AP-OR–2nd Right Now/1190
LOGGING DEATH
Authorities investigating fatal logging incident
LYONS, Ore. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a logging accident that killed a 55-year-old Salem man.
Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley said in a news release the accident happened outside Lyons before noon Wednesday on property being logged by Ridgeway Logging, Inc.
Riley says contracted independent truck driver Jerry Dean Sramek had loaded logs from the site and was driving to a mill when investigators believe he stopped to re-secure his load.
While unfastening a chain, investigators say a log approximately 20 feet long and ten inches in diameter fell from the top of the trailer onto Sramek, causing fatal head and neck injuries.
Sramek was found by another truck driver. Sramek was wearing proper protective equipment.
KIDNAPPED FAMILY
Charges dropped against Oregon woman in California rampage
SALEM, Oregon (AP) — All charges have been dropped against an Oregon woman arrested in Northern California after a man was shot and a family was kidnapped and taken on a harrowing ride.
The Yreka Police Department says in a statement that Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, a 19-year-old from Salem, was not a suspect but a victim.
Officer Max Moreno of the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday morning that Maes had been released from the county jail.
She had been arrested with Edwin Lara, of Redmond, Oregon, after he led police on a chase exceeding 100 miles per hour (160.93 kph) on Interstate 5. Charges against Lara in California include attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and burglary. He was also charged with murder Tuesday in Bend, Oregon.
CHILD SEX ASSAULT-SENTENCE
Milwaukie man sentenced in child sex case
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Clackamas County man who admitted to sexually abusing a girl and secretly taping two women as they showered has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that 37-year-old Jeremy Burgert was sentenced this week and must register as a sex offender.
Burgert had pleaded guilty to several charges related to the alleged incidents, including using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and private indecency.
Prosecutors say Burgert abused the 7-year-old child for one year and recorded sex acts with her starting in 2013. He’s also accused of using a hidden camera in his bathroom to tape his sister-in-law and neighbor in 2012.
At his April plea hearing, Burgert had said he took “full account of my responsibility in all of this.”
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HOME INVADER SHOOTING
Woman who fatally shoots intruder in child’s bedroom cleared
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A grand jury has cleared a 33-year-old Portland woman of any criminal wrongdoing after she shot and killed an intruder in one of her children’s bedrooms.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the grand jury returned its decision Tuesday.
Tara-Alexis Ford shot 59-year-old David Daniel McCrary of Gresham, Oregon, in the early morning hours of June 26. She told police she came home with her 5 and 10-year-old children and encountered the man.
Police say he may have been struggling with mental health issues.
Oregon law says a person is justified in using “deadly physical force upon another person” if the other person is burglarizing or trying to burglarize a home.
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BABY KILLED-APPEAL
Court overturns Tigard man’s conviction for killing baby son
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned the murder conviction of a Tigard man serving a life sentence for the death of an infant son.
The court said Wednesday the trial judge should have granted a defense motion to suppress evidence found during an examination of Kaliq Mansor’s home computers. The appellate judges found the warrant authorizing the search to be overbroad.
Mansor called 911 in June 2011 to report his son Bryan was not breathing. Doctors diagnosed the baby with abusive head trauma and he died two days later. Doctors also examined Bryan’s twin and found injuries.
The detectives who checked the father’s internet search history found Google searches that included terms such as “abuser therapy,” ”father hates infant,” and “afraid of abusing my baby.”
The case now returns to Washington County Circuit Court.
REPORTER-MANSLAUGHTER
Former southern Oregon reporter charged in uncle’s death
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon woman who worked as a newspaper reporter earlier this year has been charged in the shooting death of her uncle.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded to a home near Jackson-Josephine county line and found the body of 63-year-old Shane Moore.
Court records show the man’s niece, 26-year-old Aisling Tucker Moore-Reed, was charged with manslaughter. An affidavit stating the probable cause for the arrest was sealed Wednesday.
Court records show the uncle was charged with harassment and misdemeanor assault in an incident involving his niece last year. He was scheduled to stand trial in September.
The Grants Pass Daily Courier reports Moore-Reed, known professionally as Tucker Reed, worked briefly as a reporter for the newspaper. A Google search turned up articles by her in February and March.
BULLY-COLLEGE ADMISSION
Court: Eugene district can’t disclose boy’s old suspension
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked the Eugene School District from releasing the disciplinary record of a high school senior who doesn’t want colleges to know about allegations of sexual harassment from when he was a seventh-grader.
The Register-Guard reports the student who plans to take the SAT is worried the suspension he received as a middle school student in 2011 may hurt his chances for college admission.
Court documents say the boy was off school grounds when he allegedly harassed two students by talking about pornography and referencing an abbreviation that can be construed as pertaining to a sex act. The victims were a girl with impaired hearing and a boy with autism.
The student’s parents contend the district labeled him as a sexual harasser without a proper hearing or evidence.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Coffin this week issued the preliminary injunction blocking release of the disciplinary record.
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TRIBAL CANOES
Tribal canoes arrive at Seattle beach in annual celebration
SEATTLE (AP) — Dozens of tribal canoes were arriving at Alki Beach in Seattle as part of an annual Native American celebration.
Members of the Muckleshoot Tribe greeted the boats Wednesday afternoon as part of the 2016 Paddle to Nisqually.
Last year was the first time since 1993 that there wasn’t a Puget Sound tribal journey, which attracts Native American peoples from as far as Alaska and Canada.
For the journeys, tribes throughout the Northwest gather a team of pullers. They leave their own shores in canoes and visit other tribal lands as they make their way to the host tribe’s land.
On Saturday canoes were expected to arrive at the Port of Olympia landing, where they will be greeted by members of the Nisqually Tribe.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
