WHERE WE DIG OUT THE TRUTH.

[August 17th, 2005] Georgie Packwood , ex-wife of Bob Packwood, has changed parties nearly 15 years after she divorced the former Republican senator from Oregon. Clackamas County voting records show the 75-year-old Georgie switched from Republican to Democrat last December. The Packwood ex said Monday that the switch was based on a rightward trend in the GOP that left her saying, "I could not in good conscience remain a Republican.'' Bob Packwood resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1995 after a storm of sexual harassment allegations and now lobbies in Washington, D.C.

The long reign of notorious divorce lawyer Allan Knappenberger may finally be coming to an end ("S.O.B., Esq.," WW, March 22, 2000). An Oregon State Bar disciplinary panel voted in late July to suspend him for 12 months for negligence. Knappenberger failed to file a legal order until almost nine years after he was supposed to, despite numerous requests-thus jeopardizing his client's access to her ex-husband's pension. Under bar rules, any suspension of six months or longer requires that the bar board approve the lawyer's return to work-meaning Knappenberger, described in one disciplinary proceeding as a "clear and present danger to the public," may be out of luck.

Speaking of flamboyant, controversial lawyers, former Multnomah County prosecutor Randy Ray Richardson , who this year beat a criminal charge of bribing witnesses, may be nearing a settlement with the bar to let him keep his license ("Randy Richardson was a hotshot criminal-defense lawyer. Now he needs one," WW, May 28, 2003). According to a letter Murmurs found in the bar's public file last week, the two sides are in talks over various alleged ethics violations. It's a safe bet he will be suspended less than six months: Richardson's lawyer, Larry Matasar , is too smart to let the bar's board determine his client's legal future-as will happen to Knappenberger, thanks to the six-month suspension rule.

Long-ago WW cover subject Marc "The Mole'' Caven (June 8, 1982) is causing quite the current stir in Yamhill County. McMinnville News-Register reporter Katie Willson raised serious questions in her report last week about the county narcotics team's use of Caven, a career informant with a criminal record and history of entrapment, as part of a sting operation. WW documented a similar MO 23 years ago, and the News-Register story found Caven's present dealings with suspects to be just as shaky. Last Friday, Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry suspended any further arrests that were based on information from Caven and promised to review the 46 cases in which arrests have already been made. For more, go to www.newsregister.com.

Good news for abused and neglected animals. Oregon Humane Society special agents will keep their power for at least two more years to investigate animal abuse and neglect cases. When the state House failed to make changes sought by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in that program, the Humane Society agents faced the prospect of turning in their badges next month. But Kulongoski will renew the agents' investigative power until the 2007 Legislature can take another crack at putting the state Department of Public Safety in charge of the program instead of the guv's office. That change sought by Kulongoski got hung up by state Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach (see Rogue of the Week, July 13, 2005), because of Krieger's frustration with the Humane Society of America (a separate organization).