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Your letters and commentaries help spread the word

Many of us are neck deep in politics.  They call us activists - or worse.

Many of us are very informed, but prefer to stay out of the fray and simply be supportive at the ballot box.

But, the vast majority of people are uninformed voters.  And, in large part, it's because of the "low information voter" that we are in the predicament we find ourselves now.

Letters to the Editor, commentaries and opinion pieces are critical in reaching out to people who only glance at the newspaper - occassionally.  Or take a peek online once in a while.

Please read through the fantastic collection of letters written by folks inspired to simply speak up and express their frustrations!

A well written opinion piece by OFIR founder and longtime member Elizabeth VanStaaveren is a good example!

A recent commentary by OFIR member Rick LaMountain is a great place to start.

  Read more about Your letters and commentaries help spread the word

Heroin dealer who played part in Keizer woman's fatal overdose gets 18 years in prison

The death of Ron Putnam's daughter hits him just as hard today as when she died three years ago.

Four days after the April 2012 fatal heroin overdose of Laurin Putnam, authorities arrested at least half a dozen drug dealers suspected of being part of a heroin supply chain...

Seven men faced federal charges and another three were accused in Marion County Circuit Court. The state charges against the trio have been dismissed, court records show, and Tuesday marked the federal sentencing of the second of the seven remaining suspects.

The lengthy criminal proceedings have worn on the 21-year-old's family, Ron Putnam said....

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon sentenced Gerardo Chalke-Lopez, 40, to 18 years in prison Tuesday for conspiracy to distribute heroin resulting in the death of another person, and for illegal re-entry....

The federal prosecutions are under the Len Bias law, named after a University of Maryland basketball player who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986. The law enables prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties against people involved in the distribution of a drug that leads to a fatal overdose.

Jose Aldana Soto, 33, was sentenced April 8 to three years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin resulting in the death of another person. Sergio Quezada Lopez, Chalke-Lopez's younger brother, is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Court records show Christopher Wood, 22; Rigoberto "Jose" Romo Gonzalez, 25; Julian Hernandez Castillo, 34; and Carlos "Braulio" Acosta Mendoza, 36, have all pleaded guilty to charges linked to Putnam's death...

Laurin Putnam was found dead in her apartment two days after she moved into it. Prosecutors said the West Salem High School graduate first started taking painkillers to help recover from an injury related to playing softball and her addiction to the medication later led to heroin use.

Chalke-Lopez ran a heroin trafficking operation that went through Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Nevada, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bickers.  He has been the target of state and federal investigators for 10 years for drug-related offenses, she said.

Chalke-Lopez went by "La Loca," which means the crazy woman in Spanish, Bickers said. He has been deported to his native Mexico three times since 2006, a government's sentencing memo said. In that same year, he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin.

In 2010, Multnomah County Sheriff's investigators stopped Chalke-Lopez in a vehicle later determined to have more than a pound and a half of heroin hidden inside, but he was released before the drugs were found, the memo said.

Chalke-Lopez's brother, Quezada-Lopez, 35, was one of the half-dozen arrested since after Putnam's death. Chalke-Lopez was arrested three months later...

...Chalke-Lopez was recorded telling someone that he planned to cause harm to a person who cooperated with authorities against his younger sibling and referenced where the informant's family lived in Mexico, the memo said.

The possible danger Chalke-Lopez posed to those who aided investigators made him a huge threat, Bickers said.

The arrest of his brother and death of Putnam didn't deter the older sibling, according to Bickers. He continued working with another high-level heroin trafficker and others up until his arrest, where he was found with more than a pound of heroin.

The Putnam family is still learning how to deal with the loss of Laurin, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kemp Strickland. The 21-year-old's mother, Julie, who was also in court Tuesday, has struggled with anxiety, depression, alcohol and other issues brought on by the grief of her daughter's death...

Bickers recommended 18 years in prison for Chalke-Lopez. Tyl Bakker, Chalke-Lopez's attorney, asked the judge to impose an 11-year sentence. He said his client has a drug addiction himself and that his age and prior lack of incarceration should be taken into account.

Chalke-Lopez asked Simon for leniency and a chance at redemption....

After the sentencing, Chalke-Lopez shuffled out of the courtroom under the glares of Ron and Julie Putnam.... Read more about Heroin dealer who played part in Keizer woman's fatal overdose gets 18 years in prison

U.S. immigration agents arrest 976 gang members in sweep

Nearly 1,000 gang members and associates from 239 different gangs were arrested across the United States in an operation headed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the agency said on Wednesday.

