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Wednesday, October 23, 2013
2/21/12
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GIRLS SOCCER: St. Helens is the first team in the USA to test out Smart Ball technology, Page A13
TODAY’S WEATHER Mostly sunny Page A14
The Chronicle
Highs to 72 Lows to 49
$1.00 Vol. 131, No. 43 16 Pages
www.thechronicleonline.com
Nozzle Forward!
Additional plaintiffs join ‘sextortion’ lawsuit BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
CLATSKANIE — A federal complaint has been filed against the Clatskanie School District and Principal Jeff Baughman after two female minors came forward and joined Josi Harrison, 15, who filed suit last July against five fellow teens and 10 adults. This newest lawsuit alleges the school failed to follow its own policies regarding sexual harassment and that the district “created… a hostile education environment” that allowed and condoned acts of sextortion, bullying, harassment and assault which regularly took place over a period of at least three years. The federal suit was filed on Oct. 15. Like Harrison, students Allysun Harkleroad and Laura Lefebvre describe a series of events in which they say they were extorted to provide nude, semi-nude or sexually explicit photos of themselves, as well as being harassed and/or sexually assaulted. The girls were 12 and 13, respectively, at the time the incidents reportedly began. Harrison’s earlier suit also alleged ongoing acts of assault, battery and emotional distress, which she says occurred at Clatskanie Middle School over a three-year period, beginning was she was 12. That case is currently pending trial. The federal complaint further asserts that the school district never reported the circulation of the nude photos to either the Oregon Department of Human Services or any law enforcement agency, as required by law, and that the school never informed the girls’ parents that their daughters were being sextorted, and refused to reveal what, if any, disciplinary actions would be taken against those involved. According to Amber Lunsford, attorney for the plaintiffs, “Mr. Baughman and the school district knew this was going on, yet never investigated it, never prevented it from happening further, never implemented disciplinary actions, and never protected these girls. On top of that, the few measures that were taken involved limiting the girls’ access to educational and athletic opportunities, rather than See SUIT, Page A2 INSIDE Classified Ads A10-11 Legal Notices A11-12 Obituaries A7 Opinions A5 Out & About A9 Records A3 Sports A13-16 TV Guide A8 Weather A12
SHARI PHIEL/The Chronicle
Firefighters from several local agencies practice the “crooked lean,” part of a system of Nozzle Forward technique taught by the Seattle firefighter Aaron Fields at the Lee Broadbent Training Center in St. Helens.
Local firefighters gain skills from training BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
ST. HELENS — There’s a common saying about keeping things simple. Apparently, that holds true when it comes to fighting fires, too. You might think the only advances in firefighting come from new chemicals or equipment, but as some local crewmembers discovered during a recent two-day training, even basic changes can make a big difference. “It’s just simple hose manipulation. A lot of times guys will take the hose and put it over the shoulder and drag it. What this is teaching is a different technique,” said Scappoose Division Chief Jeff Pricher. From Oct. 15–16, a total of 38 firefighters from the Scappoose and Clatskanie fire districts and Columbia River Fire & Rescue, along with crews from Tacoma Fire, Camas Fire, Portland Fire, Bangor Fire,
Vancouver Fire and Boulder (Colo.) Fire learned the Nozzle Forward system. Instructor Aaron Fields, himself a firefighter for the City of Seattle, led the 20-hour class. Described as an adaptable system of hose line management and fire attack, rather than a collection of techniques, the Nozzle Forward program teaches firefighters to use their body to manipulate pressurized hoses weighing 150-300 pounds through obstructed areas, deep in a house and commercial zones. The techniques provide faster and safer ways to extinguish fires. “We heard about him by word of mouth, and he’s so good we’re bringing his company in to teach our recruiting academy,” said Pricher. The course integrates three major components of engine company work; fire behavior, hose management, and fire attack. “Pushing the hose through the
hose tower is a coordinated event,” added Pricher. “Right now, there’s no one fire department that can put a fire out by themselves. We just don’t have the staffing and we have to work together.” By bringing together firefighting personnel from several local agencies, the training also helps develop a better understanding of each other’s practices, procedures and terminology, and helps to create a common language, which improves effectiveness. “The first time we tried the exercise it took us four minutes. We’ll do it again at the end of the day and it will take us 90 seconds,” said Pricher. One of the techniques taught over the two days was a move called the “crooked lean,” in which one firefighter leans back and another firefighter leans forward while sliding across the ground toward the fire. The positioning allows for better control of the fire hose and puts
the firefighters in a ready state for approaching the fire. Officials from Columbia River Fire & Rescue, which had eight firefighters attend the training session, said while full implementation and rollout to all members of the department could take a long time, the program will starting paying off much sooner than that. “In terms of the basic tasks that firefighters have to do, it put everything together. That basic task is putting a hose line into a burning building effectively, efficiently and safely,” said CRF&R Division Chief Ron Youngberg. Both Pricher and Youngberg oversee training for their respective departments. “The stuff they were taught out there and practiced last Tuesday and Wednesday brings it all together. I’m looking forward to an increase in our effectiveness and safety when we have to respond to structural fires,” added Youngberg.
