How's that again, Lynn? Last week WW reported that Lynn Snodgrass, House Speaker and candidate for secretary of state, was the only major Republican candidate in Oregon to support Ballot Measure 9, the latest homophobic opus from Lon Mabon ("Run Away! Run Away!," WW, Aug. 9, 2000). One day after WW hit the streets, Snodgrass issued a terse "clarification" stating that she does not support the measure. Huh. That's sure not what we heard last week. WW's source for the Speaker's stance was her legislative communications director, Dawn Phillips. A 12-year veteran of KXL radio, Phillips recently made the jump to the Speaker's office and told WW she used her reporting skills to get a position from her boss. "I asked her if it should be on the ballot at all," she told WW last week. "She said, 'It's better left to parents.' I asked, 'How would you vote on it?' She said she is on the record as saying: 'If you asked me to vote yes or no on it, I would vote yes.'" Phillips even called WW the day the story ran and said it was fine (except for a minor quibble). Now the Speaker says there was a miscommunication. Did she tell Phillips she was going to vote for the measure? "No, not exactly," says Snodgrass. "We had a very brief, fast conversation." Later, when pressed again, she said, "No. I never said I was going to vote for it." It's a mystery how someone with Phillips' experience could make such a critical mistake, but Snodgrass has one possible explanation. "Dawn had been working for my office for four days when you talked to her," Snodgrass says. "She has been a reporter for a long time. She hasn't been a communications director for the Speaker longer than four days--and it's different." ------- --Patty Wentz   Jailhouse Blues Alleged assaults on inmates, intimidating tattoos, grand jury hearings and possible criminal indictments: Things have gotten a bit unhinged at the Justice Center jail. Unhinged enough for Sheriff Dan Noelle to fire one deputy and place two others on administrative leave for an alleged assault on an inmate last month. Looking gutshot, Noelle also announced at a press conference Aug. 15 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will look into potential civil-rights violations stemming from the detention, and subsequent deaths, of James Luoto and Jon Beckel. Luoto died July 22 after being forcibly restrained at the Justice Center jail on June 25; he was being held for drunken driving. Beckel died July 6 after being forcibly restrained six days earlier, although his death is ascribed to a fall that occurred before he was in custody (see "What Happened to Jon Beckel?" WW, July 12, 2000). Both men died at area hospitals. Noelle fired corrections deputy Michael Foster, who was on probation, and placed two other corrections deputies on paid leave, for allegedly assaulting Dennis Poe on July 11 on the street outside the Justice Center. Poe, who was arrested on domestic-violence charges, did not require hospitalization. While investigating the Poe case, other corrections deputies told investigators that Foster and the other unnamed deputies had tattoos on their forearms that read "Brotherhood of the Strong." Noelle says his department is investigating the significance of the tattoos. Citing pending grand jury hearings, Noelle declined to be more specific about any of the allegations. "We've been struggling with ourselves," he told WW. "How do you say, 'We're worried about ourselves, but we can't talk about the details yet?'" A grand jury will hear evidence in the Beckel case Aug. 16 and the Poe case Aug. 17. The Luoto case will be heard after the state medical examiner's office concludes its investigation. "If these allegations prove out, these are not the kind of people we want in the association," says Sgt. Darcy Bjork, president of the Multnomah County Correctional Officers Association. Sources familiar with the evidence expect a criminal indictment to be handed down in the Poe case. --Philip Dawdy Kid Crime, Adult Time Standing a wiry 5 foot 8 inches tall, 17-year-old Ryan Carr lights up with a grin when he recalls his 16th birthday, when the guards let him leave his jail cell and eat in their employee-only cafeteria. "They told me I was the first kid they let do that," he says proudly. Carr, paroled in April, says he had no criminal history until he was 15, when he and a friend took some kids' money in the park, and he was charged with robbery. Under Measure 11, Oregon's 1995 tough-sentencing law, Carr was given a distinctly unkidlike choice: plead guilty to a lesser crime or face a minimum sentence of five years and 10 months if convicted. He chose to plead, and a prosecutor for Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk