Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 6

Statesman Journal PAGE SO rail STATE EDITOR MATT MISTEREK 399-6862 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1999 criticizes Agriceltare Depamtaiemt The audit recommended the agency tighten its rules about travel expenses and contracting procedures. Auditors found the agency overpaid one contractor $5,000 and allowed another to bill $150 for driving from Bend to Salem to borrow a state laptop computer equipment the contractor should have provided. Phil Ward, the department's current director, said he agreed with the audit's findings and has told agency officials to make sure employees submit their travel expenses on time. He also said the agency must develop a better method of scrutinizing travel advances. "One of the real benefits of these kind of audits is that the new director gets a picture of the weaknesses in the agency," said Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, whose office oversees audits of state government.

"Phil Ward is working very assiduously on the suggestions." The audit, called a "change of director" audit, is standard every time a new director joins a state agency. Andrews was the agency's director for 12 years before leaving voluntarily in December 1998. Ward took over two months later. "After 12 years as head of the STATE SET TO MB IN THE M1LIMI1M r's plans run la department, I think my record was pretty darn good," Andrews said. He said he reimbursed the agency $86 for the double-billing of car mileage and that the $8,000 airfare was related to a trip he took with a national association of wheat marketers.

He said the association billed the department and that he didn't find out until shortly before the trip that his seat was in first class. SAFEGUARDING THE PARTY: Security guard Pat Bowen strolls under the millennium clock showing time left until the new year in Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Thursday. Bowen says 100 private security guards will patrol the square today, which will be closed until 5 p.m. for the city's millennium party. In addition to the city's massive isis u.5s r.

-v-ivr-it ft t- -i-i. u. Tr 1 i Bruce Andrews, former state agriculture director, double-billed the agency for car mileage during some in-state trips and didn't immediately explain why he traveled first-class instead of coach during one overseas trip, the audit said. But Andrews later submitted an explanation that satisfied state officials. Neither he nor any other department employee is accused of criminal wrongdoing.

before troops head to Medford to join with other Oregon troops going to the Middle East The detachment from Klamath and Lake counties will be known as the 3rd Platoon in Bravo Company, which is one of five companies in Southern Oregon. They are expected to return home in June. In Saudi Arabia, the platoon will take part in security operations around Patriot missile batteries. The mission is part of Southern Watch, a post-Gulf War peacekeeping effort that includes patrolling no-fly zones in Iraq. 3 UMATILLA SIREN CALLED FALSE ALARM Residents who may have been frightened by an activated siren at the Umatilla Chemical Depot have no reason to worry, officials say: no chemical accident has occurred.

Officials with the County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program and the Umatilla Chemical Depot confirmed that the siren early Thursday morning was a false alarm. Such problems caused fear and frustration in the community, as city and county police dispatchers also reported dozens of calls from alarmed and frustrated residents. Workers Thursday afternoon were trying to determine exactly why the sirens went off. It marked the second accidental activation of the sirens in about a year. Thousands of tons of nerve agents and other chemical weapons are stored at the depot near Hermiston.

They are to be destroyed as soon as construction is completed on an incinerator. Ev.w r. Party. Oregonians fKtH ti'lZ have a variety of A massive celebration is planned for Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square. The Associated Press PORTLAND Eugene anarchist John Zerzan is hoping the new millennium brings the demise of the current social order, but he's personally planning a quiet night on New Year's Eve.

Ken Kesey and some of his aging Merry Pranksters plan to mark the end of the 20th century by chanting around a bonfire. Oregon Supreme Court Justice Ted Kulongoski and his wife have their own idea of how to celebrate the New Year. They'll be showshoeing to Lake Trillium on the slopes of Mount Hood and cracking a bottle of champagne. There are parties galore across Oregon on New Year's Eye, from small gatherings of friends to a massive celebration at Pioneer Courthouse Square. In Baker City, lawyer Rudyard Coltman and his wife, Forest, are hosting an "It's the End of the World" millennium party with 300 or so of their closest friends at their historic Eltrym Theater, featuring a showing of the 1953 version of H.G.

