josephine woolington
stories.
Remembering Ethan
Jostad family still struggles with loss of young son to cancer
August 20, 2012
By Josephine Woolington
Mail Tribune
A new bed next to a New York Yankees rug replaces the bunk bed Ethan Jostad shared with his older brother. Since the 9-year-old boy died last year of cancer, his mother, Kim Jostad, has changed the room a bit.
One thing she hasn't changed is Ethan's side of the closet. T-shirts and jackets still hang next to his brother's clothes.
"We don't open it very much," Jostad said, crying as she looked at her son's clothes in her Eagle Point home.
Ethan died Aug. 8, 2011, at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland from alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, which begins in the soft tissue and forms tumors in muscles that are attached to bones. He was diagnosed at age 7 with a 15 percent likelihood of survival.
Jostad, 33, who works as a business manager at U.S. Cellular in Medford, said she cries every day. Even after a year, she said, things aren't getting easier.
To continue her son's fight against cancer, Jostad has raised thousands of dollars to fund research for childhood cancer. On July 29, Jostad joined 45 mothers who have had a child with cancer and shaved her head for the third annual "46 Mommas Shave for the Brave" event in Hollywood, Calif. Jostad raised $6,100 for the event, which will be donated to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a childhood cancer charity.
Shaving her head, she said, made her feel closer to her son, who became bald at age 7.
"He hated cancer," Jostad said, while holding a teddy bear with a "Cancer Sucks" button pinned to it in honor of her son. "We have so many videos of him talking about how he wanted to kill cancer."
One video from 2010 shows then 8-year-old Ethan telling his mother that he prayed every night for someone to find a cure for cancer.
"No more cancer," he said.
The last two years of Ethan's life were largely spent away from his friends and home receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment at hospitals in the Rogue Valley, Portland and New York City.
Ethan's father, Chris, 36, who was laid off from his job one month before Ethan was diagnosed, stayed home with his son. He took Ethan to hospitals in Portland and New York City and gave him shots every day. He also frequently fed Ethan through a feeding tube when he lost his appetite after chemotherapy.
"We tried to get out of the hospital while in Portland," Chris Jostad said, remembering how Ethan would ask to go to Mexican restaurants, the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Since losing his son, Chris Jostad said, staying busy has helped him stay strong. He has cared for his 7-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son while his wife is at work. He also is preparing to attend Rogue Community College in Grants Pass in the fall to become a nurse.
"I definitely have those moments where I just completely break down," he said. "I'll see a picture of him, or hear a song, and then I'll just be a mess and break down."
After Ethan was diagnosed in 2009, Kim Jostad created a CaringBridge website for the family and updated it nearly every day, writing about her son. The online journal contains 194 pages, written mostly by her, who said writing about her son was therapeutic.
Kim Jostad wrote about how she missed cleaning up after Ethan when he played with his plastic army figures and hearing him talk to his sister and brother. She wrote how she missed him on his 10th birthday.
"Each year is going to be a new first birthday," she said. "I'm going to experience all these different things that my older son will go through, like his first day of high school, driving — so many firsts that I'm going to miss out on with Ethan."
She and her husband watch videos of Ethan every night. The family's house in Eagle Point is decorated with photos of Ethan. His urn sits below the TV in the living room next to a candle the family lights every night for him.
Although she said she tries to remain positive, Kim Jostad frequently has flashbacks of the last few days her son was alive.
"He asked me what was happening to him," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "He was so scared. He asked me if he could die from it. I told him 'no.' I never thought that I would outlive my children."
Kim Jostad plans to continue raising funds for the Ethan Jostad Foundation she and her husband founded several weeks after their son died. The nonprofit has organized several annual community events, including a softball tournament, to raise funds for childhood cancer research. The foundation also raises money for families dealing with childhood cancer and provides toys to children who have rhabdomyosarcoma. So far, the foundation has raised about $75,000.
"As a grieving mother, you just have to figure out how to make a difference," Jostad said. "You just don't know how to deal with it."
Raising money for cancer research has become her passion. She said she loves talking about her son and occasionally will look through his belongings, including bags filled with stuffed animals.
