Molalla Pioneer

A 4-2 vote splits the city council as it adds Steve Clark

By Joe Wilson
Molalla Pioneer

Molalla has a new city councilor, but not all the other councilors and the city administration are thrilled about some of his alleged behavior prior to getting the new position.

City Councilor Danna Jacober and Interim City Manager Mike Clarke are upset that the new city councilor, Steve Clark, asked city planning director Shane Potter, “Are you retarded?” via an email in January. They also said that a police officer had to ask Clark to leave city hall a couple of weeks ago after some city staffers said they felt threatened by him.

“It really puts the city staff on edge that there is a person on the city council who has been asked to leave city hall because he scared some of them,” Mike Clarke said.

Steve Clark denies the incident occurred.

“What? Under no circumstances did that ever happen,” he said.

As of press time, Molalla Police could not confirm that the incident occured.

In the Jan. 8 email to Potter, Clark expressed frustration because he thought Potter was not addressing his concerns about excessive dust blowing into Clark’s neighborhood from the nearby Buckeroo Rodeo grounds.

He wrote, “Are you retarded? Read your own message.”

“I was upset because he would not give me a straight answer. Every answer he gave me was false and untrue and I became frustrated,” Clark said. “The comment I made, not realizing it was public record, I regret.”

Email messages residing on city computers, in most cases, are open to the public like most other city correspondence.

Steve Clark said he will not let this situation affect his future work with Potter. Clark said he will treat Potter with as much respect as he treats everyone else.

Councilor Jacober said that’s not the type of person she wants to have serving on the city council with her.

When asked about the email comment by Jacober at last Wednesday’s city council meeting, Clark admitted he said it but that it has been blown out of proportion.

City Council President Mary Jo Mackie said she doesn’t think the email comment will affect Clark’s ability to serve as a city councilor.

“It might, but I hope not,” she said. “I was told he had bad mouthed the planning director, but I don’t know anything else.”

“I think he’ll do fine once he sees how things go,” Mackie said.

Clark, beat out three other candidates for the seat when the council voted 4-2 on June 27 to appoint him to the seat vacated by James Leon Reed who resigned May 11. Reed quit after serving only 59 days. He cited job and family concerns.

Councilors Mackie, Glen Boreth, Deb Leighton and Jim Needham voted in favor of Clark. Councilor Jacober and Mayor Tom Potter voted against him.

This isn’t the first time that Clark applied for a city council position. He made an unsuccessful attempt when the council chose Reed earlier this year.

Interim City Manager Mike Clarke unsuccessfully applied for the permanent city manager position but the council instead decided to hire John Atkins, Jr. The 4-2 vote to hire Atkins was divided identically to the vote that appointed Clark to the councilor seat.

Atkins' first day is July 1.

Steve Clark said he wants to move beyond all this and get to work serving the citizens of Molalla. He said he supports the city growing, but that it should do so carefully.

“We need to keep Molalla’s small-town feel,” he said. “I know the city will grow and that’s good for me and it’s good for our home prices. I just think it should be controlled growth.”

He also said he wants to help find common ground between the business community and city hall.

He said his short-term goals include adopting a solid comprehensive plan and approving the upcoming parks and recreation plan later this year.

Molallans Noel Brown, Jason Burroughs and former city councilor Mitch Jorgensen were the other applicants for the open seat.

Proposed mine’s neighbors happy about the outcome

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

A proposed gravel mine on Macksburg Road may have been struck down for good on Wednesday, when the Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners voted to deny the mining application by Westside Rock.

Commissioners Lynn Peterson and Martha Schrader voted against the application, with Commissioner Bill Kennemer abstaining.

A group of neighbors who had opposed the project were elated by the outcome, but the applicant said that the commissioners made their decision based on public outcry, not evidence.

“They denied us on political grounds, based on the show of hands,” Westside attorney Todd Sadlo said. “It’s not right and I think they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Sadlo said with the county being in sore need of gravel for roads and other projects, it was a short-sighted move on the commissioners’ part to shoot the application down.

