(s) The City previously appoint- ed Ryan Gifford as its dedicated public defender, though Gifford resigned this year after deciding to phase criminal defense out of his practice. The position has never been given serious con- sideration by other attorneys, Fisher wrote, due to its low rate of pay. Attorneys have been ap- pointed to serve as the Court’s public defender on a regular ba- sis, but this has increased court costs. “It remains to be seen what the overall cost increase will be, but it will be signifi cant,” Fisher wrote. Less monitoring For some time, the Court has utilized the services of Advanced Monitoring Professionals to conduct follow-up evaluations of those convicted of crimes in Cottage Grove. Fisher told the Council that, due to insurance liability issues, Advanced Mon- itoring will no longer be able to conduct electronic monitoring such as using bracelets to moni- tor those on house arrest or al- cohol monitors. “It’s kind of frustrating be- cause it provided us our oppor- tunity of using house arrest as an alternative sanction,” Fisher said. “It was useful for people who fi t a certain category of of- fender — those who are not vio- lent, people with steady jobs.” House arrest was also a pre- ferred sentence for female of- fenders, and without the option, Fisher said Cottage Grove may essentially “have to send them to Lane County Jail and see what happens.” Still, Advanced Monitor- ing has also worked to bring other types of services to Cot- tage Grove such as evaluations for alcohol or drug use, anger management or domestic vio- lence. Fisher said having these services available locally “will increase compliance and lessen the need for court involvement and enforcement.” The “Ferguson Effect” Fisher’s report also touched on the practices of the Fergu- son, Missouri Municipal Court, which was criticized follow- ing the Aug. 9, 2014 shooting of Michael Brown for its focus on “revenue generation rather than public safety,” including fi ning those with no capacity to pay, which he said essentially amounted to “jailing people for being poor.” The alternative to jailing those who cannot pay fi nes in Cottage Grove — com- munity service — is already limited, as has been noted. The bottom line Fisher said he believes balanc- ing the Court’s need to dispense justice while also generating revenue gets to the “fundamen- tal question” regarding its pur- pose. “If these two things are in confl ict, where are the priori- ties?” he said. “Communities have their own courts so that lo- cal issues can be dealt with. If they didn’t, anyone could steal with impunity. You have to de- cide that if preventing such a free-for-all loses you money, are you okay with that?” Still, Fisher said he believes it’s possible for the Court to be “fi nancially sound and honest.” “It seems that we haven’t al- ways had the options in place to get there just yet,” he said. 541-942-6143 Themed Gift Merchandise Can not be applied to in-house accounts • Valid 12-24-15 to 12-31-15 The store will be closed 12-25 to 12-27 for the Holidays! FREEBOOKALWAYS with$15purchase Shop Local. Shop Cottage Grove this Holiday Season!!! Books,localart&Gifts CELEBRATE LOCAL POSSIBILITY DONATE NOW! December 23rd through December 31st Maximize your donation by donating to Cars for a Cause by Dec. 31st. We accept cars, trucks, RVs, boats & motorcycles CALL NOW! 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