She gave several of Ethan's shirts and shoes to his best friend and gave some of Ethan's army figures to his cousin.
But she's held on to most of her son's belongings, including the bunk bed that he used to share with his brother.
Former Eagle Scout returns badges, awards
Decorated Scout joins growing U.S. protest of organization's ban of
gays from ranks
August 13, 2012
By Josephine Woolington
Mail Tribune
For decades, Bradley Fritts hung his framed Eagle Scout certificate he earned when he was 15 years old next to his bachelor's and master's degrees in his office.
The 65-year-old retired high school principal and special education instructor proudly points to his Life Scout award and names all 24 merit badges he earned in topics ranging from astronomy to music.
Fritts recited the Scout law Thursday afternoon in his home in Ruch as he stacked the awards on top of a 1948 Boy Scout field guide that belonged to his brother.
"It's all being sent back," he said.
Fritts is one of dozens of Eagle Scouts nationwide who are returning badges and plaques to the Boy Scouts of America because of the organization's decision last month to continue a decades-long policy of excluding membership and leadership positions to gays and lesbians.
Fritts, who became a Cub Scout in 1953 and whose two brothers and son also were in the Scouts, mailed the awards and a letter Friday to the Boy Scouts' national headquarters in Texas. He said the policy goes against the anti-bullying and anti- discrimination policies he enforced during his 42 years working for several Oregon and Washington state school districts. The policy also goes against what he learned as a Scout, he said.
"I'm using what I learned by saying, 'Your policy is wrong,' " Fritts said. "It's wrong."
After a two-year examination of the policy by a Boy Scouts of America special committee, the nonprofit organization decided to continue excluding membership and leadership to gays and lesbians on July 17, according to a news release.
Deron Smith, national spokesman for Boy Scouts of America, said in a prepared statement that no policy will appease all 2.7 million youth members and more than 1 million volunteers.
The organization is not keeping track of how many Eagle Scouts have returned their awards, but Smith said the Boy Scouts are "disappointed to learn of anyone who feels compelled to return his Eagle rank."
Tom Gornick, a Roman Catholic Scouts chaplain for Western Oregon, said he hasn't yet discussed the decision with his committee that addresses Boy Scout policies. Among religious groups, the Catholic Church has the third highest number of Boy Scout members, totalling more than 280,000, according to a 2011 Boy Scout report.
Gornick expects the committee to discuss the policy in the fall but isn't sure what will happen.
"There's still a debate within the Scouts about how this will be handled," he said.
A blog called "Eagle Scouts Returning Our Badges" has featured new letters every day from Eagle Scouts across the United States who returned their awards since the organization announced it won't change its policy. So far, the blog contains more than 100 letters and photos of Scouts holding their awards.
Fritts said it's not easy giving away plaques and certificates that represent hundreds of hours of hard work and community service. His 70-year-old brother is also returning his Silver Buffalo Award and merit badges.
"I am proud of this work," Fritts said. "It was a major part of my youth. It was great fun, and I made great friends."
As he folded a green felt sash decorated with 24 merit badges, Fritts said he's proud of himself for practicing leadership skills he learned as a Scout.
"It shows they taught me something," he said.
How do you get a car out of the river?
After 18 months, no one's been able to pull submerged vehicle from
the Rogue
August 01, 2012
By Josephine Woolington
Mail Tribune
From her deck overlooking the Rogue River, Penny Toman can see the top of a 2010 Subaru Outback about a foot below the water's surface. A bit of rust and slimy green gunk decorate the deteriorating car that has been in the river for more than a year, she said.
The car belonged to Kate McKay Boone, then 36, who attempted suicide March 7, 2011, by driving the vehicle into the river at Valley of the Rogue State Park, according to police reports. Jackson County sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Carlson said the following day that the car would be removed in the next few days when water levels fell.
But the next few days have turned into nearly a year-and-a-half, and the white Subaru Outback remains underwater.
"We're wondering why nothing has been done," said Toman, 59.