“There’s a resource there, and sooner or later (the county) is going to accept an application from someone to mine it,” he said.

On the other side, Fran Taylor, one of the neighbors who had publicly objected to the mining proposal, said, “I felt like the applicant had not proved a significant resource, and I felt this was the only decision the commissioners could have made.”

The neighbors’ objections ranged from concerns about noise and dust to traffic and possible water contamination.

Lori Freeman-Swanson, who owns an equestrian facility on Macksburg Road, next to the proposed mining site, objected to the proposal based on concerns about the effects of the noise and dust on her horses.

Had the mining site been approved, Freeman-Swanson said, “It would have been very difficult and there were many possibilities of it changing my ability to do my business.”

Neighboring berry farmers and chicken farmers had also complained of possible disruptions to their business.

But those issues were not the reason voiced by the commissioners for denying the application.

The commissioners said they were unconvinced that the site contains enough gravel to make it a significant aggregate resource site, a designation that would allow the zoning to be changed from exclusive farm use to add a mineral aggregate overlay.

In Clackamas County, a mining applicant must prove that a site contains at least 2 million tons of gravel in order to have it designated as a significant aggregate site. Westside’s mining application estimated that more than 7 million tons of gravel lie below the 81.9 acre mining site.

Two borings drilled on the site prior to the application found sand and gravel deposits of 50 to 54 feet in thickness. But Peterson and Schrader said two borings were not enough to prove that the gravel resource exists throughout the property.

“They found the property wasn’t a significant site based on the fact that they didn’t find enough evidence to show there was a great enough quantity and quality of gravel — mostly the quantity was the issue,” county planning department staffer Mike McCallister said. “The main reason was the number of borings that were done by the applicant.”

The commissioners having made their verbal decision on the mine site, a county council will now prepare written findings based on the evidence and testimony presented to the board. The board is slated to make its official written decision on July 17, upon which the applicant has 21 days to file an appeal with the Land Use Board of Appeals.

Sadlo did not rule out the possibility of appealing the decision but was pessimistic as to the outcome.

“I’ve been through a lot of appeals there and I certainly wouldn’t have any problem doing it again,” he said. “But in the end we’ll have to go back before these two women (Peterson and Schrader) again, and if they want to deny it based on politics, there’s not much we can do.”

Forum addresses concerns about company's actions

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

Change is never easy, Molalla Communications Company representatives told a gathering of about 30 cooperative members who turned out for a public forum on Wednesday to express their concerns about the management of the telecommunications company.

But it’s a point of contention in the Molalla community whether the changes at MCC are for the better or the worse.

Criticism has surrounded the local telephone cooperative for several years and has escalated since the arrival of the current management team, most of whom joined the company within the past two years.

Most notably, an anonymous e-mail sent out on April 22, 2007 to hundreds of MCC customers aired a laundry list of complaints about the cooperative and its operations.

MCC never discovered the identity of the message sender, who company representatives said logged in using another user’s identity and then changed the reply-to address to that of the Molalla Pioneer.

However, many of the concerns brought up at Wednesday’s meeting came directly from the e-mail: questions about loss of revenue through the departure of MCC’s former wholesale customers Colton and Mt. Angel Telephone companies, and through a failed business venture into a company called Envada; allegations that human resources manager Christine Cline received a $7,000 raise before the end of her probationary period and that CEO Steve Loutzenhiser hired a friend from Kansas, Lance Eves, to work as internet service manager with the company footing the bill for his relocation costs and six months rent; and that former CEO Michael East left a list of employees to be terminated when he resigned at the end of 2005.

Some of the issues in the cooperative have members threatening to call for a special meeting to recall the MCC board of directors.

During the public forum, MCC’s CEO Steve Loutzenhiser and board of directors were able to address a number of concerns to the audience’s satisfaction, especially concerning the company’s finances.

But others, particularly regarding the work environment and employee turnover at the phone company, remained unresolved when the evening was done.


A hostile work environment

With several former MCC employees and their families in attendance, the discussion grew emotional when questions were raised as to why more than 20 employees — approximately half of MCC’s workforce — have quit or been fired in the past year.

