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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 3,1998 - FIVE
Weigh implications of decisions
Letters to the Editor
Editor's note Letters to the Editor must be signed. The Gazette-Times will not
publish unsigned letters Please include your address and phone number on all
letters for use by the C-T office. The G-T reserves the right to edit
Setting the record straight
To the Editor:
Voters of Morrow County,
I am confident by now that
you know that I lost my bid for
re-election as the district attorney
by a total of seven votes in the
May 19, 1998, primary election.
Let me first of all congratulate
Mr. Allen on his election and
wish him the best and give my
appreciation those people who
voted for me.
Before I leave I want to clear up
a few misconceptions that were
published in a letter to the editor
published in the E.O. the evening
before the election and signed by
Sharon Barrick who is a
counselor at Riverside High
School in Boardman, Oregon.
Ms. Barrick is a member of the
multidisciplinary
team
in
Morrow County but has been
virtually invisible to law
enforcement and the team for the
past couple of years for reasons
of which I am unaware.
Ms. Bamck's letter stated that I
was less than diligent in my
efforts as the district attorney and
I want to assure you that isn't
true. She spoke of a case where I
"civilly compromised" a case
where a female victim had been
subjected to "psychological
terror" when forced to watch an
individual slit the throat of her
dog. My secretary and I have
searched our files and no such
case was ever brought before this
office.
Ms. Barrack also stated that I
plea bargained a case where a 24-
year-old-man "raped" a 13-year-
old victim. The facts are that
when the girl became pregnant
she was 14 years old and living
with the defendant. The fact is
also that the victim refused to
testify against the defendant and
1 could not put her in jail for
summary contempt because she
was pregnant (jails won't take
pregnant people ordinarily). I
was also informed by the
Umatilla Health Department that
the defendant was a very
responsible young man and
involved with both the mother
and her pregnancy. In addition I
was contacted by the defendant's
employer who spoke highly of
him. Based on these facts I
allowed the defendant to plead to
Contributing to the Sexual
Delinquency of a Minor and
required him to take care of the
mother and the child as a
condition of probation. I thought
it more important that the father
be able to financially provide for
the child and the mother than
putting him in jail. I would also
point out that this 24-year-old
had no prior criminal record.
Ms. Barrick also said that I
wouldn't even bother to make a
phone call to the Corrections
Division on a murder case that
occurred back in 1983 and as a
result the board reduced this
inmates' sentence by five years.
Nonsense. The process that is
used by the Board of Parole
involves a review every three
years of inmates committed to
extensive periods of time in the
penitentiary,
for
crimes
committed before 1989. The
Board will only undertake to hear
a case if there is a positive
recommendation
from
the
Department of Corrections. The
Board takes into consideration
whether the inmate has been
involved in programs such as
drug and alcohol rehabilitation
and employment training and
whether
the
inmate
is
responsible. If the Board decides
under OAR 255-40-025 that the
inmate's
behavior
during
incarceration is favorable then
they can reduce the time an
inmate will remain in custody.
When these hearings come up,
the district attorney is not
notified
because
this
is
essentially
an
in-house
procedure. The victim or victims
are notified and given the
opportunity to be heard. The
victim in this case is living in
another county and this office
was not notified.
Ms. Bamck also stated that a
grandfather
molested
his
grandson and that even after he
confessed I did not prosecute.
Nonsense. I did prosecute that
case and the grandfather was
convicted of Sexual Abuse in the
first degree, served jail time, did
therapy and counseling and is a
registered sex offender.
The last statement that Ms.
Barrick made in her letter relates
to a charge against the director of
the Morrow County Road
Department who was charged
with dumping gasoline on
Columbia Avenue in Boardman,
exposing it to the air and then
covering it with asphalt (which is
a petroleum product). This
situation developed when I was
in Bosnia. When I got back I
discovered that my replacement
had neglected to appoint Matt
Galey, who is a Umatilla County
Deputy D.A., as a special
prosecutor for Morrow County
and, as a result, the misdemeanor
case was still in Morrow County.
By the time I became aware of
all of this the Morrow County
Court had already voiced strong
support for a
compromise.
When I learned from the defense
attorney that Louis Carlson had
signed a civil compromise
agreement and was asking the
Circuit Court to dismiss the
charges
because
of
the
compromise, I called Matt Galey
and asked if he had any objection
to the compromise and he stated
he did not. I had no objection to
it as I understood that the Board
unanimously supported it as well.