Wells' "War of the Worlds." "We're having fun with the doomsayers that claim the end of the world is coming," Coltman said. Others are purposely not celebrating. Environmentalist Andy Kerr of Ashland doesn't get too worked up about New Year's Eve. He sees it as just another day. He's even less excited about the start of 2000.

"I usually make a point of going to bed at 10 p.m. at New Year's, and I think this year I'll do 9 p.m. It's my little protest against the excessive hype," Kerr said. Wendy Warren, who spent 10 years organizing a private New Year's Eve party at the Seattle Space Needle only to see it can- i 4 i Oil L-jl. TL.

1 4 aim JtXaui i 1 4 I fl I Ft 1 wi, 1 Audit The apenrv is fanlfoH uuilku for sloppy record keeping and alleged double-billing. The Associated Press An audit released Thursday criticized sloppy procedures by officials at the state Agriculture Department, including neglecting to submit travel expense reports on time. 1001 THE STATE Officials still seeking foster teen MANZANITA Family members are still looking for a teen-ager who left his foster home Saturday afternoon for a walk on the beach and never returned. Police said Wednesday Gabriel "Gabe" Marquet, 15, is listed as "missing and endangered" because he may be depressed. Search crews, including a U.S.

Coast Guard Helicopter, called off the search at 10:45 p.m. that evening. Gabe's mother, Linda, and 17-year-old sister, April, said Wednesday they were searching the area on their own, distributing fliers and sending e-mails to news media, friends and family. The two visited Gabe at the foster home earlier Saturday. After they left, Gabe told his foster parents that he was going for a walk, Marquet said.

He was reported missing just after 6 p.m. I i HI ANIMAL SHELTER SET TO SHUT ITS DOORS A local animal shelter is shutting down, blaming its demise on bad publicity. Administrators at the Animal Rescue League of Bend, which received publicity for receiving 20 cats from Okinawa this fall, said it needs to find immediate homes for six dogs and 21 cats, including 13 from the Pacific island. Shelter manager Cindy Kenyon said donors and adopters disappeared after the Humane Society of Central Oregon removed a number of animals from her organization in October. Humane Society Director Kimble Lewis said the animals were dehydrated and suffered trom poor care.

Kenyon said the animals had been well cared for, but the action and resulting news stories irreparably damaged the shelter's reputation. Kenyon said that an inspection by the state veterinarian's office in December found no care-related problems. IJVltflJIJIlI F' NEW LICENSE PLATE TO BE OFFERED A new license plate touting Oregon agriculture will be available at the end of January. The plate, sponsored by the Oregon Agricultural Education Foundation, is similar to the Douglas fir plate, but consists of a 3-inch square on the left side of the plate with the words "Oregon Ag," and a four-digit number. "We don't have an exact release date yet," said Beth Knoble, foundation program director in Salem.

The plate will be distributed by the Department of Motor Vehicles and be available through local DMV offices, including those in Klamath Falls and Lakeview. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the plate will go to the foundation's education and research programs. NATIONAL GUARD TO BE SENT OVERSEAS More than 40 Oregon National Guardsmen will soon head to Saudi Arabia to join security operations there. It will be the first overseas deployment by Hamath-area National Guard members since World War II. Guardsmen from Echo Company of the 186th Infantry Regiment's First Battalion will meet at the Armory in Klamath Falls on Wednesday.

It's the final stop in the Basin in has in parties planned to start the new year. The Associated Press some New Year's resolutions: "I want to work out more I'll relax more. "Of course, I'd like to see us get together and put an end to this destructive social order," said Zerzan, who was involved in the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle the week following Thanksgiving. "I see anarchy on the horizon in the millennium," he said. dispute.

Jennifer Smith told Sytsma that her husband had been threatening suicide, but Smith said he was fine. According to Sytsma, Smith told him, "I have had problems in the past, but as long as I'm on my meds, I'm fine." His medication was one of the few things he took with him when he left his house for the last time Tuesday, according to the police report. Nevertheless, news of his death hit Waite and Koeppe hard. healthy this year? support you. Woman tried to keep husband at home get to be there tomorrow night." Carl Worden, spokesman for the Southern Oregon Militia, says he and his buddies are planning a quiet New Year's Eve.