Theresa Martin, an ex-MCC employee who recently resigned, said that a hostile work environment led to her departure.

“I didn’t want to leave my job here,” she stold MCC board members at Wednesday's forum. “This is my home. Now I work for a competing company and it’s a great place to work, but it’s not home.”

During her tenure with MCC, she said, employees received threats from management, had their phone calls recorded, and personal information about employees circulated among the managers.

At one department meeting, Martin said, vice president of marketing and member relations Chris Michalopoulos told employees, “The board only knows what it is told. I can portray this team in a positive light or a negative light … If you don’t play by the rules, I can take you out at the knees.”

Loutzenhiser, who arrived at MCC in April of 2006, described the company as a good place to work. He said changes in CEOs typically lead higher levels of turnover within a company, and that the changing field of telecommunications demands a new skill set from employees.

Loutzenhiser denied that East left him a list of employees to be terminated.

The customers in Molalla and their demands of the telephone company are changing, Loutzenhiser said.

“The demographics, age, type of people and their expectations of of what a telephone company should provide have changed,” he said. “They want more and more bandwidth, faster and faster speeds. … It’s a whole different skill set than was required 10 years ago.”

A changing customer base is just one of the challenges facing MCC, he said. Federal funding for rural telecommunications companies is eroding, and the amount of funding coming to MCC annually through the federal Universal Service Fund declined by $821,000 between 2003 and 2006, he said.

And with the arrival of the Willamette Broadband company in the area, MCC is facing competition for the first time.

Mulino resident Warren Jones said that in the face of those challenges, MCC has lost a valuable resource with the 20 people who departed last year.

“I think you let go some of your best and brightest talent,” he said.

He added that the poor morale among employees and the ensuing problems with MCC’s public image could leave it vulnerable to a takeover by a private company.

Asked whether Canby Telcom has seen similar growing pains, vice president of finances Jim Rennard said that although the Canby telephone cooperative has faced difficult transitions in the past, it has not seen the same levels of turnover.

“Big changes are hard, but I think our people stepped up to the challenge,” he said. “I think that’s a function of giving proper training and support and communicating to employees that this is going to be a difficult time.”


Compensation

Loutzenhiser and the board declined to discuss specific salary figures both at the open forum and in interviews with the Pioneer.

The raise given to human resource director Christine Cline occurred after her probationary period ended, according to board members. And Loutzenhiser said according to an outside consulting firm hired by MCC, Cline’s salary after the raise still placed her below the weighted average for human resource managers at similar-sized telecommunications companies.

In terms of Lance Eves’ relocation, he said, “It’s a widespread practice to provide relocation assistance when relocating from outside the area may be necessary. Lance received relocating expenses that did not cover the entirety of his moving expenses, did not cover the entirety of his temporary housing expenses, and it was not for six months.”

A look at the company’s publicly available 2005 and 2004 tax forms provides further data on the pay scales for MCC’s corporate officers and board members.

The Pioneer compared MCC’s top management salaries to those reported by the Beavercreek Cooperative Telephone Company and Canby Telcom, similarly sized local cooperative telephone companies.

In 2004, Beavercreek and Canby paid their CEOs $133,415 and $162,000 respectively Molalla’s CEO Michael East fell in the middle, earning $149,286. The vice presidents of operations and finance at Beavercreek earned $69,931 and $79,769.

In Canby the junior president earned $97,085. Molalla’s vice president of finance, Steve Jantz, received $111,071.

For 2005, Beavercreek paid $142,225 to its CEO, $75,618 to its vice president of finances and $81,401 to the vice president of operations. Canby paid $139,357 to its general manager and did not report salaries of its vice presidents.

The reported salary of Molalla’s CEO rose to $296,027 in 2005. The MCC board declined to discuss whether the figure included a severance package for East. Jantz, as vice president of finances, earned $115,034 in 2005.