referred him to adult court, where he was sentenced to two years in jail. Some lawyers say the treatment of Carr and kids like him is a growing problem. In Multnomah County, unlike many others, kids who plead out of Measure 11 charges are automatically referred to adult court. That means they languish behind bars, with far fewer services than are available to other juveniles. They have fewer options for supervision once they're out on parole. In addition, their crimes stay on their record, making it difficult for them to get a job. In effect, defense attorneys say, it's like we've given up on them. "For some reason, the DA here is adamant about this practice and declines to look at any other way of handling these cases," says public defender Ingrid Swenson. Schrunk's chief deputy, Norm Frink, defends the practice, saying his office is merely fulfilling the intent of the law: that Measure 11 cases be handled as adults. That said, he adds, "we are willing to look at any case." Carr says for the last two years, no one once asked him the question, "What do you want to be?" So he's answered it himself, working part-time and hoping to study computer technology at PCC this fall. --Nick Budnick OHSU'S BRAIN STORM No one really looks forward to brain surgery, but Adam Christopherson was hopeful, at least. The 22-year-old, who worked as a box boy at a Molalla Thriftway, had been diagnosed with epilepsy since he was old enough to walk, with petit mal seizures recurring twice a week and grand mal every few months. Over the years, doctors prescribed a slew of drugs to counteract the seizures. Nothing helped. That made Christopherson a prime candidate for amygdalohippocampectomy, a procedure that involves tunneling into the skull and removing a walnut-sized section of brain, where the neuro-electrical brain storms are born. But when Christopherson went under the knife at Oregon Health Sciences University on Sept. 1, 1999, disaster struck. "During this procedure, inadvertent entry into the peduncle of the mid-brain was discovered, but not before significant entry into the brainstem had been accomplished," wrote surgeon Dr. Kim Burchiel in his report. Translation: Surgeons accidentally removed the wrong part of Christoph-erson's brain. Today Christopherson lives in a Seattle nursing home. He is paralyzed on the right side of his body. This tragic accident may become the next battleground for the ongoing legal struggle over the liability cap granted to OHSU under state law, which limits damages to $200,000--a limit that in some cases barely covers medical costs, let alone legal bills (see "Storming the Hill," WW, May 19, 1999). Christopherson's attorney, Larry Wobbrock, is convinced that the cap violates the Oregon Constitution. "I stand ready, able and willing to go all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court," Wobbrock says. "We'll take it as far as we have to." OHSU has offered $200,000--but Adam's father, Terry Christopherson, says that will only pay for 18 months' worth of care. "He's going to need care for the rest of his life," he says, calling OHSU's legal loophole "totally ludicrous." OHSU's attorney, Rodney Norton, said he could not comment on pending litigation. The case is scheduled for trial in October. --Chris Lydgate Missing the Boat For the fourth time in the past two years, Cascade General has missed the deadline for completing its purchase of the Portland Shipyard on Swan Island. In the latest version of the sale, Cascade was supposed to pay the Port of Portland $30.8 million by July 3 for 57 waterfront acres and all the shipyard's equipment. Those terms were scaled back from an earlier deal struck in 1998 for 92 acres at a price of $38.8 million. The Port has continued to negotiate exclusively with Cascade, the facility's current operator, despite expressions of interest in the yard from at least three other established ship-repair companies. Port General Counsel Cory Streisinger justifies the exclusivity by pointing out that Cascade has a lease on the facility with an option to extend for five years. At least part of the reason for Cascade's most recent failure to come up with the cash is that the company and its unions are deadlocked in contract negotiations. In the absence of a contract, Cascade's lenders are unlikely to fund the purchase. The company's final offer will be mailed out to about 800 steamfitters, boilermakers and electricians this week, according to Michael O'Rourke, a spokesman for the Portland Metal Trades Council. Union members are unenthusiastic about Cascade's proposal, which O'Rourke says is a two-year contract that includes half the raises being offered in