Front Street Weekly; 128

Most witnesses, whether they're children adolescents or adults will tell you it's not fun to be a witness. If you are a witness who's been traumatized by an offense that is even more difficult. [typing, music] [speaker change] That's, that's Murphy's Law if anything can go wrong it will end at the worst possible time. [typing] [speaker change] Oregon is in some very, very serious financial difficulties; as we all know tourism can help. It's certainly not going to be a panacea for everything but it can help. [typing] [speaker change] Good evening. Increasingly children are being called upon to testify in court in custody cases and abuse or neglect trials. Tonight we'll examine one such case where a 4 year old girl testified as a rape victim. [speaker change] Anything that can go wrong will. That's Murphy's Law. Tonight we'll take a look at Murphy's Law and its many corollaries in the northwest.

[speaker change] And finally tonight we'll have a report on four towns in Oregon that are aggressively getting tourists to offset an otherwise dismal economy. [speaker change] If you were on a jury you might have trouble believing the testimony of a very young child. Adults often have a hard time determining the credibility of children witnesses. Small children are known for their vivid imaginations, suggestibility and willingness to stretch the truth. However the view that children's testimony is not to be trusted may be an adult prejudice. In fact studies show that they can recall events accurately enough to testify. If they are not confused by adults. Tamara Thomason has a story about the use of a young child as a witness in a felony case in Washington state. [speaker change] This is Judge Dean Morgan Superior Court in Vancouver Washington. A man is being tried for statutory rape one, a felony with a maximum sentence of life and a minimum of three years. This four year old girl is the prosecution's chief witness. She is also the victim.

Her testimony about the sexual abuse incident directly contradicts the defendant's claims of not guilty. The jury must decide who to believe. A full grown man or a 4 year old child. [speaker change] People raise the question of can children tell the truth. Do children lie, are they credible, and are they believable. [speaker change] Psychologist Kevin McGovern says these questions must be answered each time a child is offered as a witness. Children are not automatically allowed to testify. First it must be proven they are competent at a special hearing before the trial. Front Street was allowed to videotape the competency hearing. We discovered the judge was very gentle with the youngest witness ever offered in his court. [speaker change] Do I scare you a little bit? No? [speaker change] The formality of the judge in a judicial proceeding is shattered by Cammy's presence after a careful warm up, the judge asks the crucial

question. [speaker change] Do you know what it is to lie? Do you know what lying means? Do you? Tell me what that means. [child speaks] Tell the truth. [speaker change] Yeah. What happens if you lie? [child] ?inaudible? [speaker change] Yeah. That's right. What happens if you lie? [child speaks] Get spanked. [Speaker Change] What Do you think you understand today whether you're supposed to lie or tell the truth? Which you think you're supposed to. What do you think you're supposed to do today? [child speaks] ?inaudible? Tell the truth. [speaker change] Um,uh. What happens if you lie today? [child speaks] ?inaudible? Spanking. [speaker change] Yeah. And, even more if you lie here where we are in this big room, you know, really bad things happen. Even worse than getting spanked. Do you understand that? [speaker change] When the judge has completed his questions the defense and prosecution begin theirs.

As the hearing wears on Cammy's attention dwindles. [speaker change] Child sits on the stand often becomes distracted especially if it's a very young child, in some situation has to go potty, doesn't understand some of the questions are being asked is being viewed at by 12 individuals or 10 individuals sitting in the jury box. It feels quite overwhelmed. And then the credibility of the child is undermined. The child becomes more anxious, or wants to get off the stand, or look for friendly face in the court room, or want a sense of relief. [child speaker] I want to talk over there. [speaker change] You want to talk over there? [child speaker] Um, uh. [speaker change] Sorry, you have to stick around here. [child speaker] Why? [speaker change] Well let's stop for a minute. Cammy, why don't you go on down to your Mom there? You can step down if you want. You go see your Mom. [child speaker] What? [Speaker change] Go see your Mom. [speaker change] I only have a few more questions, alright? [speaker change] I think one of the problems is, is just attention span. [speaker change] While two hours on

