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Crooked River Ranch SPECIAL ROAD DISTRICT Public Records Lawsuit-UPDATE
1/23/19, 3:26 PM
John Stevens vs. Crooked River Ranch Special Road District, and John Williams, Commissioner, Defendant Case No: 18 CV 03272
“WHAT DOES JUSTICE LOOK LIKE?”
As reported earlier, the public records lawsuit was settled last October and part of the settlement agreement ordered the search of Commissioner John Williams hard drive by Madras Computers.
Last week, Ranch Matters obtained a Flash Drive from Madras Computers containing 30,000 files/documents and our staff has been working around the clock reviewing the data.
Digging further, we uncovered many documents withheld by Commissioner Williams that are not only revealing, but also concerning.
One revealing email explained why Jefferson County District Attorney Steven Leriche failed to intervene in this matter compelling the suit to be filed last year. The email was dated November 15, 2017, written by the Special Districts Association of Oregon (SDAO) attorney Spencer Rockwell and addressed to SRD Commissioner John Williams. Rockwell’s email stated in part, “I talked with the District Attorney on this case…”. He adds, “The DA had experience with these guys in the past and was candid about his experience.”
Former dealings with DA Leriche involved Crooked River Ranch and the theft of our political signs during the 2016 Ranch election. He clearly conveyed his concerns regarding the political aspects associated with the case and asked us,
“WHAT DOES JUSTICE LOOK LIKE?”
Later, and in accordance with Oregon’s Public Records request procedures, we filed not one, but two Petitions with DA Leriche, both were ignored. We suspect, due in part, to the flak over the 2016 election theft issue.
Oregon’s Public Records Law requires the requestor to submit a Petition to the local District Attorney when the public official/entity fails to produce the requested records or raise exemptions.
Currently, and as part of our follow-up regarding the Emergency/Quail Road Public Works Project, we submitted a public records request with Jefferson County Counsel Alexa Gassner on December 14, 2018. She failed to acknowledge or respond, again as prescribed by statute, compelling Ranch Matters to file a Petition with the Jefferson County DA on January 10, 2019.
To date, DA Leriche has not responded and as a result we submitted a second Petition today, 1/23/19.