Sheriff's officials said they've had a difficult time locating the car because of high water levels and currents that moved the car downstream. Now that the Subaru is visible near the 3400 block of Rogue River Highway, discussions between Boone's insurance company, which is responsible for removing the car, and Valley of the Rogue officials have delayed the removal process.
After driving the car into the river, Boone escaped the vehicle and was arrested and lodged in the Jackson County Jail for nine days on charges of disorderly conduct, littering in a waterway, resisting arrest and attempting to assault a public safety officer, according to Carlson.
Boone was convicted on March 17, 2011, of second-degree disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, both misdemeanor charges. Boone paid a $135 fine but was not required to pay for the car's removal, according to court documents.
Lt. Pat Rowland, manager of Jackson County sheriff's Field Services Division, said officials haven't removed the car because it isn't considered a safety hazard and isn't blocking a water channel. If it moves and blocks a channel, Rowland said, officials would remove it.
"I know everybody's working on it," he said. "It's a work in progress. It'll get moved. I just don't know when."
Boone's insurance company, Progressive, contacted Valley of the Rogue several weeks ago about removing the car. Company spokesman Jeff Sibel said part of the reason it has taken Progressive so long to remove the car is because sheriff's officials couldn't locate it.
Now, Sibel said, the insurance company has been negotiating with the state for the past few weeks about where and how to remove the car. Sibel said state parks officials wouldn't allow the towing company, Caveman Towing of Grants Pass, to haul the vehicle in Valley of the Rogue. The state is concerned the car might damage the park's banks, he said.
Caveman Towing manager Bill Leonard said residents have complained that removing the car on their side of the river would damage the banks. His crew is ready to remove the car, he said, but it is waiting for the go-ahead from the insurance company.
"Seems they're at loggerheads," Leonard said. "I'm not sure what's going on."
Valley of the Rogue manager Pete Reinhardt suggested the best option for Progressive might be to remove the car using a helicopter so it doesn't damage the 10- to 20-foot banks in the area. It would take five minutes or less, he said.
"It's unfortunate where that thing is located," Reinhardt said. "It's not as if you can drive down the bank and pull it out."
Progressive needs a permit to remove the car but has yet to submit the required formal plan about how it will do it. The plan, Reinhardt said, needs to consider damage to riverside vegetation and banks and safety issues for boaters.
"They still haven't gotten back to me," he said. Until Progressive submits a plan, the project will be on hold.
Without knowing many details, residents such as Toman continue to wonder why the "rusting hulk," as she calls it, is still lodged in the river. Aside from the car being an eyesore for residents and boaters, Toman said she's worried the car has leaked toxins into the water.
Rogue basin specialists at the Department of Environmental Quality said they weren't aware of the car. Unless DEQ receives a complaint, officials said, the agency can't do anything about it.
"It doesn't look really healthy," Toman said. "The folks who know and have seen the car just shake their heads when I mention the fact that it is still underwater."
Webworms out earlier than usual
Earlier-than-usual showing for the insects baffles the experts
July 22, 2012
By Josephine Woolington
Mail Tribune
Gauzy, Halloween-like webbing from insects known as fall webworms may be decorating trees in the Rogue Valley a little early this year.
Usually found in forested areas, the creepy crawlers, known scientifically as Hyphantria cunea, have infested trees in the valley in unprecedented numbers the past two years, and some tree experts predict this year's infestation will continue that trend.
Although infestations are fairly easy to control and don't cause much damage to trees, the insects' decorations don't sit well with many locals, said Richard Hilton, entomologist at Oregon State University's Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Central Point.
Unlike tent caterpillars, which create similar webs during the spring, webworms usually infest trees in the fall. Because the insect is a late-season pest, it has less impact on trees that have already grown leaves or fruit, Hilton said. Although the pests can weaken branches, they usually don't kill trees. "It's more of a cosmetic nuisance," he said.
Webworms begin to lay eggs in the summer. When the eggs hatch, the hairy caterpillars — which are in the same insect group as woolly bear caterpillars — web up the leaves they feed on. The insects start at the tips of branches and expand inward on the tree, and can encompass an entire branch with webs.
