The Olympia Washington Kiwanis members and their friends have cost the Washington State taxpayers over $50 million dollars (so far), because of their willful ignorance of long term, merciless and well known, child abuse that occurred at the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch.

October 2006 note: This Olympia Kiwanis stuff is old news. I've left this information on the web, because I like the thought that someone will say to one of these Kiwanis friends or members: "Grandma, (Grandpa), are you still friends with those Olympia Kiwanians?"

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1994 Olympia Kiwanis Members List
2007 Thurston County employees list (pop 207,355)(1,332 employees)(includes gross & overtime wages, hire date)
2005 Thurston County employees list (pop 207,355)(1,257 employees)(includes hire date)
2002 Thurston County employees list (pop 207,355)(1,569 employees)
2002 Port Of Olympia employees list (pop 42,514)(40 employees)
2009 Oly Evergreen St Col employees list (938 employees)
Olympian Newspaper 2010 Thurston employees list
2006 Olympia School District employees list (Includes Benefits)
2002 City of Olympia employees list (pop 42,514)(685 employees)
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2002 City of Lacey employees list (pop 31,226)(226 employees)
2009 South Puget Sound Com Col employees list (1,001 employees)
Name search of Wash. State voters includes our addresses (and birthdays)
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Back to the beginning OKBR Home Page(http://lbloom.net/indexok.html)

Back to the beginning Christine Gregoire Page

In the Nov. 14, 1995, Tacoma News Tribune, Christine Gregoire said she wanted to criminally charge DSHS employees and Olympia Kiwanis Board Officials, but said she couldn't because of "deficiencies in the law". Christine said: "There is no question the average person will conclude the board should have known about the deplorable conditions and put a stop to it," Gregoire said. "But even though a compelling case can be made for an absence of oversight, we concluded our current laws would not allow us to prove criminal accountability."

State Attorney General Christine Gregoire spoke at the January 19, 1999 Olympia Kiwanis meeting, even though she said in November 1995 that she wanted to "criminally charge DSHS employees and Olympia Kiwanis Board Officials". Many of those Olympia Kiwanis Board officials are still "respected Olympia Kiwanis members".

The story below is from the January 19, 1999 Olympia Kiwanis web page.

Sam Reed introduced Christine Gregoire, the Washington State Attorney General. He shared her college background and listed her previous work in Spokane as Assistant Attorney General, Senior Assistant Attorney General, her work with Slade Gorton and Ken Eikenberry. She was elected in 1992 as State Attorney General.
Christine indicated that the recent settlement with the tobacco industry "makes me proud to be an attorney, proud to be a woman, a mother and wife." She lives here in Olympia with her husband and two daughters.
Ms. Gregoire cited the story of the Olympic runner in 5th century BC who ran 26 miles to Athens after he had run 100 miles beforehand. After that he ran another lengthy run, keeled over and died. She said this was a near parallel for the course of the battle she waged before the settlement was reached. She stated that she is "most surprised at her success." A recent message from the governor says it all, she commented when he said, "Thanks for the dough!"
The Attorney General listed three important factors in this settlement:
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death today; With this settlement we have the best opportunity to date to educate and prevent further disease and death; and Our work is just beginning-we now have the tools and the framework to succeed in preventing what has become a childhood problem. Christine spoke about the "Joe Camel" promotion, which began in 1975 and increased Phillip Morris' share of the market from .5% to 35%. It was a deliberate program to target the young as a replacement market for the smokers who were dying from tobacco-related diseases.
On November 23rd, 46 Attorneys General agreed to sign onto the national settlement. The WA State case was a national standard. This is the largest single financial settlement in the world at $206 billion dollars. It provides a nationwide approach to tobacco control. By the end of May there will be no more billboards, no more advertising apparel for young wearers, no more cartoons, movies, songs or videos to promote smoking.
Christine will chair the National Foundation to be created under the auspices of a prominent hospital. Fred Hutchinson Center is applying. The focus will be to teach and reverse the message, craft model cessation programs, and conduct national public education campaigns. "We now have the tools to teach and enforce," she stated.
Ms. Gregoire returns to Washington, D.C. on Thursday to renegotiate the settlement because the White House wants 57% of the settlement. "The Attorneys General will sue the federal government if necessary, " she indicated.

here's the Olympia Kiwanis official archive web page
Here's a link to the Official Olympia Kiwanis Web Page.

Until Oct 1999, I believed that the Kiwanians and their friends were guilty of careless neglect or callous indifference. After hearing frightening audio depositions from some of the abused kids, I now believe that these people were involved with an "active collaboration with evil". The OKBR staff was apparently actively involved in long-term molestation and sadistic abuse of these kids. The Kiwanians and their friends could/should have stopped the abuse.

google is the best search engine, and you can make a detailed search of just this site.

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OKBR people statements to the Wa. St. Patrol(informative, professional, evasive, amusing)
Here's a long summary of the Wa.St.Patrol O.K.B.R report
Back to the 1999 Washington State Employees Salaries List
Back to the 1997 Washington State Employees Salaries List
Back to the 1995 Washington State Employees Salaries List
Olympia Kiwanis Attorneys & Judges and/or Politicians.
Back to the beginning OKBR Home Page(http://lbloom.net/indexok.html)

Nov. 19, 1995  Olympian editorial State Attorney General Christine Gregoire has filed felony criminal charges against three former staff members at the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch alleging that two directors and a counselor stood by while youths entrusted to their care were physically and sexually abused.

