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STATEMENT OF JEFF LANE ON December 27, 1995 95-687
I am Sergeant Glenn Cramer of the Washington State Patrol, Internal Affairs Section. The date is December 29, 1995. The time is 2:55 p.m. This is a statement of dictation notes from an interview Lieutenant Dan Eikum and I conducted on December 27, 1995 at 5:00 p.m. We met with Jeff Lane, a board member with the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch.

Lane indicated that he became a member of the Kwanis Club in 1982. He was invited to join the club by a friend of his, Don Ernst. He said later in 1991, in October or November, he became a member of the OK Boys Ranch Board of Directors. At that time the members of the board were Rick Millar, Bill Sticker, and a bridge engineer for DOT, Virgil Clarkson. Also on the board was Bob Denning, a computer consultant who had an import/export business and occasionally traveled to Korea. Other members were Jane Skinner who operated a travel agency, another woman whose name he could not remember, but she later moved from the area. There was also Don Ernst who was a retired state maintenance person, and testified as an expert witness in accident investigations. Last was Sue Dubuisson who is a district court judge.

We asked him about the status of these people. He said they were serious, interested and a bright group. He admitted they were an influential group because they would use their friends to gain resources to be able to help operate the OKBR donations. However, he didn't feel they were influential politically. We asked him approximately what percentage of the boys ranch budget was funded by DSHS. He told us it was 90 - 95 percent. We asked him if he knew how much the total annual budget was. He indicated it would have been in the high 200 to low 300 thousand dollar range. He gave us an example of a resource when a board member used their influence to gain donations. He said Don Ernst knew a contractor who would donate material to help fix the ranch.

We asked Lane if he was aware of the audit conducted by Art Cantrall in 1988. He said he was aware of it and the board had discussed it in a broad context as far as the dollar amount of the audit. He also told us there was some confusion over the billing. In other words the boys ranch had some confusion on what was suppose to be billed to DSHS, and apparently DSHS over paid.

He was familiar with the in-kind agreement which was discussed in great lengths during the winter of 1992. He said it was never repaid.

Lane told us the board met several times in the summer of 1992, after the orgy incident, to look at the overall picture of the ranch to review it as a viable option and to keep it as a business.

During our conversation with Lane he told Lt. Eikum and I, several times that he couldn't believe what he was reading in the news paper about Van Woerden and the situation at the OKBR. He said he would be shocked if he found out it was true. He characterized Van Woerden as a very quiet and private person who cared for the boys. Lane said he respected Van Woerden.

We showed Lane a letter that was addressed in July of 1992 to him from Chief Wurner. We asked him what the purpose of the letter was. He said he had a tentative meeting at the DSHS Capital 5000 building with Chief Wurner. The Chief indicated there had been an abnormal high amount of contact with the police and the OKBR. The Chief also stated that the boys at the ranch lacked supervision. Lane said he wasn't sure what the Chief was talking about from their oral discussions and asked if it wasn't too much work, if they could have some documentation concerning the OPD calls to the OKBR. He said he received the letter, read it, and distributed it to each member of the board of directors. Again, he told us he couldn't believe the amount of activity going on at the ranch was accurate. He also told us that the activity going on was to be somewhat expected with the type of boys housed there. Lane told us this meeting took place in the summer of 1992 at the Capital 5000 building. The attendees included 4 - 5 DSHS people, 3 - 4 OPD people, and 8 - 9 Kiwanians. He indicated that Mark Redal was one of the DSHS people, but he didn't know who the others were; he didn't think Jean Soliz was there. The purpose of the meeting was to express their concern, meaning OPD's and DSHS's opinion that changes needed to be made at the ranch. Lane said the board of directors first priority was to look at the boys ranch to see if it was a viable option and worth keeping open.