Also reported on the tax forms were compensation figures for the MCC board members, which ranged between $9,300 and $11,550 for the year in 2004, compared to Canby and Beavercreek, where the highest paid directors received $3,000 and $3,155. In 2005, the MCC board members’ compensation ranged from $8,275 to $12,650. In Canby the highest salary was $2,550; in Beavercreek, $3,380.

MCC board members receive $350 per board meeting and $175 a day for regional and national meetings.

Those figures were not reported in this year’s annual report to the members, a fact that board chair Ed Lettenmaier called “highly unfortunate.”

He added, however, “We’re not here for the money.”

Rennard said Canby’s board members receive only $100 per meeting, but he noted that the levels of involvement and responsibility for board members vary from company to company.


More financials

Envada, an internet service provider serving primarily Portland-based non-profits, was a business venture that folded quickly after its inception in 2004. However, other investments by MCC, in the Rural Telephone Bank and the Alamosa cellular company, have brought in more than enough revenue to counterbalance that loss, Loutzenhiser said.

RTB alone brought in nearly $3.4 million in gains in 2006, according to MCC’s annual report.

“In any business you want to diversify to reduce risk and help increase your margins,” Loutzenhiser said. “(Envada) was an investment in a business entity that MCC had full control over that didn’t work out, so we exited.”

And the two wholesale customers that departed last year represented less than one percent of MCC’s total revenue, he said.

On the whole, the company’s finances are strong, with 2006 showing a $3.9-million increase in assets and $700,000 in debt reduction from the previous year, according to the annual report.

While appreciating those facts, members said they want to see more financial details made available to the public, and that ventures like Envada should be openly discussed. The annual reports published by MCC contain barely any financial data, and more complete information is difficult to obtain, members said.

“I understand the concept of risk and reward and that you have capital and want to invest in capital, but why not show us?” asked Mulino resident Mike Wagner.

The end of the forum saw the board and Loutzenhiser promising to make greater attempts at openness.

“One of the main things I heard people say is that they would like more information,” Loutzenhiser said. “So one of the main steps I’d like to take is to find out what information people would like to have, and how we can provide it.”

Lettenmaier added, “I think it’s been productive to have these questions brought up and gives us lots of food for thought.”

Wagner, who mentioned the possibility of recalling MCC’s directors during the forum, reserved his judgment on the meeting’s outcome.

“We’ll see,” he said. “It all depends on what (MCC) does now.”

Tigard boy in critical condition after branch plummets 50 feet onto tent where he was sleeping

By Danielle Peterson
For the Pioneer

A 5-year-old Tigard boy was critically injured Thursday night when a tree limb fell on the tent that he was sleeping in at a rural Molalla campground.

Around 10:52 p.m., a several hundred pound cottonwood limb snapped from the trunk and plummeted about 50 feet onto the tent that Ethan Hansen and five other boys were sleeping in at Elks Park on South Mulino Road, approximately 1½ miles west of the Mulino Airport, Canby Fire District officials said.

Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch reported that Hansen’s father, Paul Hansen of Tigard, called 9-1-1.

Off-duty Aurora Fire Captain and paramedic Bobby Meyer and his wife Jeannette were camping at a nearby site when the limb fell.

“We heard it crack and then we heard a thud,” Bobby Meyer said.

“We saw people running to get help, so we drove over there.”

Meyer said the limb had been lifted off the boy by the time he arrived.

“It was a big branch, probably 200 hundred pounds and it came from pretty far up in the tree,” he said.

He said the five other boys didn’t appear to be injured and were out of the tent by the time he arrived. Hansen however, was unconscious and had a head injury, Meyer said.

“I didn’t have any equipment, but I was able to get vital signs and make sure his airways were cleared,” Meyer said.

Two Canby Fire District medic units and a fire engine responded to the call, as well as Molalla and Clackamas County police.

While Canby firefighters were en route they were informed that they boy was in critical condition. They made a rare request for a Life Flight to meet them at Mulino Airport approximately a mile east of the campground, Canby Fire Marshal Troy Buzalsky said.

Paramedics rushed the boy to Mulino Airport where he was taken by LifeFlight to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland.