This may reek of the "good ole
boy" system at work to Ms.
Barrick but frankly I thought
putting the petroleum product
gasoline on an area to be covered
with the petroleum product
asphalt resulted in a no harm
situation. I was not and I'm still
not offended by the compromise.
I am hoping that you Morrow
County voters won't see this
response as bitter grapes because
it's not intended that way. My
only wish is that instead of
printing Ms. Bamck's letter on
the eve of the election that it had
been printed at a time when I
could have responded to it.
(s) Earl R. Woods Jr.
District
Attorney-Morrow
County
Support daycare
To the Editor:
In my role as a state child care
consultant, I have visited and
worked with staff at the Heppner
Day Care Center for the last three
years. My last visit a couple of
weeks ago was a wonderful
surprise.
The center is cleaner than I
have ever seen it. Staff were
interacting with the children and
the children were laughing and
having a wonderful time. The
new director Merry Brannon
appears to have a real
commitment to making the
center a place the community can
be proud of. Her long range
plans seem to speak to her desire
to provide children with a safe
inviting atmosphere with lots of
developmentally
appropriate
activities.
If you have not used the center
or visited Heppner Day Care in
the last month, I urge you to stop
by with your child and see the
difference.
Your community
needs to support the facility and
the efforts being made by the
new director. I hope that my
next visit will see an increased
enrollment.
(s) Kay Bums, consultant
Hermiston
We make
Posters
G a z e tte -T im e s
676-9228
To the Editor:
I would like to set forth some
ideas for our community to
consider in the aftermath of the
recent youth accountability camp
decision.
I would like to address the issue
of delinquent detention and
cnminal incarceration in a
historical context.
In the past, 50 to 100 years ago,
every county and every city of
any size had a jail for holding
and
punishing
juvenile
delinquents and petty criminals.
Such facilities were a basic part
of community infrastructure right
along with water and wastewater
systems,
police
and
fire
protection, and streets.
The
responsibility for jailing local
delinquents and low level
criminals was accepted and
handled at the local level.
With the passage of time, in the
interest of efficiency, jail
facilities were consolidated into
larger, more cost effective
structures, increasingly away
from the locale of the delinquent
or criminal behavior. With the
rise in concern for prisoners'
rights, even more consolidation
took place as old, obsolete
facilities were phased out of use.
For example, in Morrow
County the old county jail has
been converted into office space
for the assessor's department.
At the present time, our
delinquents and criminals are
housed out-of-town and out-of
county. We currently have only
one 24 hour holding cell at the
Morrow County Sheriffs office.
Delinquents are housed at the
Northeast Oregon Regional
Facility in Pendleton on a space
available basis. The juvenile
director reports that our needs for
detention of juvenile offenders
are frequently turned down due
to lack of space. Our adult
offenders are housed at the
Franklin County Jail in Tri
Cities, Washington or at the
Umatilla
County
Jail
in
Pendleton on the basis of a
limited amount of guaranteed
space and additional space as
available.
Jailing of charged delinquents
and
criminals
is
further
controlled by availability of
funds for paying for this service.
The 1998-99 budget for
Morrow
County
provides
$278,000 for out-of-county jail
room and board and $4,500 for
out-of-county
jail
medical
expense for adult criminals,
which, incidently, is $50,000 less
than the sheriffs department felt
it needed to handle anticipated
jailing needs in the coming
budget year. The same budget
includes $10,000 for detention of
juvenile detainees.
So it is that we house our
delinquents
and
criminals
elsewhere, out of sight and out of
mind. We pay a considerable
sum of local tax money to do this
and we get absolutely no local
monetary benefit from these
expenditures.
However, the
governing boards of Franklin and
Umatilla counties are very happy
to accept Morrow County"s
payments to them for provision
o f jailing services.
The only county tax funds for
jailing services that stay in
Morrow County are the salaries
and benefits that are paid to the
two
sheriffs
department
transport deputies who do live in
our county. These costs amount
to
approximately
$90,000
annually.
The Morrow County Court has
).
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Meet new owners, Gary
Diane Lent
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Hot Dogs furnished by RJ’s*
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The Dining Room w ill be closed Saturday
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RJ’s is now OPEN for BREAKFAST,
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Sundays from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
R
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L a p n g to n - 9 8 9 -8 3 5 9
Apologizes for "stupid" actions
properly set up our jailing
services as it does because, in
total, it costs less to transport
prisoners and house them in
available out-ofcounty facilities
than it would cost to construct
and operate an in-county jail
facility.
