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FOLLOW UP It looks like the sale of Portland's biggest shipyard is going to go through--but not without one final twist. When the Port of Portland Commissioners voted to sell the Portland Ship Yard on Dec. 16, they did so with the full knowledge that the buyer, Cascade General, Inc., was under investigation by a federal agency. WW has learned that the day before the vote, representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers met with Port officials. Port spokesman Tom Decker confirms that one of the topics discussed was allegations about Cascade's billing practices. The allegations surfaced in a lawsuit first presented in Multnomah County Circuit Court earlier in December. In that suit, Cascade sued former employee Daniel Sessler in an attempt to stop him from competing with Cascade for ship-repair business. In response, Sessler alleged that he left Cascade in part because of irregularities in the way the company billed the Corps and other customers. Corps spokesperson Dawn Edwards told WW that her agency is taking the allegations seriously enough to mount an investigation. Edwards says Cascade did $6 million worth of repair work on Corps dredging vessels in 1997-98. Billing records for that work will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland, she says. Port Commissioner Michael Powell, who has closely monitored the Port's lengthy negotiations with Cascade, downplays the allegations. "It didn't seem like an issue worth holding anything back for," he says. Critics of the sale say Cascade is getting a sweetheart deal ("Port in a Storm," WW, Dec. 12, 1998). Powell and other commissioners have been vocal supporters of Cascade, crediting the company with saving the shipyard from failure. Cascade Chairman Frank Foti says Sessler's allegations lack credibility. He says the judge has upheld a preliminary injunction against Sessler's company. As for the investigation, Foti says government agencies routinely audit contractors. Neither Foti nor Port officials expect the investigation to have any
bearing on the sale of the shipyard, now expected to close within the
next week. --Nigel Jaquiss
The annual grand jury report on the state of the county jails was one of the most positive in recent memory. The seven citizens impaneled to judge the system commended the sheriff for adding enough jail beds to finally put an end to the 12-year-old practice of releasing prisoners early because of overcrowding. But, the report warned, despite Noelle's success in easing cramped quarters, "a variety of factors, some near and others farther off, demonstrate that Multnomah County's present jail beds are not sufficient to meet future criminal justice systems needs." For example, judges, who were well aware of past overcrowding, may now begin imposing longer sentences. And the Portland Police Bureau, which is hiring 80 additional officers, might arrest more people. To make matters worse, the report concluded that some of the people
in jail probably shouldn't be. The grand jury reviewed county documents
which show that people with mental illnesses unnecessarily land in jail
and wind up staying there longer than needed partly because of a lack
of resources both at the state level and in the community. For example,
inmates who have been ordered to the state hospital have languished
in jail for up to two months--sometimes with disastrous results--because
of the hospital's own bed shortage problem. "Essentially, state policy
has left the mentally ill to be treated predominantly through the corrections
system," the report said. "[T]his report can not emphasize in strong
enough terms that the state's responsibly for treatment of the mentally
ill has not been met." --Maureen O'Hagan
As The Oregonian reported, Abrams blasted officials at Roosevelt and Jefferson high schools for violating a 3-year-old School Board policy that excludes military recruiters from campuses as long as the armed services discriminate against gays. At the same time Abrams was making his stand against the men and women in uniform, lawyers for the district were quietly exploring a settlement in the lawsuit filed against the district last summer by Nancy Powell ("Scouting out Schools," WW, March 11, 1998). Coincidentally, that suit also concerned intolerant uniformed personnel. In her suit, Powell, an atheist, argued that the Boy Scouts should not be allowed to recruit on school property during school hours or use school personnel to do so. Her son, a student at Harvey Scott Elementary, had been told he couldn't join the Cub Scouts if he didn't believe in God. Given the board's ban on the military, allowing the Scouts on campus strikes Powell as inconsistent. "The logic escapes me," she says. "Why would the School Board offer protection to 17- and 18-year-olds and not to 6-year-olds who can't cross the street by themselves?" Powell points out that the freedom of--and from--religion is far better established in the courts than the protection of sexual preference, although she hastens to add that she agrees with board policy on military recruiting. PPS General Counsel Bruce Samson agrees with Powell. "There's no question that freedom of religion is more protected than homosexuality," he says. Nonetheless, Samson adds, although the Scouts and the military both wear uniforms, the two issues are governed by completely different legal theories. Powell's attorney doesn't buy such hairsplitting. "I think it certainly points out the internal inconsistency of PPS policies," says Andrea Meyer, who is handling Powell's case on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The School Board has the authority to change its policies on the recruiting policies of the Scouts." Schools superintendent Ben Canada has asked the board to review its policy on the military; the board will also decide at its Jan. 25 meeting whether to discuss settling Powell's case or proceed to litigation. --Nigel Jaquiss Overheard(Last week at Cup O' Cheer restaurant, 808 SW 10th Ave.) Woman 1: How's your Español coming? Woman 2: My what? Woman 1: Your Spanish. Woman 2: Oh, not too well.
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