Last year's webworms were especially noticeable on black walnut and madrone trees, but they can infest more than 80 species of trees and shrubs, including fruit trees, nut trees and rose bushes, Hilton said. They typically don't appear in oaks.
The fully grown, yellow and black caterpillars will exit the web and find a home in the crevices of tree bark or ground soil for the winter.
So, why the recent influx of the pest? Most entomologists aren't sure, Hilton said.
"We're really just guessing," he said. Infestations are usually cyclical, with booms and busts in webworm populations during a several-year period. Unusually cool and wet springs the past few years are one possible explanation for the reoccurrence, he said.
City of Medford arborist Bill Harrington said the number of predators that eat webworms, such as wasps and yellow jackets, has been down, which may have contributed to higher numbers of webworms. Although he hasn't seen any infestations yet, he expects the visual nightmares to start popping up soon.
"Phones are really starting to ring," said Willie Gingg, arborist at Southern Oregon Tree Care. "We're getting calls two weeks earlier than we did last year."
Most people call because the webs are unsightly or they're afraid of them.
"Some people call fearing the worms are going to crawl across the yard and in their house," he said.
Ed DeLong, an arborist at Advance Tree Services & Landscaping, said he saw serious infestations last year in Josephine County near Grants Pass and in pockets of Jackson County.
To tackle webworm infestations before they become serious, Harrington cautions against pruning and recommends leaving the nests alone or using the insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis, known as Bt. He also said residents can blast the nests using a high-pressure hose.
Although insecticides are an option, DeLong said the products are only 65 to 70 percent effective.
His usual course of action is to cut the infested part of a branch off, put it in a garbage sack, tie it up and leave it in the sun.
"One-hundred percent effective," he said. "It bakes the little buggers."
A balancing act: Students, UO officials disagree about policies for reporting cases of sexual violence
Nov. 5, 2012
By Josephine Woolington
Emerald Media Group
This is the first part of an ongoing series looking into the University of Oregon’s Title IX sex discrimination policies. In this story, Jane’s name was changed upon request.
Jane thought she had been clear with her boyfriend: no sex. The two dated for several weeks after meeting in the University of Oregon dorms their freshman year in 2008. But one night after a party, Jane’s boyfriend persuaded her to sleep in his dorm room.
That night, he raped her.
After that night, Jane struggled in school. She became reclusive and attempted suicide. She was embarrassed to tell her friends and family about the rape.
So she didn’t talk about it.
“He ruined my life in so many ways,” Jane said. “I would have absolutely no remorse for him if he had to go through some kind of a process to prove he was a perpetrator.”
Jane, now 22, represents a large group of women who are sexually assaulted during college but do not report the crimes. She was confused and intimidated by the reporting process. Although she wishes her perpetrator could have been punished, she didn’t want to report the rape. Four years later, she still isn’t ready to talk about it with authorities.
A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in five women are survivors of rape or attempted rape during college. Yet, only 36 percent of rapes and 34 percent of attempted rapes in the United States were reported to police between 1992 and 2000, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
To increase reporting at college campuses, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights outlined in April 2011 ways schools and universities can minimize sexual violence. The agency suggested revamping decades-old laws that require universities to adequately train employees for their role as mandatory reporters. Universities must also inform students about the reporting process.
UO administrators quickly realized they weren’t doing enough to make sure cases like Jane’s were reported.
“All of the OUS (Oregon University System) schools are struggling with these issues,” said Sheryl Eyster, UO associate dean of students.
Administrators and law enforcement officials believe mandatory reporting will increase the number of perpetrators held accountable. Sexual violence survivors like Jane, however, think the policies disempower women who aren’t ready to report the crime.
To combat the large number of sexual violence cases that go unreported, the UO formed a work group last summer with about a dozen members. The group, including members from the Office of the Dean of Students, University Health Center, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity and the UO Police Department, wrote a 12-page draft detailing the reporting process.
The draft is the first time the UO has outlined all of its reporting policies to students and UO employees. It is still not published, which is mandated by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
“It’s almost completed,” said Paul Shang, assistant vice president and dean of students who serves on the work group. “In fact, I would say it is completed. It has been forwarded to make it into our procedures.”