Buzalsky said it is unclear why the branch fell. “Cottonwood trees are inherently known for having rotten branches so it’s not uncommon for one to break,” he said.

“This was a very freak and very tragic accident,” Buzalsky said. “I’d be a liar to say that it didn’t affect every single responder and by stander that was in the park at the time.”

There were several unofficial reports circulating at 3 p.m. Friday that the boy had died, however, Legacy Emanuel officials said Hansen was listed in critical condition as of 5 p.m.

The petitions calling for the recall of city councilor Deb Leighton and Mary Jo Mackey were declared invalid by Molalla city attorney Jack Hammond today.

The petitions, which were filed on June 14 by Molalla resident Michelle Helmig and approved by City Recorder Melanie Maben were incomplete, Hammond said. A contribution and expenditure report and a statement as to whether petition circulators will be paid, both items required by the Secretary of State, were missing from the documents.

Hammond further noted that in the case of Deb Leighton, because she took office Jan. 10, 2007, the Oregon Constitution holds her immune from recall until July 10, 2007, six months after the beginning of her term in office.

City Manager Mike Clarke said Helmig has been notified that the petitions currently circulating are invalid.

-Abby Sewell

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

The five Molalla High School varsity basketball players facing trial on sex abuse charges in Clatsop County are now facing charges in Deschutes County as well.

On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Cody Anderson, 16; John Berokoff, 18; Joshua Haqq, 17; and Onisefor Kutsev, 17; and Vlasy Kutsev, 16; on three counts each of first degree unlawful sexual penetration, third degree assault, and first degree sexual abuse; two counts each of third degree sexual abuse and harassment; and one count each of attempted unlawful sexual penetration, attempted sexual abuse; and third degree attempted assault.

All are being tried as adults.

Only one victim, a freshman male team member, was cited in the alleged series of hazing-related sexual abuse incidents, which were reported to have occurred during team road trips to Sisters and Seaside, Ore. in December of 2006.

The incident in Seaside, which brought on the Clatsop County charges, allegedly occurred on a bus; while the incidents in Sisters allegedly happened over a period of days in the hotel where the team was staying. The victim reported being repeatedly subjected to unwanted sexual contact by the older team members.

Asked why the Deschutes County district attorney’s office waited until now to press charges, district attorney Michael Dugan said, “It was just convenience and timing.”

The defendants will be arraigned within the next week, he said.

Dugan said if convicted in both counties, it would be up to the judge to decide whether the defendants would serve sentences for both convictions at the same time or consecutively.

He declined to comment further on the case, other than to note, “All of them are presumed innocent and the fact of a charging document does not convict them.”

Response in the school district

A new Molalla High School coaches manual, which was written partially in response to the incidents in Deschutes and Clatsop County, was approved at Thursday’s school board meeting.

In the lengthy section on hazing and harassment, the manual states, “Students making unwanted comments or who engage in unwanted touching that is sexual in nature are subject to discipline including suspension, expulsion and/or referral to police … Consequences for hazing will result in removal from the team and contact of law enforcement.”

The new policy also stipulates that at least one coach must ride in the back of the bus during team trips.

MHS athletic director Steve Boynton said that in August all district coaches will be required to participate in a training session dealing with hazing.

Council recall petition cites discrimination, misuse of funds and harassment

By Joe Wilson
Molalla Pioneer

It’s all about getting even. That’s what Deb Leighton and Mary Jo Mackie, two Molalla city councilors facing a recall attempt, are saying about the reasons behind the effort.

Dave Helmig, the husband of Molalla resident Michelle Helmig, the recall’s chief petitioner, was fired May 11 after a debate about his fitness to work in the city’s planning department after city staff learned he was a convicted felon.

“I believe this (recall attempt) is in retaliation of the termination of her (Michelle Helmig’s) husband’s employment with the city,” Leighton said. “I just asked the information of the department heads about the process (of Helmig’s hiring). I had no knowledge of his record. It was not personal.”

Leighton added that she had no foreknowledge that Mayor Tom Foster was going to fire Helmig.

“He (Mayor Foster) did that on his own accord,” she said.