The sweep, dubbed "Project Wildfire" and led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit, was aimed at criminal gangs that work across international borders, ICE said in a statement.

During the operation, 976 gang members and associates were arrested in 282 cities. Most of those arrested were U.S. citizens, but 199 foreign nationals were also arrested, from 18 countries in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, the statement said.

Two hundred and thirty-one other people were arrested for federal or state criminal violations and immigration violations, it said. The operation ran from Feb. 23 to March 31.

Of the 976 gang members or associates, 913 were charged with criminal offenses and 63 were arrested administratively for immigration violations.

Most of those arrested were affiliated with gangs including the Sureños, Norteños, Bloods and Crips, the statement said.

HSI agents also seized 82 firearms, drugs, U.S. currency, counterfeit merchandise, and vehicles, the statement said.
  Read more about U.S. immigration agents arrest 976 gang members in sweep

Two I-5 traffic stops net 29 pounds of meth

Oregon State Police troopers last week intercepted nearly a quarter-million dollars worth of crystal methamphetamine on its way from Southern California to Washington in two separate vehicle stops on Interstate 5 in Jackson County, authorities said.

The biggest haul came on April 1 when a traffic stop of a northbound vehicle near milepost 35 netted 28 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and the arrest of that vehicle's driver, with a similar stop April 3 near milepost 13 gaining another pound of the illegal drugs, OSP reported.

"It was officers looking past the initial traffic stop and developing some reasonable suspicions that led to consent searches," OSP Sgt. Jim Johnson said.

In the April 1 stop, driver Raymundo Cota Sauceda, 40, of Washington, was pulled over for an unspecified traffic infraction and told police he was en route from Southern California to Seattle, police said. After further investigation a consent search was made and a narcotic canine came to the scene to assist, police said.

The packaged methamphetamine was found in a cardboard box in the vehicle's trunk, and Sauceda was arrested on charges of possession and manufacturing of methamphetamine, police said.

The packaged methamphetamine was found in a cardboard box in the vehicle's trunk, and Sauceda was arrested on charges of possession and manufacturing of methamphetamine, police said.

In the April 3 stop, Martinez Miguel Navarro, 44, was stopped for an unspecified traffic infraction. With his consent, officers searched his vehicle and found about a pound of meth under the front seat, OSP reported.

Methamphetamine has a running street value in Southern Oregon of about $7,000 to $8,000 a pound, but it does fluctuate, Johnson said.

"It's cheaper when you get down to the border and more expensive as you go north," Johnson said.

Navarro was being held Monday in the Jackson County Jail on a fugitive warrant out of Washington and on a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, jail records state. No jail records were found on Sauceda on Monday.

The investigation was conducted by troopers from the Oregon State Police Highway Interdiction team, Oregon State Police Drug Enforcement Section and agents from Homeland Security. The investigation is ongoing.

"We're hoping that there's possibly more arrests," Johnson said.

  Read more about Two I-5 traffic stops net 29 pounds of meth

Detentions put counties, ICE at odds

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say that refusal by jails to cooperate with so-called “detainers” is resulting in unauthorized immigrants with violent criminal pasts – including alleged rapists, child abusers and drug traffickers – being released in New Mexico before federal authorities can take them into custody.

But the counties being asked to hold those individuals are pushing back, citing lawsuits and costs, among other objections.

Nearly every New Mexico county detention center, along with hundreds of other jurisdictions around the country, have in most circumstances stopped honoring ICE’s 48-hour “detainer” – a request to hold arrested persons whom the agency suspects are in the country illegally.

The detainers have become a flashpoint in the debate over how local law enforcement should aid federal immigration authorities and reveal a strain in that relationship after years of closer ties.

ICE provided the Journal with a half-dozen sample cases from 2014 “in which dangerous criminal aliens were released from New Mexico jails since they failed to honor ICE detainers.” Among them were:

- A 30-year-old Mexican male charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, released in December.

- A 28-year-old Mexican female charged with intentional child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, released in July.

- A 39-year-old Mexican male charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, three counts of child abuse, receiving or transferring of stolen motor vehicles, tampering with evidence and possessing drug paraphernalia, released in March last year.

ICE did not say whether those individuals were convicted on those charges before their release.