similar negotiations taking place in San Francisco. Moreover, O'Rourke says, such a short contract is "highly unusual." Critics of the Port's sale to Cascade, including Tom Maples, owner of the ship-repair firm Mar-Com and a prospective buyer of the yard, suggest that the short duration of Cascade's offer is a sign that the company may be more interested in selling the yard's assets than operating it long-term. For their part, Port officials still expect the deal to close soon. Cascade officials were unavailable for comment. --Nigel Jaquiss Murmurs IDLE GOSSIP, RANK SPECULATION & BIZARRE QUOTES * Poor Scott Thomason. Last week, federal civil-rights officials sent out letters saying the car king's efforts to resolve discrimination claims with former employees were insufficient--a finding that will probably land Thomason's company in federal court. Now we hear that bad publicity generated by the discrimination claims has stalled his efforts to join the University Club. * When Earth, Wind and Fire took the stage at Portland Meadows on Sunday, it soon became apparent that African Americans were less than welcome in the "reserved" seating section. A reserved ticket was required for admission to the section, but security guards from Coast to Coast Event Services appeared to focus their attention on checking the tickets of black concertgoers, ignoring the white concertgoers who wandered into the exclusive area to enjoy the show. * Portland Public Schools officials spent a lot of time bad-mouthing former Woodlawn Elementary principal Marie Allen after a September 1999 WW cover story that detailed Allen's whistleblowing about administrative irregularities at Woodlawn. Last week, however, district officials, who had forced Allen out of her job, agreed to pay her a hefty $172,000 settlement. * The weather was ideal, the vistas as alluring as ever, but organizers of the fifth annual Providence Bridge Pedal were not prepared for the onslaught of 15,000 cyclists. Chaos resulted: The start was delayed and organizers ran out of refreshments--especially awkward for slow-moving family groups, who had some very disappointed children on their hands. * Big O readers found themselves gazing into an oddly familiar face Sunday in an ad for local stockbrokers Bidwell & Company: that of Metro Councilor Ed Washington, who is bizarrely depicted as being a customer named "Walter Richfield" in Technical Sales. Apparently Washington, 63, was tapped for the ad by a local talent scout. No word yet on whether he plans to take up modeling when his Metro term expires in January. * Long one of Portland theater's greatest accomplishments, Imago's Frogs, Lizards, Orbs and Slinkys is metamorphosing into the new, pithier title of Frogz. Co-artistic director Jerry Mouawad said the old title seemed too cumbersome for the piece's New York audience. * As the former spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau, Captain CW Jensen is no stranger to drama. But now Jensen, who is currently on leave from the bureau, has decided to pursue his penchant for theatrics. Look for him to make his first stage appearance next month in Ain't Nothing but a Bunch of Bull Night Cabbie BY Willie Milkis willie_milkis@hotmail.com PART 4 BROADWAY AND BURNSIDE. It's about 4:30 am now, and I'm getting really tired. This time we find the skinny guy, and some money and a baggie make a quick change of hands again. This is illegal for me, but I'm too worn out now to care much, and the meter is up over a hundred bucks. My fare tells me to head back up into the hills again. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Even the hooker has had enough and wants out. "You don't have to smoke any more," he tells her, "but just stay for the ride." I drive back up Burnside for the third time this evening. No sex this time; my fare smokes crack in the back, and Dee just sits there like a soft old puppet. We drive aimlessly, then drop Dee back at 2nd and Burnside. Finally, finally my fare says, "All right, cabbie, you can take me home now." My fare lives on a houseboat on one of the rivers. He bums a cigarette from me, and we light up and smoke out the windows. It's almost dawn. He tells me he works in the fitness business. "Yeah, I got a DUI a year ago, that's why I have to do all this in cabs now." The fare is $120 at the end, and he brings me $130. "Hey man, you sure you don't know where to get some more action?" My God, I don't even know what to say to that. What keeps him going? I tell him the only action I'm taking is going home to bed. "Aw, man, you're the cabbie! Any other city, the cabbie knows what's going on. The last cabbie took me to his sister's house, and he wanted to watch!"