He said in September of 1992 the board made an informal evaluation of Van Woerden. It was in early Fall when they broke up into teams and went out to interview people in the community. He told us that later on, possibly in December, Jean Soliz came to one of their meetings and gave them the ultimatum that Van Woerden needed to be replaced. He said they negotiated with Soliz for more time to make an argument on whether Van Woerden should be kept or not. He said the meeting took place at the united churches building. They listened to her and told her they were past the half way point on'whether they should keep Van Woerden or not. They asked her if she would let them finish the project by giving them another month. She agreed to that, He said it was an ongoing process where they went out to interview people. They came to the conclusion that Van Woerden was a good person, however he had alienated his constituency groups (Olympia School Dist. & detention facilities). Lane was also one of the people who met with Judge Casey. Casey had expressed to them reservations about what she had been hearing from the ranch. Apparently she had been in communication with Jean Soliz and was given information by Corine Newman concerning the activities going on at the OKBR. Lane told us it was approximately at this time there was a stop placement order and the beds had been reduced to about 80 percent. He indicated that the board of directors were battling just to keep their heads above the situation. They came to the conclusion that Van Woerden needed to be replaced.

We told him we received information that Brian Fischnaller, a board of director, contacted Judge Case asking her to contact Corine Newman and to have her back off on her communication with DSHS concerning the activity going on at the boys ranch. Lane made the comment that he had not heard about this. However, he said it was Fischnaller's nature to do something like that, and as he put it "go off on his own hook." He said Fischnaller was a very vocal about letting Van Woerden go. He felt that by having Van Woerden at the ranch that the credibility of the OKBR would suffer. Fischnaller was very aggressive about saying there were too many problems and Van Woerden should be let go.

We asked Lane if he had any information about a OPD police report being brought to a board meeting or a Kwanis board meeting in July of 1992. He said he new there was one, but was not sure of the time-frame. The report was written about two boys named -----  and ------ and the sex incidents they were involved in. He indicated the context of the report would say "this child told me this", and said that most of the board members reviewed the police report. Lane said it was at this time when he felt the sex problems at the OKBR was aberration. He said he still refused to believe that this was an ongoing pattern, which the news media had portrayed.

We asked Lane if he'd ever seen a second report the OPD conducted. He told us he hadn't seen it, although he knew there was a second round of a report that went to the prosecutor's office. We asked him how he knew the about this. He said he was not sure, but he thinks Pat Sutherland was the one who mentioned it, and that he thought there was an article in the news paper. We asked him if he ever had any conversations with Sutherland about the criminal investigation; he said no. He knew Sutherland as a friend, he felt sorry for him, but he was not going to talk to him about the investigation.

We asked Lane if he was aware of an incident that occurred in 1993 where Denning, Skinner, and Ernst contacted Corwin at the OKBR. He said he heard about It and knew that Denning was upset, Ernst thought that the person from DSHS had acted inappropriately when she had come there looking into a situation assuming facts unknown and took action.

Lane told us about a dealing he had with someone named Edgbert. It was concerning some property on Forbes Lake that the Kiwanis had, donated to them by Edgbert. Lane said that he and Skinner had gone to Long beach to contact Edgbert who lived with another man and a dog. This was just prior to the OKBR being closed. So they wanted to sell the property, but there was a stipulation in the deed that the property had to be used once a year by the OKBR. If it was not used it would revert back to Edgbert. He said they pressured him to change the deed and amend it to where they did not have the stipulation of the boys using the property at least once a year. He said they convinced him the new house needed a fresh start and that the money would go towards programs for the boys.

As the board of directors and a sponsoring organization, their role to the OKBR was making contributions. Lane said they contributed a sizable donation each year in the amount of 8,000 dollars. They would also act as an information gatherer from the community to communicate to the ranch. Lane indicated another role as the Kiwanis was to get resources for the ranch, including lobbying with DSHS for more funds. However, he indicated that Van Woerden could not deal with constituency groups and that's why he was ultimately released. Again, Lane told us he could not believe the reports in the news papers as to what Van Woerden was to be responsible for. We asked Lane if he had any contact with Richard McCarten, an attorney for DSHS. (There was a long pause) He said he didn't think he had any contact with him. He also told us that shortly after the Internal Affairs Section interviewed McCarten, McCarten called Lane asking him if they had any communication with each other. He told McCarten he couldn't remember any.