But New Mexico counties say ICE has no business asking them to hold people without charge – especially since counties, including Doña Ana and San Juan, are increasingly facing litigation for doing so. U.S. District Court last month said the federal government must be a party to a lawsuit by three unauthorized immigrants who claim San Juan County wrongly detained them under an ICE hold.

Counties say ICE should be held to the standards of other federal law enforcement agencies and charge people with an immigration crime, seek a warrant for their arrest or arrest them upon their release.

“County jails can’t hold a person unless they are criminally charged,” said Matt Elwell, director of the Luna County Detention Center, which stopped honoring ICE detainers three years ago. “That is the difference between a detainer and charge. A detainer says ‘just hold this person,’ and legally we can’t. If (ICE agents) have enough time to put a detainer, I say why don’t you just charge them with a criminal act?”

Counties in a bind

Here’s how the detainer has historically been used: Police arrest someone on a criminal charge such as domestic violence or a serious traffic violation. While the person awaits a chance to post bond or complete a sentence, and ICE suspects he has also violated immigration laws, ICE places a detainer, asking the jail to hold him 48 hours to give ICE a chance to assume custody – on the county’s dime and without filing an additional immigration charge.

Counties say those requests put them in a bind.

The New Mexico Association of Counties reports that at least 24 of 28 county detention centers statewide no longer honor the detainer. ICE confirmed that “most of the jurisdictions in New Mexico do not honor ICE detainers.”

San Juan County Detention Center Administrator Thomas Havel, who is named in the lawsuit, offers this message to ICE: “Don’t put us in peril, give us a bona fide charge and we’ll hold an individual. That’s all it takes.”

Additionally, when a hold is in place, ICE doesn’t foot the bill, the county does. In Doña Ana County, that amounts to $62 a day. In Santa Fe, it’s $85 a day.

“I feel very confident in saying that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies would see the need and the benefit to cooperate with ICE,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors tougher immigration controls. “They don’t feel ICE has been abusing its authority. But the problem now is the threat of litigation.”

Detainers denied

ICE issued 600 detainers in New Mexico in fiscal year 2014 but said it does not routinely track the number of detainers that aren’t honored. However, The Associated Press reported that in the first eight months of 2014, localities nationwide declined 8,800 of the roughly 105,000 detainer requests filed by immigration officers.

“The release of serious criminal offenders to the community, rather than to ICE custody for removal, undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and impedes ICE from enforcing the nation’s immigration laws,” ICE said in a statement.

ICE declined to describe its current policy for taking custody of unauthorized immigrants in New Mexico, saying it “does not discuss specific operating methods.”

‘Constitutional’ issues

Jurisdictions across the country increasingly began to deny ICE detainers thanks to a U.S. Court of Appeals decision a year ago ruling that detainers are nonbinding requests and do not carry the force of a criminal charge or warrant.

Vicki Gaubeca, director of the ACLU’s Regional Center for Border Rights in Las Cruces, said ICE detainers “raise serious constitutional problems.”

“No right is more firmly ingrained in our Constitution … than the right not to be left in jail indefinitely without charges filed or an opportunity to post bail,” she said. “States and municipalities would open themselves to liability if they treated ICE detainers as if they were sentences imposed by a court.”

New Mexico counties have been faced with tort claims for wrongful detention.

Doña Ana County was one of the last New Mexico counties to stop honoring the detainers, ending the practice last May. The county got tangled in litigation when two Mexican women sued after the jail prohibited them from posting bond and imprisoned them for two months on the basis of a 48-hour ICE hold.

The women, sisters Hortencia and Maria Acahua Zepahua, had been living in New Mexico for 12 years and had applied for legal residency.

“We are under more scrutiny than ICE would be,” said Chris Barela, director of the Doña Ana County Detention Center. “There was a time when we used to ask the citizenship. That is no longer allowed.”

New priorities

Cooperation between local and federal law enforcement on immigration issues in recent years had been dictated by the Secure Communities program, under which detainers were issued until U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson discontinued Secure Communities in a Nov. 20 memo to ICE.

“The goal of Secure Communities was to more effectively identify and facilitate the removal of criminal aliens in the custody of state and local law enforcement agencies,” Johnson said in the memo. “But the reality is the program has attracted a great deal of criticism, is widely misunderstood and is embroiled in litigation; its very name has become a symbol for general hostility toward the enforcement of our immigration laws.”