the stand is obviously no fun for a four year old, the judge found Cammy a competent witness. The role she could remember and retell the sexual abuse incident and most important she knew the difference between truth and a lie. [speaker change] I'm satisfied that she knows what it is to tell the truth and what it is to lie. That seems to me to be the easiest of the elements to satisfy in this case. She said without hesitation that she understood that she got spanked if she lied and that she's supposed to tell the truth. [speaker change] Cammy will be allowed to testify before the jury but not without a risk. The judge said he would declare a mistrial if Cammy refused to answer questions or failed to cooperate with the defense. Prosecutor Darvin Zimmerman led off by asking Cammy to recall the sexual abuse incident. [speaker change] Can you show us on the doll what happened to you? [child speaker] I told you that ?inaudible? [speaker change] Well, I know you're going to have to tell us again, though. Is that was OK? [child speaker] Why? [speaker change] Well, 'cause we

just need to know one more time. [speaker change] I tell you why Dianna. Excuse me Carrie, Cammy I didn't I didn't get to hear you tell, that's why. [speaker change] OK, you going to show us, show us now? What are you doing? But again it's your finger there. [child speaker] Uh, uh. [speaker change] What are you putting your finger there for? [child speaker] Because. [speaker change] Because why? Because why? [child speaker] [cough]?inaudible? [speaker change] What? [child speaker] You want me to. [speaker change]OK. Or is that what the man did to you? Are you shaking your head yes or shaking your head no? [child speaker] ?inaudible? [speaker change] OK. When the man did that to you did it hurt? Or did it feel good? It hurt? Why did it hurt? [child speaker] [cough] 'cause Okay. Did you make any noise when he did that to you? What did you do? [child speaker] Sleep. [speaker change] Did you wake up?

Okay. Who did you talk to then? [child speaker] What? [speaker change] When you woke up who did you tell about what this man did to you. [child speaker] He hurt me. [speaker change] OK. [speaker change] Most witnesses whether they're children, adolescents or adults will tell you it's not fun to be a witness. If you are a witness who's been traumatized by an offense it is even more difficult. And when you're asked to relive a harmful or traumatic situation over and over and over and over perhaps five times in a court room, five times with an investigator, 15 times with the parent, another five times with the minister, after a while the child just doesn't want to have to deal with what happened. [speaker change] We asked Cammy's mother Rhonda how many times her 4 year old daughter had been asked to relive the sexual abuse incident. [speaker change] At least 50 or 60 and up on the stand

she would talk to Darvin. You know she thought Darvin was really, really nice, but with Tom she's scared of him and I don't know why but she's scared of him. [speaker change] Darvin is the good guy. He is the protector. He is the man who was going to prosecute the person who allegedly harmed her. On the other hand the other man is the bad guy. He's the one who's defending this and mean terrible man who had allegedly has done something to hurt her. It's very hard for a child to understand how in the world can this be. [speaker change] How come you don't want to talk to Tom. [child speaker] Cause. I already talked to him awhile I want talk to Darvin now. [speaker change] You want to talk to Darvin now? Do you like Darvin or Tom better? [child speaker] Darvin. [speaker change] Why do you say that? [child speaker] Because. [speaker change] Both Darden and Tom are my friends, okay? And you're my friend, so I want you to answer questions for both of them. OK? [child speaker] ?inaudible? [speaker change] I'd really appreciate it. [speaker change] Well if a child cannot answer the bad guy's questions then it would

seem to me there might be a mistrial or the trial is not or the child is not seen as a competent witness. If the child is unable to answer questions logically then obviously in the closing argument, if the trial continues, the defense attorney can look to the jury and say ladies and gentlemen this child could only answer specific questions asked by the prosecuting attorney. The child cannot consistently answer these questions when asked by me. Perhaps the child is not credible. Perhaps there's been some form of coaching. [speaker change] Come on, Cammy. You better tell me, okay? [child speaker] I don't want to. [speaker change] You don't want to tell me what you said to Diana? [child speaker] uh-uh. [speaker change] ?inaudible? [child speaker] Darvin didn't talk long [speaker change] Darvin didn't talk long? [child speaker] No [speaker change]I know [child speaker] you talk long, I dont want to Do you know who Randy is? [child speaker] Yes. I don't want to talk about it no more.

