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State to revoke license of Cascade
Boys Ranch
July 25, 2007
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The state
plans to revoke the license of the Cascade Boys Ranch for troubled
youths after several years of complaints, including drug use and
abuse by staff.
The Oregon Department of Human
Services also cited failure to check criminal backgrounds of staff,
burglaries, running away, and sanitation and structural
deficiencies.
Jeff and Carol Shelton, who operate
the ranch under the name ICARE, have 30 days to request a hearing to
contest the decision, officials said.
"If they have reason to believe
that some of our allegations aren't correct, that's their
opportunity to present that," said Kathy Spear, licensing
coordinator for the Department of Human Services.
The 55-acre ranch about 10 miles
north of Grants Pass was first licensed in 1995 to tend to teen boys
with behavior problems and academic underachievement.
The human services agency sent a
letter to the Sheltons last month warning the couple the state
planned to revoke their license.
DHS staff visited the ranch in
early June, prompted by new complaints, and found that deficiencies
identified in 2006 hadn't been corrected, according to the letter.
"ICARE is not providing children
the care they need," the letter said.
The Sheltons did not immediately
return a phone call on Wednesday.
According to the DHS, significant
incidents in the past seven months were not reported to the state as
required.
During May or June, staff took
several rounds of live ammunition from a boy who found it in a truck
on the property.
On Jan. 22, a boy stole horse
tranquilizers, diluted them in water and consumed the drugs, sharing
the drugs with other boys. The sheriff was not contacted and no
report on the incident was found in the file, according to DHS.
On Feb. 17, a boy allegedly
threatened a staff member with a knife. Police were contacted, but
the incident report wasn't on file, according to DHS.
"There were very serious
complaints," Spear said.
Mike Clarke, owner of Kelly's
Market and Deli about two miles away, said he's glad the state is
taking action.
"They stole everything they wanted
to get their hands on," Clarke said. "If that's what it takes to
make this neighborhood safe, I think it's all right. They weren't
controlling them. I had to put cages on the front of the building.
They messed up the doors."
Darren Somerville and his wife,
Stephanie, were house parents at the ranch for two years, through
April 2006, when they quit along with two other sets of house
parents.
"(The Sheltons) have good motives
but they didn't have the skills to do it," Somerville said. "It
needs an administrative and board overhaul. The same pattern goes on
and on, and it all goes back to management by the Sheltons."
There are currently just four boys
at the ranch which includes two homes with a combined capacity of
21. The typical number of residents the past decade has been about
15, Spear said.
The remaining boys will be placed
back with their parents. The teens sent to Cascade are not in
protective custody of the Department of Human Services, but the
agency oversees management there.
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