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in all school activities that receive federal funding. Sex discrimination includes sexual violence, which Title IX defines as any form of unwanted sexual touch, including rape, sexual assault, harassment and stalking. All UO employees are required under Title IX and Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) to report any case of sexual violence they are aware of. If a student who was sexually assaulted goes to a mandatory reporter, such as a professor, the professor must report the incident to the Office of the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students then reports to the Title IX coordinator to begin investigating.
Shang said it took the administration more than a year to finalize the draft because he said writing it was a comprehensive process. It brought together all UO policies for sexual violence cases, he said, including mandatory reporting.
UO senior and women’s rights advocate Kerry Snodgrass didn’t know about mandatory reporting until August 2011 when the administration began training resident assistants in University Housing to become mandatory reporters. She thinks most of UO’s 4,500 employees — including professors, administrators, graduate teaching fellows, tutors and student employees — likely didn’t know about the mandatory reporting policies either.
Snodgrass thinks the policies force survivors into an investigation they might not be ready to enter.
“It’s a policy that’s so negative for survivors in the long run,” she said.
She was especially concerned when the UO temporarily suspended anonymous report forms last summer. Before, those who knew of a case of sexual assault were not required to put their name on the report form. For the last year, students and UO employees haven’t had that option.
Shang said the work group has a new anonymous report form draft. The group initially suspended the forms because the reports were written in a way that exposed identifying information, obligating the UO to follow up with that person, he said.
In response to the administration’s suspension of anonymous report forms, Snodgrass helped form a group in fall 2011 called the Survivor Empowerment Alliance. SEA has anywhere from 10 to 25 members and meets weekly, she said. Last year, the group collected 2,500 petition signatures supporting anonymous report forms.
The group’s goal this year is to bring back anonymous report forms as well as inform students and UO employees about the mandatory reporting process, she said.
UO senior Alex Sylvester is a member of both SEA and the Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team. He compared mandatory reporting to Oregon’s child abuse law that requires all K-12 employees to report any case of child abuse they are aware of.
“It sort of says to me that you cannot take care of yourself and you are like a child,” he said. “(UO administrators) need to work on a model that is more empowering to survivors at every step of the process.”
Although Sylvester and members of SEA say sexual violence survivors are forced to go through a legal process, Shelly Kerr, a member of the work group and director of the Counseling and Testing Center, said survivors may choose whether or not they want to be involved in the process.
If survivors want to be anonymous, they can talk to a counselor or any medical professional at the University Health Center and the Counseling and Testing Center. Counselors and medical professionals are legally unable — in most cases — to release a student’s name, she said. A counselor must report to the Office of the Dean of Students what survivors tell them only if the survivor is a minor or if the survivor’s life is in danger. Students can also go to off-campus confidential support centers such as Sexual Assault Support Services or Womenspace.
Shang said part of the problem is that members of SEA do not have a clear understanding of Title IX’s mandatory reporting requirement.
“I don’t understand, frankly, why it’s seen as a women’s rights issue,” Shang said. “These are terrible crimes, and I think that the spirit behind Title IX is that people ought to be punished, and public institutions are obligated to make sure that their institutions are accessible to all people.”
Numbers from the 2010 National College Health Assessment (PDF) show that about 20.6 percent of surveyed UO women experienced sexual violence that year. But only 37 sex offenses (both on and off-campus) were reported to UO Police Department since 2009.
Pete Deshpande, UO Police Department captain, said having mandatory reporting without anonymous report forms greatly increases the likelihood of catching the perpetrator. Deshpande, who served as a patrol officer for the Eugene Police Department for nearly 30 years, said part of the problem is that so many sexual violence cases go unreported.
“For us as an agency to really get involved, we need to have the information,” he said. “And often it doesn’t get to us and, of course, we can’t do anything.”
Still, the laws and policies could be seen as unclear and unfair to students like Sylvester and Snodgrass, who believe the UO could do more.
“I think the University has a way to create policies and infrastructure to support survivors of sexual assault,” Snodgrass said, “without treating them like children and giving them this sense that they can’t make these choices themselves.”