[speaker change] Can you tell me who Randy is? [child speaker] He's my mom's boyfriend [speaker change] Was Randy there that night? [child speaker] No. [speaker change] Who was? [child speaker] ?inaudible? Diana and me. [speaker change] The defense wants Cammy to look bad on the stand. The prosecution wants Cammy to look good. The defense wants Cammy to make mistakes and get crossed up. The prosecution wants Cammy to be consistent and answer clearly. Cammy is caught in the middle. A victim of a crime and the court room. [speaker change] You know I didn't even want her up on the stand really at all because of what it might do to her Because she doesn't like to talk about it unless it's to me or to Diana, you know, or someone that she does know. And when it came right down to it, you know, I had to. [speaker change] Cammy is not alone. More and more young children are being used as witnesses. Dr. McGovern says the increase is due to greater awareness of child and sexual abuse.

[speaker change] So there's more pressure to prosecute these cases to get the offender off the street, law and order, and to protect the community and for this reason you're going to see more and more children testifying in court. [speaker change] In this case the jury did believe the child witness the defendant was found guilty of statutory rape and will probably be sentenced to the sex offenders unit at the Washington State Penitentiary. Dr. McGovern says many cases do not have such a clear resolution. And he suggests parents carefully weigh the need to punish offenders against the potential impact on their child. He says each case is different and should be evaluated separately. [speaker change] There are certain laws that are constants in the universe. The law of gravity, the law of thermodynamics and Newton's Law. But we thought we'd look at one of the more perplexing of these laws, Murphy's Law. [marching music] [speaker change] There's your average person heading to work. They think they're in the mainstream of society but the,

stream doesn't flow as smoothly as it used to. Pollution. Taxes. The economy. Everything seems to be controlled by Murphy's Law. [marching music] If something can go wrong, it will. That's Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law affects everyone except magicians. That's why they asked me to explain it to you tonight. Magicians want the unusual to happen, for example. [cards being shuffled] Other people aren't so lucky. [speaker change] Dress rehearsal for another tale of New York's Battery Wall - a new fangled rocket light bulb designed to help when peril hit the high seas.[music, water splashing] It's a life boat that needs a life boat. The top comes off a noble dream and the thrill becomes a spill, a finish not on the program. And the inventor of something new swims home in the old fashioned way.

[speaker change] As you've seen Murphy's Law's been with us for a long time. Oddly enough, many people aren't interested in Murphy's Law at all. [speaker change] I'm not really interested in Murphy's Law. I'm interested in getting things done right, and um I think good things happen when you do the right things. So, I'm concerned with doing things the right way. And, when we do things the right way everything turns out right. And, in professional basketball that's essentially what it comes down to. You do The right things consistently enough you're gonna win your games. The ?inaudible? is concerned with winning games. [speaker change] And, who can blame him. Murphy's Law seems to affect athletes more than other people. As a matter of fact there's a soccer team here in Portland with the name Murphy's Law. They found, as most athletes eventually do, that Murphy's Law is a great equalizer.

[speaker change] We have 17, we have 18 men on the roster. One just went through a triple bypass operation. Another one had a cyst operation. Other one is in the hospital. We have one guy off because he's red carded. And, uh, another fellow called this morning. He has an abscessed tooth and,uh, he can't eat enough painkillers to keep things down. So, that's Murphy's Law. We play the worst, we play the team with the worst record in the league, and your team doesn't show up to make sure that you can't beat them anyway. [speaker change] Athletes never learn. You can't do the impossible. As you can see, magicians aren't affected by Murphy's Law. [cards being shuffled] [speaker change] Great catch. Good job, Tony. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. [speaker change] Yeah. yeah Dan I... [speaker change] Let me buy you dinner, OK? [speaker change] Oh, ok I'll be done in just a minute. [speaker change] Come on, let's go.

