BUILDING A PERFECT
FALLS CITY
SCARECROW Page 7A FOOTBALL
Volume 142, Issue 38
www.Polkio.com
Page 10A
September 20, 2017
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Dallas woman files against co-workers’ threats
Housing authority employees allegedly joke to kill Beehner, get clients arrested
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — An employee
of West Valley Housing Au-
thority filed a tort claim no-
tice alleging she was the vic-
tim of a co-worker’s “jokes”
about killing or harming her.
A tort claim notice serves
as a warning that a lawsuit
could potentially be filed.
The notice claims that
Sheri Beehner, the family
self-sufficiency coordinator
at WVHA, was the target of
jokes by co-workers Rick
Batie, Jeff Berry and Liz
Sylva.
The notice that said be-
tween May 2017 and August
2017, two or more of those
employees allegedly made
jokes about workplace
shootings, shooting Beehn-
er, suicide, Beehner’s health,
and jokes that used “sexist
and highly offensive termi-
nology.”
In one conservation, they
allegedly joked about giving
her a horse tranquilizer “that
would cause her head to ex-
plode and her to die,”
adding that Beehner needed
a “frontal lobotomy.” Batie
also distributed a cartoon
that depicted Beehner as bat
used to hit a WVHA manager
with, the claim said.
“Jokes were made about a
variety of other co-workers
and clients, which included
references to the co-workers
and clients in highly offen-
sive and derogatory terms,”
the notice said.
Christian Edelblute, the
executive director of WVHA,
said he would like to re-
spond to the allegations in
the complaint, but can’t.
“We are not in a position
to do so at this time due to
the fact the allegations con-
cern an internal, personnel
issue and the potential that
litigation may ensue,” he
said in a statement. “The
WVHA takes complaints of
personnel issues seriously,
and this complaint is being
processed according to the
WVHA’s policies.”
Beehner, through her at-
torney, Nelson Hall, of Port-
land firm Bennett, Hartman,
Morris & Kaplan, sent the
tort claim notice to Blair
Wasson, the housing au-
thority’s board chairman,
and legal counsel, Morgan
Smith. It alleges, “intention-
al infliction of emotional
distress, gender discrimina-
tion, retaliation against a
whistleblower, and spolia-
tion of evidence.”
WVHA administers two
housing assistance programs
in Polk County, the Housing
Choice Voucher Program
and Public Housing Pro-
gram. Both are paid for by
the federal government.
Edelblute also is named in
the notice, which alleges
that, after learning of the
comments and listening to
the conversations — which
were recorded phone con-
versations— Edelblute took
no action to discipline the
employees or to protect
Beehner.
On Aug. 12, Beehner told
Edelblute that “she could no
longer handle the stress of
feeling threatened at work by
WVHA employees, including
Batie, Sylva and Berry. She
notified him that she would
be seeking medical atten-
tion,” the claim said.
On Aug. 15, Beehner’s
union, Oregon American
Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees
Council 75, informed Smith
of its concerns about “seri-
ous and time-sensitive mis-
conduct taking place at
WVHA, including employees
discussing violence during
recorded phone conversa-
tions.”
On Aug. 16, Smith lis-
tened to a selection of those
recordings, the notice said.
The notice also provided
details on an Aug. 29 staff
meeting during which em-
ployees allegedly joked
about “arming WVHA clients
with guns and knives drip-
ping in blood in order to en-
sure that they were arrested
or harmed by the police.”
Beehner’s husband, also a
WVHA employee, was a wit-
ness to this conversation,
the notice said.
Beehner additionally
claims the WVHA didn’t pre-
vent those accused of mis-
conduct from deleting, de-
stroying or manipulating ev-
idence.
Oregon AFSCME
spokesman Ross Grami in
statement called the inci-
dents described in the no-
tice as “appalling.”
“It is unacceptable to
threaten or joke about
threats against a coworker,
and it's disturbing this situa-
tion was allowed to go on so
long,” Grami said.
The notice said if a law-
suit is filed, “Ms. Beehner
will pursue any and all dam-
ages available to her, includ-
ing both economic and non-
economic damages.”
The quilt that took more than 100 years
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — How long
does it take to finish a quilt?
For the Cheesman family
descendants, the answer is
four generations.
“Jumping Mouse” Mary
Elizabeth Cheesman, a
Cherokee Indian, started a
quilt in the mid-1800s.
“Fabrics used were from
cotton flour sacks,” said
Mary’s great-granddaughter,
Patti Utter. “I was told this is
one of three quilts she was
working on.”
Before she could finish it,
Mary Elizabeth lost her sight
and passed her projects on
to her daughter, Utter’s
grandmother, Rachael.
“Rachael was not a seam-
stress, but did add a few
pieces from her daughter’s
clothing,” Utter said.
Rachael passed it to her
daughter, Marie, Patti’s
mother, who was not a quil-
ter.
Regardless, Marie added a
few pieces and passed it to
Patti — who also is not a
quilter.
“I do stained glass,” Utter
said.
The quilt — and its
EmIly mEnTzEr/ Itemizer-Observer
Patti Utter stands with Blanche McCaw in front of Utter’s family quilt. Her great-grand-
mother “Jumping Mouse” Mary Elizabeth Cheesman started the project in the 1800s.
story — has been stored
away since 1983, until Utter
asked a friend if she’d be in-
terested in finishing it.
“We have a class together
at the pool,” Utter said. “We
all became friends at the
class, and I found out that
she’s a quilter.”
