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
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Olympian Newspaper 2010 Thurston employees list
2006 Olympia School District employees list (Includes Benefits)
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3 PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO CHARGES IN BOYS' RANCH CASE
Byline: Joseph Turner / The News Tribune 11-28-95
OLYMPIA - Three operators of the OK Boys' Ranch pleaded not guilty to criminal mistreatment charges Monday, and their lawyers accused the state of scapegoating them for abuses at the home for troubled boys.

Thomas Van Woerden, Collette Queener and Laura Russell (formerly Laura Rambo) face a total of 24 felony charges alleging they failed to protect boys as young as 10 from physical and sexual assaults by older boys. Van Woerden's attorney, Jerry Buzzard, criticized the case, noting that Attorney General Christine Gregoire said she wanted to charge others but didn't.

"Clearly, she has jumped on some scapegoats here instead of going after higher-ups," Buzzard said. "Maybe they're friends of hers. I don't know."

When charges were filed Nov. 13, Gregoire said her staff was unable to make a case against state workers who monitored the state-licensed home, or against the home's board of directors or members of its parent organization, the Kiwanis Club of Olympia. Gregoire said she didn't think she could prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The people who were charged at this point are the people against whom we have evidence, and laws under which to charge them," said senior assistant attorney general Greg Canova, head of the office's criminal division. "The attorney general's office has not let anyone off the hook, if you will, because they are friends of the attorney general."

Van Woerden, 54, Queener, 51, and Russell, 38, pleaded not guilty to all charges before Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee. No trial date has been set, and it may be several months before the case is heard.

Van Woerden, founder of the ranch and its director from 1971 to 1993, declined to comment on the charges. "I'd like to," he said. "But I can't." Queener was the ranch's assistant director and succeeded Woerden as director in 1993 and 1994. Russell, whose last name was Rambo before a recent marriage, was the longtime chief counselor. Through their lawyers, they also declined comment.

The state has agreed to pay at least $8.5 million to settle claims by 25 boys and their parents over inadequate supervision at the ranch. The OK Boys' Ranch scandal also has prompted lawmakers to convene special hearings next month and has fueled the call to dismantle the state Department of Social and Health Services.

DSHS paid the OK Boys' Ranch about $250,000 a year to house as many as 13 boys at a time. Abuses came to light in July 1992, when the Olympia Police Department was called in to investigate reports of two orgies involving residents at the ranch. Since then, some 326 instances of abuse between 1989 and 1994 have been documented, many of them occurring while ranch staff members stood by and watched, according to charging papers. The ranch was closed in 1994.

Saxon Rodgers, Russell's lawyer, said he wanted the attorney general's office thrown off the case because of potential conflicts. For the past three years, the state has been defending DSHS employees and the ranch against lawsuits by victims, yet it now is prosecuting ranch employees, he said. Moreover, Gregoire and some of her lawyers may be called as witnesses, he said.

McPhee said he would preside over the case because other Thurston County judges had some connection to DSHS, the OK Boys' Ranch or the Kiwanis Club. McPhee noted former Thurston County Prosecutor Pat Sutherland excused himself from prosecuting the case because he had a conflict. Sutherland, who died last month, was a Kiwanis Club officer.

Sutherland and later Gov. Mike Lowry asked the attorney general to conduct a criminal investigation of the ranch. The ranch board of directors also included a Thurston County judge and an assistant attorney general, Jeff Lane.

Rodgers and Buzzard contended Sutherland didn't drop the case because of a conflict. "The Thurston County prosecutor investigated the case and decided not to file charges because there were none to file," Buzzard said.

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.

Some people have complained that this is "guilt by association". Yes it is. If you are a member or friend of the Nazi, Klan, or the Olympia Kiwanis , I believe that "guilt by association" is deserved. Here's some questions for Kiwanians or their friends.

These judges, lawyers, politicians, ect..., who caused, ignored and covered up the OKBR, are still in charge of Thurston County government, the Kiwanis, DSHS, and much of Wa state government and they are not remorseful. They blame the kids or the "system", not themselves. Anyone I've listed who sends an e-mail, saying that "because of the OKBR, I am not a friend of the Olympia Kiwanis ", I will display it prominently HERE. I expect very few e-mails.

I'm running in the Sept 19, 2000 primary for Wash St Treasurer as a democrat, against incumbent democratic treasurer Mike Murphy who was an Olympia Kiwanian. Here's my proposed voters guide statement. Current Olympia Kiwanian Sam Reed is running for Secretary of State. How did Mike Murphy, Sam Reed and their friends, miss all the warning signs about the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch?

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
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Olympia Kiwanis Attorneys & Judges and/or Politicians.
Back to the beginning OKBR Home Page(http://lbloom.net/indexok.html)

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.