[speaker change] OK. I'm, I'm almost done. [speaker change] And in doing the story we ran into more than our share of problems which may prove that Murphy was indeed an optimist. [speaker change] There has always been a love hate relationship between Oregonians and tourists. During good times we don't want many of them around. When times are bad the welcome mat is reluctantly put out. Now, when times are really bad, some communities consider the tourist industry a life preserver to help them hang on economically. [speaker change] It's said to be the third largest industry but although during these economic times it may very well be the largest industry in the state. [speaker change] Last year tourist industries brought a billion dollars into Oregon's economy. They provided jobs for 65,000 people directly, plus others whose jobs are in related businesses. [speaker change] It's been a very stabilizing factor and you can see the employment figures in Lincoln

County for example that Traditionally have been less than the uh state-wide average and in this month's. [speaker change] Lincoln County right now has the lowest unemployment rate on the coast and it's lower than most timber dependent counties. So with Lincoln county's example in mind, other coast communities are reaching for their share of tourists. Southern Oregon coast towns are looking at possibilities and Clatsop county's launching an active campaign bringing Seaside and Astoria together in their planning. [speaker change] Our tourist Committees are working very closely with the chambers, the city, the county, and the port. Everyone is getting together on the tourist idea and this is what the community has needed for a long long time. Up until now we had committees going in different directions. All of a sudden everyone is working toward the same goal. [speaker change] Course now with tourism that's an industry we can start now. It isn't something that we have to wait for railroads or for big

business to make decisions or anything. It's something we can do right, you know, right today because we've got it. It's just a matter of advertising. [speaker change] There are two very important things that would attract visitors to Astoria as far as I'm concerned. When I first came into the town I was pretty impressed with. One is it's very historical, our homes are just beautiful. It's kind of like a little San Francisco when you go up and down our hills. The second is this beautiful river that we're looking at here which is part of the harbor. And, um, we are shipping from all over the world coming up and down this river. [speaker change] When the Chamber of Commerce went to the Astoria city council with the plan to put new emphasis on tourism they were given money from the city room tax for promotion. Soon everyone will be hearing about the special events Astorians are planning for their visitors. Seaside's major efforts are somewhat different. Oregonians have been vacationing there as long as any of us can remember. But mostly in the summer. The big need in Seaside is for year round visitors.

[speaker change] Our business was going down and for us to pull ourselves out of the economic doldrums we had to do something that would augment the tourist business and the biggest thing that we did was to get together and build a civic center to augment that income. And we are no longer in just a summer business from June to Labor Day, we have a year-round economic, stable business from the tourist business. [speaker change] The civic center in Seaside was funded entirely by a sizable increase in the city business tax with no cost to taxpayers. [speaker change] It only takes one weekend of, uh, good business for me to pay the increase in that license tax, so I figure that it's really inexpensive way to a build a facility that does what our civic center does. For the community. [speaker change] Well, I think of one of the goals of the State should be to make the travel industries a statewide industry. Those areas of the state that are not benefiting from it should benefit

I think. [speaker change] Cascade Locks, up river from Bonneville Dam, is one of Oregon's small towns that hopes to benefit from an increased share of visitors. In the 1870s the federal government built these locks so that steamboats could pass safely around the shallow cascades at this point in the river. Today the locks are used only by small boats but they still remind us of the once great days of steam boating. This national historic site is owned and managed by the port district of Cascade Locks. [speaker change] It works very hard to get that a national historic designation. With its three lock tinder homes, historic rock tinder homes, one of which is a museum. We own and operate a tour boat, a 100 passenger tour boat. [speaker change] Twenty years you're never going up ?inaudible? to the dock. We finally decided my ?inaudible?. My time ?inaudible? up the river and go back by the, by the train. [speaker change] Been a long time since I've been on the train, so that interests me too.