Council president Mackie agreed with Leighton that Michelle Helmig’s actions are simply to get back at her and Leighton.

“Would this be going back to when her (Michelle Helmig’s) husband was fired at city hall? I would imagine this is in retaliation for that,” Mackie said.

Helmig denies seeking a recall of the councilors based on her husband’s employment termination.

“I really would not be stupid enough to put forth a recall on a personal agenda,” she said. “It would go nowhere. This is not a personal attack.”

Foster said that a recall election is tough on a city.

“I think a recall is a terrible thing for a community to go through. I’ve been through them before and it just tears the community apart,” he said. “However, sometimes it’s a necessary recourse and I’m not saying that in this instance it is necessary, but if this is what the people want to do then so be it. The public is speaking.”

The recall petition for Leighton lists three reasons for demanding the recall: misuse of city funds, overstepping scope of authority with administrative matters and conduct unbecoming of a city councilor.

Helmig said she included misuse of city funds because she alleges that Leighton called and emailed the city attorney on numerous occasions, costing the city legal fees, despite an order from the mayor that all communication to the city attorney go through him to save money.

“That’s a little alarming to me. It signifies a personal agenda. She was acting on her own,” Helmig said.

Leighton denied ever misusing city funds.

“I have no execution authority personally to spend city funds — it has to be approved by the city council,” she said.

She said the petition’s claim that she exceeded her authority was not valid.

“Simply asking questions as a councilor during a city council meeting is my scope of authority and I have not overstepped any authority by only asking simple questions of the city staff,” Leighton said.

She said she was unaware that her conduct could be construed as unbecoming of a city councilor.

“I feel that I have done my best in representing the city and its citizens,” she said.

The recall petition for Mackie also lists three reasons for demanding the recall: incompetency, discrimination and harassment of city employees.

Helmig said Mackie harassed city employees by getting angry and yelling at them at city hall on at least one occasion.

“There have been direct threats from Mary Jo to city staff members,” she said.

Mackie said the claims were nonsense.

According to City Recorder Melanie Maben, Helmig has 90 days to collect 328 Molalla voter signatures on each of the separate petitions for the two councilors. That number of signatures is calculated to be 15 percent of the total number of votes cast in the city of Molalla for all candidates for governor at the last election at which a candidate for governor was elected to a full term.

If the number of signatures are gathered successfully, then Clackamas County’s elections division must verify that the signatures are valid within 10 days of receiving each petition.

Then once the signatures are verified, the councilor named in each verified petition has five days to either resign or submit a statement of justification that affirms their decision to face and accept the results of the upcoming recall election, according to Maben.

By state elections law, a special recall election must be held within 35 days after the end of the five-day councilor-response period. The results of the election must be certified by the county within 20 days of the election date, according to Clackamas County Elections Division.

If a recall vote is successful, the councilor is removed from office immediately after the results are certified. If a councilor resigns at any point in the process, the seat is vacated immediately.

Leighton said that to make matters even worse, she believes that since chief petitioner Michelle Helmig is city recorder Melanie Maben’s daughter-in-law, a conflict of interest exists because Maben is the municipal elections official who is overseeing the recall petition process. Dave Helmig is Maben’s son.

Foster said he is not surprised about the recall effort because there has been “talk on the street” about this happening. He said that as the mayor, he cannot publicly take a side in the debate.

“It’s not news that there has been a tremendous amount of turmoil in the city council in the last six months — a tremendous amount — and in city hall,” Foster said. “If this is what it takes to bring that to a head and get our city back to the way it’s supposed to be, operating in a civil manner, than that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

Mackie’s comment about her outlook on the upcoming debate was short and to the point.

“Oh boy, this is going to be fun isn’t it?,” she said.

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

A Molalla woman told police that she lost everything she owned when a trailer containing all her possessions was stolen from the Mathias Road house where she was staying with a friend.

Dana Pierce, 40, had packed all of her possessions into a white six-by-12 foot Wells Cargo trailer and was ready to move to a new home when an unkown person made off with the trailer and its contents.