Johnson instructed ICE to replace requests for detention with requests for notification. Rather than ask a county jail to hold individuals beyond their release date, Johnson told ICE to ask local law enforcement to inform the agency of a pending release.

DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron said a transition is underway to replace Secure Communities with the “Priority Enforcement Program,” which reflects the administration’s focus on targeting unauthorized immigrants who are also convicted criminals.

“ICE will now only seek transfer under PEP of an individual in state or local law enforcement custody if that individual has a conviction for a criminal offense, is suspected of terrorism or espionage, or otherwise poses a danger to national security,” Catron said in a statement.

New reality

New Mexico counties describe varying degrees of communication with ICE, from solid working relationships to minimal interaction. Several detention centers said they provide ICE with a daily roster of inmates so that the agency can run the names and determine whether to bring immigration charges.

Elwell in Luna County described a good relationship with local ICE agents. On the other end of the spectrum, Barela said Doña Ana doesn’t communicate with ICE at all – not even emailing a daily roster – to protect itself from liability. ICE agents drop by “every couple of days” in person to review the list, he

“We don’t send them anything anymore,” he said.

Mark Caldwell, warden of the Santa Fe Adult Detention Facility, said, “Once the detainers were not honored, we really haven’t been in communication.”
  Read more about Detentions put counties, ICE at odds

Stolen truck full of $1 million in shoes recovered in Utah, UHP says

BRIGHAM CITY — A semitrailer reportedly stolen out of Oregon filled with 5,800 pairs of shoes worth an estimated $1 million was recovered in Utah.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office reported that the semitrailer was stolen out of the Portland area on Sunday, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Lee Perry said the suspects allegedly tried to block the GPS signal the truck was sending out, but the trucking company was able to track it to Utah.

UHP troopers in Box Elder County spotted the semitrailer at a Texaco truck stop in Elwood on Monday. When they found it, the stolen rig was hooked up to a trailer. The trailer was discovered to also be stolen in Portland at a separate location.

Inside the trailer, troopers found thousands of top end Keen brand shoes.

Two men were taken into custody. The driver tried to run away as investigators attempted to put handcuffs on him, but Perry said he was quickly chased down.

Neither had documents to confirm their identities and they gave investigators "some vague information" about how they came to be in possession of the semitrailer and what they planned to do with it, according to the UHP.

Jose Gonzales Pineda, 24, was arrested for investigation of possession of stolen property, resisting arrest and several traffic violations such as having no license and no commercial vehicle license.

Marlon Vasquez, 43, was arrested for investigation of possession of drug paraphernalia and giving false statements to police.

The UHP noted that both were believed to be "undocumented and have extensive criminal histories including aggravated re-entry."
  Read more about Stolen truck full of $1 million in shoes recovered in Utah, UHP says

Oregon Man Sentenced to Prison for Stolen Vehicle


BURLEY • A Cassia County judge handed Phuong Hoang Le, 38, a 36-month prison sentence with six months fixed Tuesday after he was arrested in November for possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a stolen bank card...

McCord Larsen, Cassia County deputy prosecutor, said Le, who entered the country illegally, has 10 adult felony convictions so far, which matches the number of years he has been in the U.S.

Le was charged with felony possession of a stolen vehicle and fraudulent possession of a bank card and misdemeanor charges of eluding a police officer and driving without privileges....

“This case has perplexed me from the beginning,” said Timothy Schneider, Cassia County chief deputy public defender.

Schneider said Le was driving from Oregon to Georgia in a stolen vehicle and the state of Oregon “doesn’t have an interest in the case.”

“I don’t know why my tax money will be used to house Mr. Le and Oregon is not concerned,” said Schneider.

Schneider said he does not understand why Idaho is interested in the case either.

“And here’s another little bit of sand..,” said Schneider. “He’s here in the U.S. illegally but he’s not going to be deported.”

Schneider said according to the office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if Le were to be deported to Vietnam “he would be killed.”

“Ultimately, this is a weird case with weird facts,” Schneider said.

According to court records, an Idaho State Police trooper spotted Le driving at 91 mph westbound on Interstate 84 on Nov. 6, with one headlight out. The trooper pulled him over near the Exit 216.

Le told the trooper he was out of gas and was driving fast to get to the gas station before he ran out. Le asked the trooper if they could move the traffic stop to the gas station and the trooper followed Le down the interstate off ramp. Le turned left without stopping at the stop sign and proceeded north past the gas station. Just prior to the bridge north of the interstate Le turned his car around and headed south. He then pulled to the side of the road and jumped out of the car and ran into a field heading towards the river. Le was captured walking across the bridge and taken to jail.