A t a p o t l u c k , Ut t e r
showed Blanche McCaw the
quilt and asked if she would
finish it.
McCaw agreed, thinking it
would make a nice wedding
gift for her grandson. She
didn’t realize how old the
quilt was or its family histo-
ry.
Once she heard the story,
McCaw offered to give it
back to Utter once it was
completed, but Utter de-
clined.
“I’m glad to see it fin-
ished,” she said. “And it will
be used now. I think it’s
great.”
To complete the work,
McCaw picked up special
fabric from a quilt store in
Paisley. She put a backing on
it, made a binding, and
hand-stitched the quilt.
“You put a lot of work in
on it,” Utter said. “I’d be
afraid to use it. I would have
to store it away. This way,
hopefully it will be used.”
McCaw said her grandson
and his new bride will get
copies of the history of the
quilt as part of the present.
Falls City councilors vote to close Wagner
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The city of Falls
City voted to close Wagner Commu-
nity Library effective June 30, 2018 if
a solution to long-term funding is
not found.
That would leave a little more
than $42,000 left in the Wagner Fund
that could be used to reopen the li-
brary later.
Mayor Terry Ungricht said the
vote doesn’t mean the library must
close, but the city needs to begin the
closure process soon to make sure it
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
meets all state requirements for
closing a public library, which in-
cludes holding hearings.
“We would start the process and
then if an agreement came through
that we could afford and that the
council is comfortable with, we
could just cancel,” Ungricht said.
“On June 29, we could say never
mind.”
The council had discussed put-
ting the issue before voters to decide
whether they wanted to pay to keep
the library open.
Ungricht has said the council also
needed to consider the need for
wed
thu
Pick up a racket —
or just show up —
to the roger Jordan
Community Park to
play a match of Pick-
leball.
9 a.m. Free.
Perrydale FFA will
host an all-you-can-
eat corn feed at
7445 Perrydale
road, benefiting
members of the FFA.
7:30 p.m. $4-$25.
Showers
Hi: 59
Lo: 46
Showers
Hi: 63
Lo: 45
levies for street maintenance and
firefighting equipment.
The estimated cost for the library
levy would be $1.30 per $1,000 of as-
sessed value on properties.
Before the vote, Councilor Jenn
Drill asked if minutes of the past
meetings indicated the council
made a promise to put a levy on the
ballot.
Councilor Dennis Sickles, who
also expressed that concern, said he
believes the council did not after re-
viewing those discussions.
“I’m satisfied that we did not
make that promise,” Sickles said.
fri
Even though the
rain we’ve had all
week makes it feel
like fall already ar-
rived, today marks
the first day of au-
tumn.
Partly cloudy
Hi: 66
Lo: 47
“Is the school aware that we are
talking (about closing the library)?”
Drill asked.
Ungricht said he had notified the
Falls City School District and Wagner
Library Director Andy Rommel that
the city was considering a vote to
begin closing procedures.
“The process that we have to go
through has to be initiated, so I
think we need to do what we are
doing,” Sickles said. “As the mayor
said, we can stop at any time if
something comes up.”
The vote to close the library was
unanimous.
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
Dallas School Board
approves union con-
tracts.
»Page 2A
FALLS CITY
Volunteers clean up
around town.
»Page 3A
INDEPENDENCE
Council considers
utility rate increases.
»Page 3A
MONMOUTH
Classic auto show
rolls into town.
»Page 3A
SPORTS
Perrydale’s volleyball
team is off to a strong
start.
»Page 10A
Last chance
for eclipse
stamps
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DAllAS — Thursday is
the deadline to get an ex-
clusive pictorial cancella-
tion stamp to celebrate
the Great American
Eclipse that occurred on
Aug. 21.
The Dallas Post Office
offered the stamp is de-
signed by Dallas City letter
carrier John mcmillian and
city of Dallas employee Je-
remy Teal.
Anyone can bring a
postcard or envelope with
first-class postage and
have a postal employee
mark it with the commem-
orative pictorial cancella-
tion. Postmaster Tina
Smith said if you are mail-
ing the letter or postcard
to someone outside of
Dallas, to bring an addi-
tional envelope, or the
special cancellation will be
marred with a Portland
cancellation, as all mail
goes through Portland for
processing.
For that reason, these
special cancellations are
not available if dropped in
a regular mailbox, even if
it is within the Dallas zIP
code.
People may enclose
stamped envelopes or
postcards to Darkside Sta-
tion, Special Cancellation,
768 SW Church St., Dallas
Or 97338, with a self-ad-
dressed, stamped enve-
lope to return the materi-
als. mailed requests must
be received at the Dallas
Post Office by Thursday.
For more information:
Tina Smith, 503-831-00503.
sat
sun
mon
tue
Polk County Folklife
will host a concert
of traditional Ap-
palachian music at
the monmouth am-
phitheater
1:30 p.m. Free.
last Sunday at
river Gallery takes
place river Gallery
in Independence.
Check out the re-
ception for corner
and window artists.
2 p.m. Free.
Bring your brew of
choice to St. Thomas
Episcopal Church for
a discussion and lec-
ture on new Testa-
ment figures.
7 p.m. Free.
Indoor Play Park re-
turns to First Pres-
byterian Church in
Dallas, just in time
for the rainy
weather.
9:30 a.m. Donation.
Mostly sunny
Hi: 70
Lo: 48
Mostly sunny
Hi: 70
Lo: 49
Partly sunny
Hi: 75
Lo: 51
Partly sunny
Hi: 76
Lo: 54