Gregoire's year long investigation shows, that the systern failed these youngsters.  The horrendous abuse have been detected and measures taken to correct the situation years ago . Because of negligence on the part of those in charge, children fleeing abusive homes were subjected to further abuse and mistreatment. This must never happen again.

One year ago, we called for, an independent investigation regarding allegations of beatings and rapes at the 0lympia group home. The late, Patrick Sutherland,  prosecutor of Thurston County responded immediately and called in Gregoire's investigators. Her findings reach far beyond our worst fears.

"The ranch was in a perpetual state of anarchy and chaos,"  Gregoire said.  "It was permeated   by violence, and sexual assaults were rampant. There was no structure. Treatment plans and programs were nonexistent and there was  no  therapy. "Initiation fights, drug and alcohol use and regular sexual assaults were common; including instances of sexual victimization of 10- and 11 year-old boys by older, sexually aggressive residents," Gregoire said. Investigator Martin Dickson was even more, blunt:  "What happened at. the ranch was an absolute atrocity."

The judicial system will deal with the three individuals charged with 10 felony counts of mistreatment. Those charged:
Thomas Van Woerden founder and director of the ranch from 1971 until 1993.
Collotte Queener  former assistant director and director from 1993 until 1994,
Laura (Rambo) Russall, longtime head counselor at the ranch.

  But the public has every right to be concerned about those who escaped  prosecution. Managers at DSHS who knew there were serious problems at the ranch as early as 1989 but did not issue a "stop placement" order until 1993 have not been cited. The public also has a legitimate question as to why the board of directors of the OK Boys Ranch - drawn from the Olympia Kiwanis Club were not held accountable for what occurred. Gregoire said, "If we could have criminally charged DSHS and the board we would have. But deficiencies in the law prevented us from charging the agency, the employees and the board."

The laws on criminal mistreatment must be extended to those who bear the responsibility of oversight. We urge the Legislature to make certain that those in authority are held criminally accountable for their actions and decisions. Gregoire's other recommendations have equal merit. They include an independent licensing division that can monitor and oversee group homes. The division can serve as a clearing  house for complaints about the care of children in state-licensed foster care and group homes. The attorney general also wants active participation by license holders for group homes.  Direct involvement should be a condition of licensing. Greater community interaction is necessary. Gregoire also recommended a restructuring of DSHS - a matter already under consideration by state lawmakers.   But we must realize that  no amount of money, criminal charges  or structural changes within the child-care bureaucracy  can make up for what happened to the youngsters entrusted to the care of the state Department of Social and Health Services and the OK Boys Ranch.

As noted in charging documents: "Most of the victims have. been diagnosed with post-traumatic, stress disorder as a result of their lives in constant fear of physical and sexual violence.  This condition is permanent for many of them. They have all suff6red a substantial impairment in their ability to function as a result of the physical and psychological trauma caused by their residency at O.K.  Boys Ranch."

What an indictment of the child-care bureaucracy in this state.

Below is an e-mail I received from a former Olympia, Washington resident.

From: ~~~~~~~~@aol.com
To: Louis Bloom manaco@whidbey.net
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 11:34 AM
Subject: OKBR
Just came across your pages and felt the urge to respond... In the early 80's (81-83) I was at the OKBR frequently as a young kid walking to/from school, I became friends with some of the boys. At one point a small boy confided to me that he was being raped by another boy in the home. The abusing boy talked about it openly!
Days later I walked the victim to OPD where we both gave statements. Later that evening I began to receive these incredibly threatening phone calls from a woman employee of the ranch who's name I believe was Paulette at my home. She kept calling over and over screaming at me calling me names. It was horrible. I thought I was helping someone. Nothing came of it. Then all these years later, it all comes out ... one of the boys that I had known there left as a young adult and still couldn't get it together, he eventually killed himself. As an adult now I don't often think back to those times but it still saddens me. All those boys that needed a safe nurturing place to be, and how many of them were better off for having been taken there? It's not about money. It cost these boys their lives, their souls, their trust. Those people who knew, who didn't care, they should feel such shame. Just my opinion.

From: louis a bloom manaco@whidbey.net
To: ~~~~~~~@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 7:30 PM
Subject: Re: OKBR
thanks for your e-mail. from what i've read, dshs, the olympia police department, and other "authorities" didn't consider child on child rape to be against the law. it was considered "normal experimentation". The "paulette" you mention, may have been Collette Queener who was an assistant director at the OKBR. Collette, OKBR Director Tom Van Woerdan, and OKBR counselor Laura Rambo Russell were ineptly charged by Wa. St. with "criminal mistreatment for failing to stop abuse". The charges were dismissed by Thurston County Judge Daniel Berschauer on technicalities. The lawyer who represented Collette Queener said, (Nov. 14, 1996 Olympian), that it was a "witch hunt", and that " a more innocent person (than Queener) you could not have for a client. She's an ex-nun ..... I don't see how you could view her in an evil or negative light."
I congratulate you for doing the right thing, when all those adults looked the other way. I repeat on most pages that the " OKBR has cost the Washington State taxpayers over $35 million dollars (so far)", because I think most people don't care about the kids involved, but they may care that it has cost them (taxpayers) money.
louis bloom

There were many obvious and long-term warnings about the 1970-94 child abusing Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch.