School
officials play
the waiting game
Photo by Tom Morlan
Rayven Davis, the new manager of the Clackamas County Fair &Rodeo, looks out over the northeast Canby fairgrounds from the rodeo announcer's booth last week.
By Stephanie South
of the Herald
The ballots have been mailed
out, and fliers were distributed to area households Saturday.
Now the fate of the Canby School District's $30.8 school bond package rests in the hands
of citizens.
Canby schools are in major need of maintenance repairs, according to school officials.
That's why they're asking taxpayers to pass the bond.
"I believe people have the responsibility to vote," said Canby School District
Business Manager Don Staehely, "even if they vote No."
The mail-in ballots must be returned to the Clackamas County Elections Division by 8 p.m.
May 16.
The maintenance bond would repair and maintain school buildings. It includes funds for the
replacement of roofs and heating/ventilation systems and the addition of classrooms to
respond to the continued growth in enrollment.
The $30.8 million bond also would pay for electrical and data wiring to improve technology
in the schools and cover the purchase of about 20 acres of land to build a new middle
school.
A new middle school would allow the Ackerman Middle School Lee campus to reopen as an
elementary school. The Lee building is now being used as part of the middle school, due to
overcrowding at adjacent Ackerman.
For the ballot measure to pass, more than 50 percent of registered voters must approve it.
If people don't vote, it will automatically be registered as a No vote.
If the bond doesn't pass, Canby School District Superintendent Deborah Sommer said she
plans to resubmit it in November.
Failure to pass the bond could mean possible reductions of existing school programs,
Sommer said.
"This bond is critical to the future of Canby School District and to the Canby
community," Sommer said.
Staehely said if the bond doesn't pass, he will advise the district to take out a loan in
excess of $1 million. This amount would be used primarily to replace roofs with dry rot.
For more information about the school bond, call Sommer or Staehely at 266-7861.
Playing
fair comes
naturally to new manager
By David Howell
of the Herald
Rayven Davis recalls growing up in the Philomath
area, spending countless hours helping tend to the cattle and horses at her grandparents'
ranch.
"Half my time growing up I spent at their ranch," she said. "My hobby, of
course, was horses."
Now her hobby is very much her career.
Davis is the new Clackamas County Fair & Rodeo manager, so horses and a wide array of
farm animals are a big part of her daily life.
She succeeds Barbara Lawrence, who held the post for nine years before retiring last
December.
Like Lawrence, Davis is a veteran of the county fair business. She acted as the manager of
the Polk County Fair the last 12 years, after starting on the ground staff at the Benton
County Fair in the 1970s.
"Once you get involved in fairs, it's in your blood," she said. "There's
always something happening, there's always people to work with on projects, there's always
a challenge."
Davis, who was chosen from a four-person short list from 28 original candidates for the
$55,000-per-year job, said she has attended the Canby fair about 10 times in the past.
"I always loved coming here," she said, recalling the site's sturdy buildings
and well-manicured grounds. "It's an old-fashioned county fair, and that's what
people loved about it then and love about it now."
Davis is in charge of 10 staff members, and an annual budget of $1.3 million.
The county fair is funded by about $313,000 in hotel/motel taxes. The annual fair itself
generates about $600,000 annually, and other events held at the fairground make up the
majority of the remaining $400,000.
"I think we have a very healthy fair," she said. "I'm looking forward to
it."
The 2000 Clackamas County Fair & Rodeo will be held at the Northeast Third Street
fairgrounds from Aug. 15-20. This year is its 92nd edition.
Davis, 48, said both the job offer and the area appealed to her.
"The Canby area is a very beautiful area," she said. "That's one of the
things that intrigued me.
''Also, a person said, 'When opportunity knocks you have to take advantage of it because
it might not come around again.' I decided to open the door and take the opportunity. I'm
glad I did . . . It's almost like coming home.
It's very relaxed here, and the excellent staff take great pride in the fairgrounds."
The team mentality is essential to the successful organization and maintenance of the
fairgrounds, she said.
"It's not just one person; it takes everyone working together," she said.
"It takes a team philosophy to make this facility one of the nicest in the state. The
staff here take great pride in their work, and I think it shows . . . We want to continue
that."
Rayven and Ed Davis, a trailer salesman for a Grants Pass company, have been married for
28 years.
The couple have two children: Renae, 26, a public accountant in Corvallis; and James, 21,
an interstate truck driver.
Police find ally in
DNA evidence
By David Howell
of the Herald
WILSONVILLE - All it takes is a discarded old cigarette butt. Or a hair
fiber snagged in an unusual place.
Or even a used Band-Aid found in a secluded rural area.
"Those are the kinds of things we can work with," said Dona Scarpone. "The
power of DNA still surprises me."
Scarpone has been a forensic biologist and criminalist in the Oregon State Police
laboratory for 15 years.
She specializes in the analysis of DNA found in potential evidence located at crime
scenes, many involving the abuse of children.
Scarpone hosted a seminar at the "Child Abuse Summit 2000: The Power of One in
Collaboration with Others" conference held April 26-28 in Wilsonville.
She said advances in a form of DNA testing and analysis called polymerase chain reaction -
the invention of which won Californian Kary Mullis the 1993 Nobel Prize for Science - has
greatly aided law enforcement efforts to solve difficult crimes, even when the evidence
trail has long gone cold.
