Anybody else feeling Rummy?

[November 15th, 2006] Trail Blazers forward Zach Randolph faces a new $2 million sexual assault lawsuit in connection with a well-publicized incident last summer. The suit was filed Monday, Nov. 13, in Multnomah County Circuit Court by a stripper at the Northeast Portland club Exotica. In the incredibly detailed complaint (go to wweek.com to read the suit), the plaintiff alleges she was anally and vaginally raped after blacking out drunk during a private sex show last August at the Hotel Vintage Plaza. The dancer, who is unidentified in the suit, claims the 25-year-old Randolph offered her and another dancer $500 to perform oral sex on each other, but wouldn't pay after he realized they weren't actually performing the act. Prosecutors decided in September not to prosecute Randolph criminally, saying there was insufficient evidence for a rape charge. A Blazers spokesman says the team doesn't comment on ongoing legal matters.

The name of a prominent witness jumps out of a newly released 2 1/2-inch stack of documents related to the September in-custody death of James Chasse Jr. As first reported Monday on WWire at wweek.com, two pages released by Portland police last week about the Chasse incident in Northwest Portland deal with what developer Homer Williams saw when police first encountered Chasse on Sept. 17. Williams, who was dining with his sister on the patio of Bluehour, told police that "the only thing that seemed out of the ordinary for him was the overall casualness of the incident ."

The state ethics commission will consider its investigators' preliminary finding that Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey twice violated conflict-of-interest rules when the commission meets Friday, Nov. 17. The investigation by Oregon's Government Standards and Practices Commission began after allegations arose that Rojo de Steffey took advantage of her county board position to help secure a real-estate deal for Guardian Management, a development company where her husband works (see "Sweetheart Deal?" WW, July 5, 2006). Rojo de Steffey could face a fine of up to $2,000 if the ethics commission agrees that she failed to announce a potential conflict in board dealings with Guardian and the former Martha Washington Hotel on Southwest 11th Avenue. Rojo de Steffey attorney Chip Lazenby says the statute is being misinterpreted. Check back with wweek.com for updates Friday.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission will fight a recent administrative law judge decisio n saying that OLCC should grant wholesale licenses to out-of-state wineries ("Uncorking the Wine Market, WW, Nov. 1, 2006). Proponents of the judge's decision want to open up Oregon's tightly regulated beer and wine market, predicting that will lower prices. But the OLCC fears a loss of control, and its staff filed comments last week to the commission that make dire predictions about what will happen if OLCC commissioners let the decision stand at their Dec. 14 meeting. "Any entity operating anywhere in the United States or the world may obtain an Oregon liquor license and exercise the privileges of that license from outside Oregon," writes agency lawyer Lynn Rosik. What Rosik doesn't say is that a federal judge in Spokane has already ruled such an arrangement is entirely legal and appropriate in Washington.

With apologies, the winner of the Lars Larson caption contest will be delayed until next week.