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Recent accusations of corruption during Curry County Board of Commissioners meetings prompted KCIW to take a closer look at the people in charge of our county. Is there corruption here? KCIW conducted more than a dozen interviews over a four month period to find out, and what we discovered was systemic issues of harassment, threats, abuse of power, and possible election fraud at the highest levels of county government.
Documents:
Commissioner Boice Email Claiming Corruption
Former Facilities Director Brewer Statement to Board of Commissioners
Former Facilities Director Brewer Employee Evaluation
Former Facilities Director Brewer Voter Notices
Emergency Operations Director Dumire Resignation Letter
Sweet Family Letter Concerning Commissioner Boice Residence in Curry County
Commissioner Boice Letter Requesting Commissioner Gold Resignation
Commissioner Boice Public Letter Objecting to Hiring Building Inspector Stauffer
Full Commissioner Boice Interview:
Commissioner Boice agreed to an interview only if KCIW provided him with a copy of the audio file. That is an unusual request, but KCIW felt it important to hear from Commissioner Boice, so we agreed to his condition. You can hear the interview in its entirety here:
Update, August 7, 2024
Full Commissioner Paasch Interview:
Full Chet Brewer Interviews:
Reporter: Lori Gallo Stoddard
The opinions expressed here are those of the individual participants. Curry Coast Community Radio takes no position on issues discussed in this program.
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Good job, Lori.
I wish I had kept the emails I used to get from Court when I was at Public Health, they were astonishing. I had experienced the methods Court uses to “take care of” of his cronies, and former Commissioners. Court is an instigator, then backs off and acts like he can’t understand what people are saying about him. He lives in a weird idea of himself.
I completely support everything the other former employees have said. It is a sad truth about the County losing good employees. They are now beating up mercilessly on the Road Master, and that will be a great loss. I also agree with Paasch about the Kolen’s, they have managed to give themselves increases in their salaries, recently. That should be looked into it seems very obvious now their retirement is pending.
Kolen has continually complained about not enough helpers with assessments as a reason he got so far behind. Why should he be rewarded.
I have a lot to say about how the County handled Public Health and I finally had enough myself and left in January 2020. I enforced the collection of fees and brought in funds, but was also asked by Boice to overlook fees owed by a former Commissioner.
Then somehow Sheriff Ward’s wife was given the job of Public Health Admin with a huge salary. She had no experience that would qualify her for that position with that large of salary, I know there were back room deals there, too. I have no evidence of that. It’s just the facts and in the records of how they were hired.
Clark Schroeder was doing an excellent job.
Extraordinary interview that gave me a personal understanding of the complex relationships involved within the Curry County Commission. If the question posed to Commissioner Boyce were meant to demean him or illuminate failings, the result was, instead, agreement that accusers should publicly face Boyce and state accusations which he, in turn, could deny or explain.
Hoping for a follow up.
Great reporting Lori.
I thought I knew what was going on with the Commissioners but it’s worse than I thought. Even with the mid-term election, nothing has changed. Meaning the same crew is still in charge, and that seems impossible to me. I sincerely hope there will be follow-ups to this impossible situation. It certainly is not fair to the citizens of Curry County.
I’m looking for an u biased reporter to write a story about ongoing corruption in the DHS Child Welfare System in Curry County.
I was a Child and Family therapist for Curry Child Abuse Intervention, started a clinic and the entire time of my employment approximately 5 months was a nightmare due to the lies and trauma caused to families.
I have worked with DHS in Louisiana and Arizona with hundreds of cases and 90% came from DHS. Not once did I have any problems with them or lack of sharing information.
Thus is a disturbing situation and I lost my job because they threatened to not give us referrals, and I did not have support from my coworkers. What was happening to families was devastating, costly and time consuming. The lack of fact checking and bias is just wrong.
Fox 26 Medford Oregon up-date on Janell Howard:
https://www.fox26medford.com › report-alleges-15-more-thefts-against-brookings-city-manager-janell-howard
Report alleges 15 more thefts against Brookings city manager Janell Howard
Mar 2, 2023
https://www.kdrv.com/news/top-stories/brookings-community-opposes-city-manager-reinstatement-after-accused-theft/article_fe912bc0-d023-11ed-838a-f32438788e20.html
I think a follow up interview with Court Boice’s replacement, Jay Trost, would be very informative. Will Trost be a positive change maker or will he maintain the status quote?
Thank you for your excellent reporting.
Once again, excellent reporting Lori.
While in the process of recalling the City Council, the County rears it’s ugly head. They both, City Council and BOC need to be recalled. I fear it is the end game now. People will be angry.