Crabtree said he does not understand why Oregon has not filed felony charges or sought to extradite Le.

“I am satisfied that you did commit those crimes while in Idaho,” said Crabtree.

On the flip side, Crabtree said, the most egregious part of the crimes occurred in Oregon.

Crabtree said the court will also consider restitution if a request is filed at a later date.
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Verdict: Man guilty of murder in Hillsboro woman's disappearance

A Washington County jury has found Eloy Vasquez-Santiago guilty of murder in the 2012 killing of a 55-year-old mother of six, who was a field hand in the berry farms around Hillsboro.

Maria Bolanos-Rivera went on a date with her coworker Vasquez-Santiago on Aug. 26, 2012, and never returned....

Jurors reached their verdict shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, after more than nine hours of deliberations, which began Friday afternoon...

Bolanos-Rivera's children and other family members -- 11 in total -- were in the courtroom for the verdict.
  Read more about Verdict: Man guilty of murder in Hillsboro woman's disappearance

Arizona residents, officials tell senators Southwest border ‘is not secure’

WASHINGTON – Local law enforcement must be involved in securing “the rural parts of the Southwest border,” which is still dangerously insecure, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told a Senate panel Tuesday....

“I want to be crystal clear: The border is not secure,” said Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent who was testifying on behalf of the National Border Patrol Council.

Cabrera said some people don’t realize the extent of border issues because the Department of Homeland Security uses data that inaccurately shows that border patrol agents are “75 percent effective in apprehending illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.”

A more realistic metric is somewhere between 35 – 40 percent – and that percentage is even lower when dealing with experienced criminals in the drug cartels, he said.

Dannels said trafficking of drugs and people has “diminished the quality of life” for residents of Cochise County and placed “unbearable strain” on the county’s budget and resources.

Dannels laid the problem squarely at the feet of federal officials, whose changes to border priorities in the 1990s forced illegal activity into the rural areas along the border.

“I am not proud to say that today we are a product of the federal government’s plan,” Dannels said.

Dannels said that fear is rampant along the border – with many of his constituents afraid to leave their homes.

“It’s just a horrible way to live when we live in the United States,” he said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at the hearing that the border can be secured through proper use of assets, strategies and technology.

“Those who say, well you just can’t do it – they obviously are incorrect because every nation has the obligation to have a safe and secure border,” McCain said....

“Those that choose to live on our border should deserve the same freedom and liberty as those that live here in D.C., Iowa and beyond,” Dannels said.
  Read more about Arizona residents, officials tell senators Southwest border ‘is not secure’

DHS released another 30,000 criminal aliens onto streets

Federal immigration officers released another 30,000 immigrants with criminal records last year, following the 36,000 it released in 2013, the government announced Wednesday — though it promised to take steps to cut down on the problem.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that handles detention and removal of illegal immigrants, said it will no longer allow overcrowding to be the main reason a dangerous illegal immigrant is released, and will require a top supervisor to approve the cases of any serious criminals that officers want to release.

Overall, ICE released 30,558 criminal aliens in fiscal 2014...

ICE said it lad little discretion over most of the criminals it released. The agency said under a previous court decision, immigrants whose home countries won’t take them back cannot be held indefinitely, so they have to be released after a period of time.

Republicans in Congress have proposed rewriting the law to allow for longer detention of serious criminals, and have called on the Obama administration to use existing powers to deny visas to leaders of countries that refuse to take their citizens back.

But the administration has declined to take those steps....

ICE didn’t release a breakdown of criminal offenses of the new 30,000 on Wednesday, but among the 36,000 released in 2013 were 193 homicide convictions, 426 sexual assault convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions and 16,070 convictions for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol...

Jessica Vaughan, policy director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which exposed the first batch of 36,000 releases, said Wednesday that giving supervisors more review of each case isn’t a solution — it’s the root of the problem....

She said having more supervision of those released is a good step, but said it’s even more cost-effective to use expedited removal to kick criminals out of the country faster, She said ICE’s own analysis has found that using alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring or a phone-in system, turns out to be expensive because it results in drawn-out cases, and more fugitives who abscond.
  Read more about DHS released another 30,000 criminal aliens onto streets

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