We told Lane that people had told us that Van Woerden was perceived as having political influence. We asked him how that perception might have come about. He said that years prior to the closing of the boys ranch there had been a feud between Chief Wurner and Judge Stilz and apparently a group of Kiwanis witnessed it, He did not believe that Van Woerden had any political clout, but he was familiar with small businessmen and local officials in the Olympia area.

Lane went on to volunteer that in 1992 he ran as a judge in Thurston County, and he met with deputy prosecutors at the Thurston County Prosecutors Office. This was at the invitation of Pat Sutherland.

During the summer of 1992, just after they were advised of the orgy that occurred at the boys ranch, the board recommended to Van Woerden that he may want to seek an attorney separate from the directors. For a while they paid his portion of Buzzard's legal fees. He said if they had gotten further into it and saw that Van Woerden, in his words "possibly apparent" they would fire him. They notified him they were no longer going to pay his legal bills.

We showed Lane meeting notes from the board of directors of the OKBR from February 17, 1988. The highlighted area says that the Kiwanis board approved the formation of the boys ranch committee. Attendees will receive participation credits and be able to exert additional political muscle for the ranch's benefit. We asked him what context that was in. Lane said he was not sure, although he knew that people attempted to use their friends to gain resources for the boys ranch. We asked him if he had any conversations with legislatures concerning the OKBR. He said he hadn't personally. We asked him if there had ever been any conversation with Kathy Wolfe. He said he thought someone had discussed it with her because she was a member of the Kiwanis (he wasn't specific). We asked him if he had any other contacts or heard of any other contacts with legislatures, and he said no. We asked him about Tim Malone and he told us that Malone had occasionally asked about the situation with DSHS and the OKBR. However, Malone was just a member of the Kiwanis and was not a director or on any boards. He did admit that Malone's wife Karen Fraiser was a local representative.

Lane concluded by telling us again that he did not believe the reports of what was going on at the OKBR. He felt Van Woerden was not in it for the money. He said Van Woerden had family money and had the best interest of the boys at heart. However they had to let him go because he could no longer work with the constituency group. He said looking back, if he had to do it all over again the board would have acted faster on what they had to do towards removing Van Woerden.

We asked Lane one final question concerning DSHS; what his impression was of a DSHS licensor making an unannounced visit to the OKBR. He felt with the regulatory authority he saw no problem with the unannounced visit. He said he was an assistant attorney general and for years had worked in the licensing part of DOL and was a regulatory attorney.

Lane indicated one of the bi-laws of the Kiwanis Club was a prerequisite for anyone prior to serving as director, they had to be a member of the Olympia Kiwanis Club. Also, he emphasized that he felt the two boys who were arrested by the OPD, ---- and ----- , were sexual predators because it was in their personality. He didn't think Van Woerden knew they were sexual predators. He thought this was a behavior that was developed at the OKBR, not a pattern of the two or any other boys at the ranch. Lane was asked aboutt his role as a member of the board of directors. He said he perceived his role as being a person who made high level and policy decisions then reported back to the Kiwanis Club. Then we asked Lane how he would describe Van Woerden. He replied that Van Woerden was a complex guy and he was impressed with Van Woerden's dedication and work ethic as a member of the board. He thought he had good principles. Towards the end in 1992 he tended to take a hard line as related to the principles of the school district.

We asked Lane how he would characterized Collette Queener. He said she was very good with the boys, however, she lacked management skills and that she worked very hard in trying to improve. There were directors assigned to her to help with her management skills and the day to day operations, which became more of a priority to the members of the board. Then we asked Lane how he would describe Laura Rambo (AKA Russell). He said he'd never met her.

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

manaco@whidbey.net