Jail levy gains support from Columbia City, St. Helens city councils BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
The debate over the jail levy has spilled over into the chambers of several local city councils. A resolution in support of the proposed levy was passed earlier by The City of Columbia City and in the last week came before both the St. Helens and Scappoose councils as well. When presented to the St. Helens council, the issue was given lengthy debate both during the work session and regular session meetings on Oct. 16. Scappoose business owner Brady Preheim, among others, has been an outspoken opponent of the levy. According to Preheim, the levy isn’t needed to support the jail. “If we had a 100 beds and we pay the same rate as the federal rate, adjusted for inflation, over the next four years, we will save our county $9.1 million,” said Preheim. Currently, the county contributes around $1–$1.5 million annually to the jail’s $4 million budget. About $1.5 to $2.1 million comes from federal bed rentals, and roughly $250,000 from community corrections’ bed rentals, along with inmate fees, grants and other revenue streams. Columbia County Commissioner Earl Fisher told
the St. Helens City Council, “This is a crisis that is a result of the declines in revenues on the part of the county over the past several years. Our concern right now is that we may not be able to keep enough prisoners in the jail from the feds.” According to Preheim, the jail is losing money by housing federal inmates. He estimates the cost for housing inmates to be more than $90 per day but the jail only charges $78 per day to house those inmates. The jail has a maximum capacity of 250 beds, although only around 100 of those beds are currently being filled (25 for local inmates and the remainder going to federal inmates.) But others, like Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson and the county commissioners say this just isn’t the case. “I would suggest to you that trying to a per head cost to figure out if you’re losing or not losing money on the deal is an improper way of doing it,” said Fisher. “There is a minimal cost to be able to operate the facility that is not based on headcount but is based on a cost of doing business.” Under Oregon Revised Statute 169, the jail is required to have two staff members per shift, with a total of three shifts over a 24hour period. Other staff per shift include a booking of-
File photo
Both the sheriff and Columbia County Commissioners say the jail will close if Measure #5-234 fails to pass.
ficer and control room tech, where all access into the jail is monitored and controlled. According to Dickerson, this is the lowest amount of staffing the jail can operate under, even if the population was limited to just “local” inmates housed at a smaller location, like the former jail in the county courthouse basement. “Consider this, the City of St. Helens requires approximately 16 officers for minimum staffing to put two officers on post around the clock. The jail requires four
posts filled around the clock, and with mandatory overtime and backfill with patrol deputies, we scrape by with 15 jail deputies, two control techs Sheriff Dickerson and two supervisors,” said Dickerson. “Our budget for that staffing level and the manage-
ment costs of the jail is $2.3 million – about twice what the county budget provides – and that is before we put one single prisoner in jail.” Dickerson notes that amount does not include other costs such as the $300,000-$400,000 a year paid for medical costs (medical costs for federal inmates are reimbursed), a similar yearly amount for food costs, along with utilities and other expenses. See JAIL, Page A2