Editorial

There's enough blame to go around for Gage

The Sisters School District is not to blame for the rapes and sex abuse committed by Steven Gage.

Gage is a bad man. He committed those crimes at his home, where he was supposedly raising and counseling those girls, not at school. The fact that he insinuated himself into the high school structure testifies only to Gage's cunning as a predatory con man.

The schools were not alone. Gage conned many, many people and businesses in the Sisters community with a fabric of lies and half-truths.

It has been said that the Sisters School District gave Gage special status that made it possible for Gage's center to escape scrutiny.

Local citizens need to avoid judging our school staff with clear 20/20 hindsight. AT THE TIME, there was no indication that Steven Gage was anything other than a somewhat obnoxious parental figure.

Many parents cross the line into self-righteous indignation when asserting rights where their children are concerned. Steve Gage wasn't the worst. You don't turn a parent in to SCF or the police just because he or she is an obnoxious bully, which is all district employees could accuse Gage of AT THE TIME.

The "Gage girls," troubled backgrounds and all, were doing quite well in school. There was no word of the horrors at the home. This lulled school officials into thinking that Gage's techniques might even be effective, further blunting any personal criticism school employees may have leveled at Gage.

It is true that he was not required to sign in every time he came to the campus and that he peered in to the classes where "his" girls were being schooled. Gage had plausible reasons to do so, and the same can be said of other parents on campus. While policies were not followed, better enforcement would not have prevented these crimes.

The criticism that many had of Gage was also not sufficient to deny him the right to volunteer at the high school.

Sisters is fortunate to have many volunteers in our schools, helping kids learn to read, helping them with math, with sports and other activities. Gage offered to volunteer his services as a truancy officer, and in fact, he did have a background of transporting wayward juveniles.

The tragedy is that here again Steve Gage took advantage of a system that assumes honesty. He took his role as a volunteer, blended it with his rights of parental guardianship and fooled state authorities into believing that his residential home was operated by the Sisters School District when it was not.

Gage's con game went so far as to have his partner, Karen Lee, elected to the Sisters School Board. She was obviously not qualified and had nothing to offer, but apathy on the part of the community allowed Lee to run unopposed and be elected. All of us deserve a little shame for that.

But it was Steven Gage who used Lee's school board position to threaten school employees and convince SCF that his home was affiliated with the schools.

It is easy, after tragedies like the Gage situation or school shootings in towns like Springfield, Oregon or Littleton, Colorado to say that "Security was lax, tougher standards would have prevented this." It is also unfair. It is the lawbreaker who deserves the blame.

The only way to prevent such tragedies before you know they can happen is to assume everyone is a criminal and deny freedom and personal responsibility to all. We don't live in that kind of society.

ED

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Vote "Yes" on school bond

Voters should vote "YES" on the $20.5 million bond to build a new high school in Sisters and convert the existing one into a middle school.

The board took its responsibilities to taxpayers to heart and trimmed down the bond request rejected by voters in November. The final package is much more conservative than many educators believe they need.

The board has also resolved to sell the current middle school site on Highway 20 if the bond passes, using most of the proceeds to pay down the bond.

Opponents of the bond have some good arguments. The current high school was supposed to be "expandable." It's not. The core facilities -- kitchen, gym, cafeteria -- are crowded now and won't accommodate growth in the high school population.

We are justified in being angry about that, but it doesn't change current circumstances: Simply remodeling that school and building a new middle school would cost about $600,000 more in the long run than the district's plan.

Portable modular classrooms are a lousy solution. They're expensive for what you get; they're inefficient and once they're here, they're here for good.

The nearly $300 per year price tag for the "average" owner of a $200,000 home is significant. However, we believe it is a sound investment. We have confidence in the ability of this school board to oversee the project and get the best value for our tax dollars.

JC

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Support the sheriff's levy

Voters clearly want the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office to patrol our streets, catch criminals, provide search and rescue, and run the jail.

The question is whether enough voters will send in ballots to make a "Yes" vote valid. A minimum of 50 percent return is required for a valid election.

The levy is especially important for our community. Although the City of Sisters has a contract with the sheriff's office -- which Sheriff Les Stiles vows to maintain -- the 120 hours of patrol per week the contract provides serve only the city limits.

The deputies who work here regularly would in all likelihood be laid off. Outlying areas would likely be left bare of coverage.

With the usual influx of tourists coming into Central Oregon this summer, the region can't afford to have its police services trimmed to the bare bones.

Voters need to take their responsibilities seriously and send in their ballots so that the sheriff's levy will pass.

JC