“Everything that meant anything to me was in there,” Pierce said; including her son’s high school wrestling metals, her daughter’s collection of porcelain dolls; her father’s machete from World War II; and a hand carved wooden hope chest Pierce’s grandfather brought back from Thailand after World War I.

“My mom died last year, up in Colton, and she had a Buddy Holly collection with his whole life story and every song he ever wrote,” Pierce said. “She wanted me to have it and pass it on to my kids.”

That collection is gone, she said, along with Pierce’s father’s collection of Frank Sinatra records and a jewelry box he brought home from Japan after the war. The box contained a rare ivory necklace with a rose pendant and a set of diamond earrings and necklace.

Other, more practical items also disappeared, Pierce said, including a file cabinet with social security cards and birth certificates for her three grown children.

The CCSO report noted that Pierce was uninsured and has no criminal record.

“I really never thought about getting insurance on the trailer, because I never kept anything in it until now,” she said.

Pierce, who reported the theft to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office today, said she believed it occurred some time between Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night, when she and the residents of the property were gone.

“It just happened to be that everyone was gone at the same time,” Pierce said. “It’s kind of odd, like someone was watching the place.”

CCSO is investigating the theft. For her part, Pierce said she is more interested in retrieving the stolen item than finding the culprit.

“At this point, I don’t even really care about the trailer,” she said. “They can have it. I just want my belongings back.”

To report information relating to the incident, call the CCSO tip line at 503-723-4949.

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

The investigation of an animal abuse case in Colton began in March when neighbors of April Punley called the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office to report seeing the four horses living on Punley's property had escaped on multiple occasions and were in poor condition.

"The complaint was mainly from neighbors that the horses had been astray 12 or 13 times in the last year and from the first time to the 12th time, they had gotten considerably thinner," CCSO Livestock Deputy Morgan Guthner said.

When he initially visited the 103 acre property on Benzinger Road, he found four thin horses, one of them "severely emaciated," and all with symptoms of hoof rot from being tethered in the mud.

"I told (Punley) to get the vet out there immediately," Guthner said. "She didn't have the money, but she had some people that would help her. But when I went out later to see if she had complied, she locked the gate and wouldn't return my calls."

Last week, a neighbor called Guthner to report that one of the horses had died.

"I went out there on a whim and the gate happened to be open," he said. "One of the horses was dead and the one that was extremely thin before was still thin."

One of the horses also had an eye injury of unknown cause.

There were other issues on the property, with no phone or water in the house where Punley lived with her four-year-old autisic son. The boy was taken into protective custody.

The three horses that were seized are currently housed with foster owners and are receiving medical attention, Guthner said. Punley was cited and released on a charge of second degree animal abuse on Friday but had not been arraigned as of press time.

Liz Liechty in a tale of being tough

By Tim Lane
Molalla Pioneer

In high school Elizabeth Liechty’s shoulder could be a bother sometimes. It had a tendency to pop out of its socket, making the painful process of pushing it back in a necessity for those around her.

“I just remember that dang shoulder,” Liechty’s high school basketball coach Ray Williams says.

“When it first popped out I was mind boggled. Then I went over and felt it and I was stunned. I would have been crying but the other girls just said ‘oh, this happens all of the time,’ and they just popped it back in and she (Liechty) cringed a little bit and then got back out on the floor.”

She cringed a little bit and then got back out on the floor. She stopped, acknowledged the pain, and then pushed through it and got on with it.

Working through difficulties has been a trend in Liechty’s life.

Liechty knows pain and injury. It is something she has to deal with regularly.

Forget anticipating the worst, forget worrying if something dreadful might happen. For Liechty, she has been there, and the question in her life has always been, what now?

“We have always tried to instill in our kids that quitting is not an option,” Liz’s mother Melissa says. “Being part of what would be considered a large family by today’s standards our kids have always experienced patience and hard work because they competed with each other. None of what she has conquered has surprised me because she has always been tough.”

Liz had to be strong—she grew up in a household with four men, her father Paul, her older brother Dan, 22, and her younger brothers Aaron, 17, and Ben, 15.