[speaker change] We're planning to build a 350 passenger sternwheeler much like a replica of the ones that were here in the late 1800s. We own and developed a, uh, 60 moorage public marina down by the water. Um, just generally we do everything that was possible to, to develop the facilities, the public facilities for, ah, for tourism and recreation in the town. [speaker change] To attract tourists, the people of Cascade Locks knew that along with the marine park they must salvage their dying business district perhaps with an urban renewal project. [speaker change] The renewal agency could not find a developer, so Cascade Locks, the people, formed a development association, bought the land and did the project. [speaker change] This new shopping center is the result of the Development Association's efforts. A restaurant, motels, a grocery store and other enterprises replaced old abandoned

buildings. They provide a tax and business benefit for the town and for Hood River County. [speaker change] Obviously, the thing that brings people to the Columbia Gorge is all of this magnificent beauty here. And, what we're trying to do as community in the Gorge is to provide the services that you or I need or want when we get to any given destination. And, that is to provide the fine restaurants and to provide the hotels and motels here in the Gorge for people to stay. The best thing that we have done just in the last year is we made Amtrak a stop in Cascade Locks and we worked for over a year to do that and we would not have been successful if we did not have been successful had we not had the tour boat docking here. [speaker change] With the train stop and the tour boat on the river year round now Cascade Locks hopes to attract visitors during most of the year. In fact an extended season is the aim of every tourist oriented community. [speaker change] Should take

3 months in the winter to make one month in the summer. But, we do enough in the winter to pay our bills and get by and wait for summer. [laughs] [speaker change] For decades, the traffic from three major highways has funneled through Sisters between Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley. One grocery store, One restaurant, a gas station served the needs of tourists on their way through town. But things began to change when Black Butte Ranch was purchased by Brooks Resources Corporation which turned the Ranch into a recreational homes development. [speaker change] Let's go back a little bit to 1970 when we opened Black Butte Ranch and at that time we had 17 home sites. And as the years have gone by, um, more people have come to the ranch and more people are uh visiting Sisters and needing to use the services of Sisters. And at this time we have about 820 or so houses built.

And so we find that more and more people use the facilities of Sisters. [speaker change] Sisters has also developed a lively tourist trade with all kinds of enticements to get travelers to linger awhile to shop and eat or visit the art gallery. They're welcomed in a Western town with old fashioned friendliness. [speaker change] I just got back from skiing and I always stop at Sisters because it's one of the nicest towns around this area. [speaker change] So, they like to come here. [speaker change] It's a friendly town, it still has that little town friendliness and you do not find that in malls and chain stores. This is what people tell us they like about Sisters. [speaker change, mumbling in the background] But, how do the long time residents view the new tourist town image? Homer Shaw remembers the early days when Sisters was a logging boom town. He likes to see travelers coming to enjoy his hometown. His wife agrees. [speaker change] I like to see it become a town with different things in it that you can go to and take pride in and um, um have it recognized as a nice little town.

[speaker change] Yesterday ?inaudible? walk right by my house. Now you can't shoot a gun within a 100 mile or two around here. I think they say ?inaudible?. You go out in the woods here where you think you're in the woods and you run into housing developments. [speaker change] Personally. I think it's for the betterment of the town because when I was say back in the 50s why we lay here kind of dormant. You couldn't even go to the bank and borrow money to develop property out here at that time. And now you can go in the bank and get a personal loan or you can mortgage your place or you can build out here. So it's, it's definitely helped the town. But as the individuals, it's up to his personal likes and dislikes on it. [speaker change] This pasture will soon become Mountain Home, a motel and meeting place at the junction of the Mackenzie and Sandy ?am? highways [speaker change] The, um anticipated, uh, and planned and approved motel restaurant out here is going to be a

big plus because the Sisters up until this time has not been a destination resort. It's been kind of a pass-through and people really didn't have adequate place to stay. [speaker change] We feel that if we can get some small conventions and groups that will stay here overnight and spend some time in the town they'll realize some of the good things that Sisters has to offer. [speaker change] We want to encourage that, those aspects of tourism that bring in money and that means people that are destination oriented, that means conventions, that means people who are are going to go to a destination resort. [speaker change] What we need is, we need to educate Oregonians and Washingtonians to understand that tourism is without a doubt, and will be, without a doubt the largest industry in the State, probably by the year 2000. That a tourist dollar is just as important to Oregonians as is a timber dollar, or an agricultural dollar. [Speaker change] State

economic development commissioner Jason Bowe recently stated "Government isn't going to dig communities out of their problems. The communities are going to have to dig themselves out." And, that's exactly what we found communities doing.