But, in order for DNA to work effectively, police on the scene must look for a variety of
potential DNA sources, she said.
"Don't throw any potential evidence away from the crime scene," she told police
officers in attendance.
Scarpone described a murder case where a lightly soiled Band-Aid was found under a child's
body in a wooded area.
"To a lot of people that could be seen as garbage," she said.
"It turned out that the patch on the Band-Aid was loaded with DNA other than the
girl's. It was the only piece of evidence we could put at the crime scene. It could have
been her DNA, but it wasn't. It essentially made our case . . . The jury found him guilty
of multiple charges."
In her seminar, "Collecting Evidence: The Latest in DNA Testing," said the PCR
process is simple and can be applied to samples with small or degraded amounts of DNA.
However, contamination of evidence by law enforcement, as was alleged in the notorious
O.J. Simpson double-murder trial, can be a problem, she said.
"(PCR) has opened up so many doors for the prosecution of cases in the last 10
years," she said. "DNA isn't going to solve every case . . . but once you have
DNA evidence it changes the whole dynamic of a case . . . We can put a suspect at the
scene."
Scarpone said good DNA markers taken from a crime scene result in a 1 in 10 billion
probability that a specific perpetrator is guilty.
For example, a southeast Portland man pleaded guilty in January to two murders in the late
1980s and a 1995 rape - all based on linking DNA evidence picked up from a cigarette he
dropped in the street.
However, getting prisons and other correctional institutions to force inmates to undergo
oral swabbings to be entered into a nationwide DNA criminal database, as a federal law
permits, is proving difficult, she said.
Taking swabs from young sexual and physical abuse victims and their clothing, and then
labeling them clearly in plastic bags, is often essential to getting convictions in court
later, she said.
"What we're looking for is the perpetrator's DNA on the child," she said.
Unfortunately, Scarpone's skills are in demand with area police departments, as a state
agency's report last week found child abuse is at a 10-year high.
But it's not a new problem: The American Academy of Pediatrics reported in the early 1990s
that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be abused by age 18.
Some of the estimated 400 conference attendees worried that not enough is currently being
done to identify at-risk children.
"Child abuse increases in frequency and escalates in severity," said Mary Rix,
an RN and researcher at a Portland hospital. "Authorities must look into it, or we'll
see kids again for repeat injuries.
''We must ensure we do the very best job the very first time to try to prevent having to
see a victim again . . . We must raise the level of awareness of risk factors in the
community."
American Legion honors
officers and gentlemen
By Tom Morlan
of the Herald
It didn't take long for Bob Pulford and Doug Kitzmiller to rise to the top
of their fields.
And it didn't take long for the community to acknowledge their efforts. Last month, Canby
American Legion Post 122 honored Pulford as Fire Officer of the Year, while Kitzmiller was
named Police Officer of the Year.
Pulford, 38, just completed his first year as a full-time firefighter/paramedic with the
Canby Fire District. But Fire Marshal Ron Yarbrough said Pulford already has established
himself as a team player.
"We've probably got 55 people in our organization, and our goal is to get 'we'
people, not 'I' people," Yarbrough said. "Bob always has a smile on his face and
wants to help his fellow man. That's why he was the recipient."
Kitzmiller, meanwhile, finished his second year of service with the Canby Police
Department in January. The 25-year-old officer has earned a reputation as a pretty sharp
cookie, according to Police Chief Jerry Giger.
"He's young and intelligent - his peers have talked about his perception," Giger
said. "He doesn't forget names and faces, and that's invaluable to doing a good job.
It's just a special skill he has that everybody's noticed."
Kitzmiller's eagle eye comes in handy in another arena as well. He's a firearms
instructor, and newcomers rely on him for his expertise.
Nevertheless, Kitzmiller said the American Legion honor came as a pleasant surprise.
"I figured somebody else would get it," Kitzmiller said. "There's a lot of
people in this department who are just as deserving of it. I just try to stay active and
make good use of my time."
Kitzmiller, who was a reserve officer in West Linn before coming to Canby, doesn't plan to
leave anytime soon. He sees opportunities for career advancement in his future - not to
mention opportunities for positive, long-lasting relationships with his co-workers.
"We've got a really good department and a really good group of people to work
with," Kitzmiller said. "I plan on staying around for a long time." Pulford
feels the same way about his job.
"It was one of my dreams to be a paid firefighter," said the longtime paramedic,
who worked for American Medical Response before joining the Canby Fire District. "I'd
like to just stay here and do 20 years until I retire."
Pulford said he appreciates Canby's sense of community.
"The small town is what I like," Pulford said. "I like the people - you
feel like you're really helping them."
Pulford lived in Canby from 1990 to 1995. Now he resides in Oregon City with his wife
Teresa and their daughter Emma, 6.
Kitzmiller also lives in Oregon City. He and his fiancee Heidi have three children between
them: Roman, 8, Marlee, 4, and Drew, 15 months.
The sixth annual Police and Fire Awards dinner took place April 15. Ken Gunder, who hosted
the event on behalf of Canby American Legion Post 122, presented Kitzmiller's award.
Pulford, meanwhile, received his plaque from Betty Ramey. The award is named in honor of
her late husband, Wallace Ramey.