“She had never quit anything in her life,” Melissa says. “She is tough. My husband always says she is tougher than all three of our boys.”

Tough like being able to keep playing a sport that knocks her shoulders out of whack.

“When I was in high school, I had two surgeries on my right shoulder,” Liechty says. “It still dislocates on a regular basis now.”

For the complete story, please see Wednesday's Molalla Pioneer

By Abby Sewell

By Joe Wilson
Molalla Pioneer

During a special meeting last night, the Molalla City Council unanimously approved an $89,000 employment contract with new city manager John Atkins, Jr. His first day on the job will be July 1.

Their unanimous decision was a departure from the May 23 meeting when the council was split 4-2 as they chose Atkins for the position. He is the permanent replacement for former city manager Gene Green who left to take a job with the city of West Linn a little more than five months ago.

Molalla Mayor Tom Foster said that despite the differing councilor opinions about who would do the job best, all of the council members and he are supportive of the new city manager.

“I know I can speak for everyone on council when I say that we will back John up 100 percent. I know he will do a fine job for the citizens of Molalla,” Foster said.

Former Molalla mayor, Mike Clarke, has been working as the interim city manager since Green’s departure on Dec. 15.

Atkins currently works as the community services coordinator for the city of West Linn, a job he has held since 1993.

Atkins didn’t waste any time getting to know the people of Molalla. He attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Four Corners Industrial park in Molalla today.

Atkins was elated when he was told that the council approved his contract.

“I’m eager to apply what I have learned over the past 20 years to help Molalla build the right future for itself,” he said.

He informally met with Foster today to sign the agreement.

For the complete story, see Saturday’s Molalla Pioneer.

25-year-old Brady Ralph Diamond of Oregon City, the driver of a car that veered off South Molalla Forest Road and landed treetops overhanging the Molalla River last Thursday night, died today.

Diamond and his passenger, Michael Steven Richardson, 28, of Colton, were both pinned in the vehicle and Diamond was unconscious when emergency personnel from the Molalla Fire Department and Clackamas County Sheriff's Office arrived. After a lengthy and arduous extrication process, both men were removed from the vehicle.

Diamond was taken by LifeFlight to OHSU, where he died today according to hospital officials.

Richardson was flown to Legacy Emanuel Hospital. As of press time, he was listed in fair condition.

The congregations and pastors of the Oregon Trail Cluster of the Oregon Synod (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) will be hosting a Prayer Vigil at Wagon Wheel Park on Tuesday, June 12 at 1:30 p.m.

Wagon Wheel Park is the site of a May 24 attack on two Latino men by a large group of teenagers who are reported to have shouted such things as, “Go back to Mexico,” while using rocks to beat the victims and damage their vehicle.

Leaders of the churches said they will pray for peace and healing in this and all the hurting places in the world, for an end to violence and crimes of hate, and for the safety of swimmers and boaters on the scenic waterways of Oregon.

Wagon Wheel Park is located on Highway 213 between Union Mills and Macksburg roads.

For more information, contact Pastor Scott Dunfee of St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Gladstone at 503-656-8194.

It has been a long-standing policy of the Molalla Pioneer to not allow anonymous letters to the editor based on a few very good ideas.

First, that a conversation between anonymous writers is usually unproductive and at best, gets nowhere fast because nobody knows who they are talking with.

Second, that if someone believes in something enough that they’d take the time to sit down and write a letter about it, they should believe in their ideas enough to sign the letter.

And third, that if writers have to sign their letters, they might employ the discretion needed to not later regret what they wrote.

Since it’s inception, the newspaper’s news blog has allowed anonymous comments about the stories and photos filed there. Going forward, most of the same rules that apply to letters to the editor will apply to online comments. Commenters will at least have to leave their name.

To sign a comment, just click on “Other” and type your name. If you click on “Anonymous” or just leave the name blank, the comment will not post to the site.

Thank you for reading the news blog. We hope to keep it full of interesting content that is worth commenting on.

-Joe Wilson
Editor