"Everybody I know will be tucked in bed, having a quiet night. That's where I'll be," Worden said. Zerzan, guru to Eugene's anarchists, said he didn't have any plans, although he did have with police in Central Point. The Jackson County district attorney said he thought Smith, 25, might have provoked the confrontation as a way of ending his life. "It always makes you think, 'What could I have done differently that might have spared this guy's said Police Sgt.

Ray Sytsma. Although Sytsma didn't take the call Tuesday, he had been to the triplex before, on Dec. 5. Like Tuesday's incident, it was classified as a nonviolent verbal Commited to being We are here to celed this week because of fears of terrorism, found herself with no plans for the last New Year's Eve of the 20th century. "Nothing.

I'm doing nothing," she said, adding that she blames the media for stirring up fears of violence. "It's a really creepy deal," Warren said Thursday. "We had a lot of fun (planning) it. It's just a kind of bum deal that we don't ed his truck toward California. where he had relatives.

His wife called Philomath police to stop her husband from leaving town. Jennifer Smith said she needed Cole to watch the girls, ages 1 and 3, while she held down a job at a local convenience store. But Officers Jeffrey Waite and Mark Koeppe said because he wasn't violent and hadn't committed a crime, they couldn't detain him. Five hours later, Cole Smith was dead, killed after a standoff Buy a Boomer with no money down. Low finance rates Flexible payment terms.

$0 down OX APRfor 12months mM 24 months 3.n APR hv 36 monttis S.ft iff for month (.9 AfK for month or $0 down 4 monlk mwi ol fraxi 48 months LABYRINTHS OFFERED DURING NEW YEAR'S Some Oregonians plan to greet 2000 by following a tradition handed down by many different cultures over past millennia and walking a spiral pathway called a labyrinth. "What captures me about the labyrinth is that it has nothing to do with religion, and it has nothing to do with dogma," said Andy Andrews, who will lead a walk in Corvallis on New Year's Eve. "It is a journey to the center of yourself to find the divine." In addition to the Corvallis walk organized by the Unity Church, labyrinths will be available in Eugene, Oregon City, Beaverton and Portland during the holiday weekend. Sponsors in Oregon City and Portland are following the suggestion of the United Religions Initiative for Interfaith Peace Building to focus on an end to war and religious strife. Andrews received labyrinth training from the Rev.

Dr. Lauren Artress, the canon for special ministries at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. Artress wrote a book, "Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool," in 1995 after studying and visiting the circular walkway built into the stone floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. The book and Artress' workshops have expanded interest the ancient pattern, which appeared on Crete and among the Celts, in Scandinavia and among the Hopi, in Africa and among ancient Greeks. Artress, who led workshops Portland two years ago, suggested that labyrinth groups consider New Year's Eve as an opportunity to focus on world peace.

Statesman Journal news services The Philomath resident knew her spouse was suicidal. The Associated Press PHILOMATH On the last day of his life, Cole Younger Smith bought a new battery for his pickup, retrieved his coin collection and two plastic bags of clothes from his Philomath home and handed his wife the house key. Then he said goodbye to his two young daughters and point Largest Buyer of Old BOOMER" EMM IP 0 Natural Foods 2649 Commercial St. SE 361-7973 M-F 9am-9pm. sat.

9am-8pm. Sun I0am-7pm TLC MORTGAGE military Manamaae NEW HOLLAND S593 SIIVERTDN 10. SUEM, (503) 364-2241 Knives in the NW Cud COLLECTIBLES Opera House (503)362-9045 ractory i T-Ii 1 nti ft Ifnnar 30 Yr. 7.5 APR 7.611 15 Yr. 7.125 APR 7.241 1st 7 years of 30 year loan 7.125 APR 7.467 Old Pocket Knives NORfiHU'EST KNIVES Across from the Reed 355 COURT ST.

N.E. RATE APR as Of 121099 Call JGE HYDES for rates costs (503) 304-3001 3851 River Road N. Keizer. OR 97303 i.