* Additionally, when the
possibility arose of partnering
with four counties to the west of
us in the construction of a
regional jail, it was determined
that, due to the high per capita
property valuation in Morrow
County, we would have been
paying a disproportionate share
of the cost of building this jail.
So, Morrow County elected not
to participate in this project and
to continue housing prisoners
out-of-county and paying for this
service to the other jurisdictions.
How does this relate to the
youth accountability camp issue?
Simply put, we are avoiding the
direct
responsibility
for
providing jailing for our own
delinquents and criminals, it is
costing us taxpayers a lot of
money, and we're not getting any
direct monetary return into our
local economy for our tax
expenditures. Also, because we
house our delinquents and
criminals at the convenience of
governmental bodies over which
we have minimal control, it is
often the case that charged
individuals return immediately to
our streets and neighborhoods
without serving any jail time.
The accountability camp would
have provided us with some
measure of economic benefit in
the total picture of corrections
and juvenile detention. But, we
passed on this opportunity for a
lot of reasons.
The accountability camp
decision is behind us and we
have to move on to other
pressing community issues such
as the assisted living facility,
economic diversification and job
creation. But while we do this,
please keep in mind some of the
implications of the decision that
was made and resolve to look
unemotionally, thoroughly and
analytically at future project
proposals.
(s) John Edmundson
Heppner
To the Editor:
My name is Michael Phillips. I
used to be citizen of Heppner and
lone but not any longer.
I
wanted to publicly apologize for
my actions I committed in 1995
and 1996, because of some stupid
actions I have done by breaking
into a house and taking a rifle
from the residence of Todd
Peterson and four months later I
stole a four-wheeler from Jerry
McElligott's Ranch and went joy
riding on it. I now know that my
actions were stupid. I got over a
half of a year in jail and paid
some fines for it, but that's not
all. I am having trouble getting a
job because of my record and I
lost the respect and trust of the
people of Morrow and Umatilla
counties. My life has changed
form an easy to a hard life. And
the same with my family,
especially for my kids. They
haven't spent much time with
their dad. I wasn't able to be
there when my daughter was
bom. I do spend time with them
through visitation every week, if
I can get a visitation with my
kids.
I have to listen to others say that
I don't love my kids, but they
don't know what I am feeling
inside. I know w'hat I have done
to hurt others. I also know how
long it will take to get their
respect back.
Some people have different
opinions about people who are
on probation or on parole. Some
people know how it feels and
some don’t, and some can forget
and some can't. I don't blame
others for my problems. Don't
judge me for what I have done,
but judge me for who I am and
the effort to get back on track
and to clear my name.
I apologize to the people of
Morrow and Umatilla counties
for my actions. My crimes are no
one's fault but my own. So I'm
not upset with the victims or with
the police or with my probation
officers. It's with me and only
with me.
I will carry this for the rest of
my life. There's no doubt in my
mind I will clear my name and I
am trying to learn from my
actions and the repercussions.
For Morrow and Umatilla
counties, I apologize for my
mistake.
(s) Michael W. Phillips
Clinic, hospital continue to provide
area.
While the district continues to
recruit a replacement for Dr.
Atkins, Doctors Berretta and
Wenberg will continue to provide
clinic and hospital coverage. As
needed, the district may utilize
locum
tenens
physicians
(temporary physicians) until such
time as a permanent physician is
employed.
The clinic and hospital will
continue to provide for your
medical needs as it has for many
years.
Sincerely,
(s) Cara Osmin,
Board Chair
(s) Daniel Grant
CEO
To the Editor:
Many o f your readers may have
recently received a memo from
Dr. Ernie L. Atkins, DO,
announcing his resignation from
the clinic and the Morrow
County Health District as of June
30, 1998.
To
clarify
any
misunderstandings, because Dr.
Atkins has resigned, does not
mean that the clinic is closing.
Family
Nurse
Practitioner
Wendy Haack will continue to
see patients as she has for the
past year and is remaining in
Heppner. We currently have
three prospective physicians who
are interested in relocating to our
Q&*
A t Dr. A tk in s ’ h o m e :
5 \\V'e' 4 5 8 M organ S t., H ep p n er
J u n e 5th a n d 6 th .sta rtin g at 8 a .m .
Copy Paper
Donations gladly accepted starting June 1
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M a le t o b e n e f it
F n i t l i l i e u 1 >
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