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Bar clears Jewett of ethics charge in Savage Rapids flap The Oregon State Bar has cleared Oregon Water Resource Commissioner Mike Jewett of conflict of interest charges. The Medford attorney had been named in an ethics complaint lodged in the spring of 1998 by the Grants Pass Irrigation District. The district, headed by chairman Dennis Becklin, had complained that Jewett had a conflict of interest in his duties as a commissioner and attorney. Becklin had called for the removal of Jewett from the commission. An investigation by the State Professional Responsibility Board, which reviewed the charges, found no violations, according to Geoffrey Wyatt, assistant regulatory counsel for the Oregon State Bar. Wyatt recently sent a letter to Jewett and the GPID, informing them of the decision. The matter is now closed, said Martha Pagel, director of the state Water Resources Department. The question arose when Jewett's law firm, Jacobsen, Jewett, Thierof and Dickey, agreed to help the civil practice of Ferris and Hunter with a retirement transition. Bob Hunter, past president of WaterWatch of Oregon and now its staff attorney, was a principal in that civil practice. WaterWatch, a public interest group, has been a party to proceedings over GPID's Savage Rapids Dam for a decade. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA