GIRLS SOCCER PLAYOFFS: Scappoose beats Cascade, plays at home Saturday. Project2:Layout 1 2/21/12 3:24 PM Page 1 Go online for story and photos Wednesday, November 6, 2013
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The Chronicle
$1.00 Vol. 131, No. 45 16 Pages
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CCRider to open transit center hub, park-n-ride
Concerned & Disappointed
BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
ST. HELENS — Columbia County Rider passengers will soon have a new transit hub to get familiar with. On Monday, Nov.18, the CCRider Transit Center Park-n-Ride will officially open to all riders using public transportation in Columbia County. All route services will start at the new CCRider Transit Center. The park-n-ride opening will coincide with some schedule and pick-up location changes for the St. Helens to Portland, St. Helens to PCC/Willow Creek and South Flex Route schedules. “All of the buses are going to start out here, at the center,” said Transit Director Janet Wright. “For the fixed routes – to PCC and Portland – they will go from here to Rite Aid and then Warren Baptist Church and then on into Scappoose… and we’ve added a new stop on Havlik Drive, right by Highway 30.” The St. Helens to Portland and PCC/Willow Creek Schedule changes include a See TRANSIT, Page A8
Investigation into police chief’s performance continues BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
The Personnel Review Committee, whose members were appointed by Scappoose Mayor Scott Burge, has completed its investigation of the disciplinary actions taken against Police Chief Doug Greisen last August and is recommending those actions be retracted. The PRC members are city councilors Barb Hayden, Jason Meshell and Mark Reed, along with City Attorney Ron Guerra. “The PRC finds that the degree of discipline issued to See REVIEW, Page A8
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SHARI PHEIL/Chronicle photo
St. Helens Middle School teacher Charles Sanderson was among about two dozen other teachers, parents and students protesting the school board’s recent decision to repeal a gun ban policy.
Coalition protests repeal of gun ban ST. HELENS — About two dozen parents, teachers and students organized under the banner of St. Helens Coalition for Safe Schools, gathered just off school grounds Monday to protest a decision made recently by the St. Helens School Board to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons. “This is not about anyone’s constitutional rights to bear arms. This is a much larger conversations that has been started about the safety of our children and them being in schools,” said former St. Helens student Sam Chapman, who helped organize the Nov. 4 protest. “I personally don’t think teachers should be expected to protect kids
with guns for the same reason I don’t expect police officers to teach advanced chemistry.” During an Oct. 23 meeting, four of the five-member board voted in favor of repealing Oregon Board of Education Policy GBJ, which banned teachers, contractors and volunteers from carrying weapons onto school grounds. Only board member Jeff Howell voted against repealing the policy. Many of those at the protest said they were concerned and disappointed that the board failed to seek input from those most affected by the ban – teachers, parents and students. When the board initially consider the policy last March, which was passed
with a vote of 3-to-2, a poll was conducted that showed that around 70 percent of the teaching staff were opposed to allowing staff to carry weapons – information many think the current board chose to ignore. “In my opinion, the very idea of putting guns in schools to increase safety seems counterintuitive,” said Susan Conn, a St. Helens resident whose children all attended school in the district. Conn currently serves on the St. Helens City Council and is a former St. Helens School Board member. “Teachers are educators, not safety officers. If the school district feels they need safety officers or armed guards they should hire professionals,” said Conn.
For Amber Horn, a teacher at St. Helens High School for the past six years, the board’s decision is only one part of a larger overall issue. “I didn’t realize that anyone with a concealed weapon permit could come on to any school campus in Oregon at any time. The only control school boards have over concealed weapons permit holders is whether or not staff and people affiliated with the school, such as volunteers and contractors, can carry a concealed weapon,” said Horn. “Only 20 percent of schools in Oregon have a ban, and that includes Rainier and Clatskanie. I wanted to get the word See GUN BAN, Page A8
Parent group alleges harassment at band competition BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
A run-in between band members from St. Helens High School and Kennewick High School, in Kennewick, Wash., could soon make its way to court. An Oct. 31 letter from the St. Helens Band Patrons Parent Organization was sent to Kennewick School District Superintendent Dave Bond alleging students from that district “reached out and grabbed, groped, and swatted St. Helens band students on their butts, crotches, and in other locations,” during the Harvest Marching Band Festival in Yakima, Wash., on Oct. 19. The letters also alleges that Kennewick Band Direct Brent Steiner was made of aware of the situation by Noelle Freshner, band director for St. Helens High School, but failed to take appropriate action “despite the fact that these actions clearly violate school rules and See BAND, Page A8
St. Helens woman injured in hunting accident SCAPPOOSE — A St. Helens woman remains in the hospital after being accidently shot in the leg while hunting a few miles west of Scappoose last Friday. Lindsay Roub, 24, suffered a severe leg wound when the rifle she was carrying discharged as she was handing it to her hunting partner. Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to the area of Siercks and Pisgah Home roads after Roub’s friend and hunting partner, Raymond Ozias, 39, also of St.
Helens, called for help around 5:12 p.m. Ozias did not have a good cell phone connection and information was relayed to deputies by a third party. Deputies began searching in the area for the injured hunter at 5:21 p.m. Deputy Bill Haas located the couple around 5:35 p.m. Roub was found with a serious gunshot wound to her right leg. The responding officers said Roub was barely conscious when they arrived and that a makeshift tourniquet had been applied to her leg to
control the bleeding. Haas then applied a second tourniquet and after additional deputies and medics from the Scappoose Rural Fire Protection District arrived, she was carried out of the woods to a waiting ambulance and transported into a Portland-area hospital. Ozias told deputies he was hunting with Roub when they spotted a buck in the woods. He said they were trying to chase the deer into a clear cut so they could take a shot. While maneuvering on the deer, they had to walk down
a steep hill. Ozias said he was walking in front with his rifle slung and Roub was carrying her own rifle. At one point, Roub asked Ozias to take her rifle so that she could climb down. Ozias said Roub handed him the butt stock of her rifle, but as he grabbed it, he started falling backward when the rifle fired. He said he believes that a branch must have been in the trigger well causing the rifle to discharge, shooting Lindsay in the leg. Ozias said he attempted to
call 9-1-1 but could not get service. He applied a makeshift tourniquet to reduce the bleeding. Once the tourniquet was applied, Ozia said he kept trying to call anyone for help and eventually reached Roub’s father, who responded to the scene. Deputies investigating the scene found it to be consistent with Ozias’ statement. The incident is being treated as an accidental shooting at this time, although the investigation continues.