Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 Every time Kristopher Jones drives past Clackamas Tire and Brake, he nearly throws up. A 20-year veteran of the auto-repair business, Jones, 35, has nothing against the operators of the business at 11773 SE Highway 212; it's just that he feels that he got abused by this week's Rogue, Doug McClain, director of planning at the Clackamas County Department of Transportation and Development. In April 1999, Jones felt he was on the brink of achieving his dream--opening his own auto-repair shop. With the financing lined up, he applied for zoning approval for his business, to be located at 11231 SE Highway 212. Within a week, Jennifer Hughes, a Clackamas County planner, sent Jones a rejection letter, telling him that regulations prohibited auto-repair at the proposed site. Jones was disappointed, but dismay turned to anger when he saw signs just down the block saying that a tire shop and a muffler shop were coming soon. He called Hughes and learned that the future sites of the tire and muffler shops were in the same zone as his proposed site. "They said, 'Thanks for bringing this mistake to our attention; we'll see that it never happens again,'" Jones says. But still, work on the sites proceeded. Frustrated, Jones hired a lawyer, Hala Gores, who wrote to Hughes' boss, McClain, requesting an explanation: How could the other auto-related shops get permission when Jones couldn't? More than a month later, Gores says, McClain hasn't responded to her letter. Responding to WW's phone call, McClain admitted the screw-up. "Basically, we made a mistake," he said. Zoning maps show that the approved sites are nowhere near areas where auto-repair work should be permitted; and to compound the error, the approvals, which will not be rescinded, definitely came after Jones' rejection. Not surprisingly, county officials' behavior has done little to mollify Jones. "Every time I drive by the store I'm pissed," he says. "I'm absolutely furious."   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published May 10, 2000