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Victims� group sues Medford man They say statements on Measure 11 used in Voters Pamphlet are false By Chris Bristol Opponents of the Yes on 94 campaign have repeatedly accused its backers of making false claims about Measure 11, and now they�re suing a Medford man to prove their point. In a lawsuit filed last week in Multnomah County court, a Portland-based group called Crime Victims United accused Vern Beardslee of making false representations about Measure 11 in the Voter�s Pamphlet. Beardslee is a supporter of the Yes on 94 campaign, which seeks the repeal of Measure 11. The 1994 law sets stiff mandatory sentences for a variety of violent crimes and treats felons as young as 15 the same as adults. At issue are two statements published by Beardslee in the Voters Pamphlet. The statements are: "For the first time in Oregon�s history, more is spent on prisons than schools." "Four teenage girls under Measure 11 committed suicide in 1998." State records indicate both statements are false. According to the Legislature�s web site, the state budget for schools (including higher education) is about $5.8 billion and the corrections budget is about $1 billion. Meanwhile, prison officials said that while there were four suicides � all at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility � three were teenage boys and none were incarcerated because of Measure 11. Steve Doell, director of Crime Victims United, said the misstatements are among the most flagrant distortions and lies to date in the Yes on 94 campaign. "We gave (Beardslee) several chances to take it back," Doell said Monday. "He never got back to us, so I said the hell with it, let�s sue him." Under Oregon law, a person can be held liable for knowingly or recklessly making a false statement of material fact about a candidate or measure. The court can order minimum damages of $2,500 per violation. If it passes, Measure 94 would require resentencing of more than 1,300 prison inmates in Oregon under the old, more lenient, sentencing guidelines. Prison officials say more than half would have to be released immediately. Beardslee and other supporters of the Yes on 94 campaign believe Measure 11 should be repealed because it treats first-time offenders too harshly. They also say it puts too much power in the hands of prosecutors, taking away the discretion of judges. Opponents say Measure 11 needs only minor modifications. They believe the old guidelines are too lenient, noting that a murder conviction now carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison vs. a minimum of 10 years under the old guidelines. In recent weeks the battle over Measure 11 has become one of the most heated this election cycle, and opponents of repeal have accused the families of Measure 11 inmates and other Yes on 94 supporters of self-serving distortions. A recent analysis by The Oregonian of Yes on 94�s campaign materials came to the same conclusion, citing a "pattern of half-truths (and) omissions" that shaded the perceived injustices of some Measure 11 cases. Some cases were even made up. Beardslee could not be reached for this story. He did not return several phones seeking comment, and no one answered the doorbell Tuesday at his Peach Street home in south Medford. Cathi Lawler, chief petitioner of the repeal measure and head of the Yes on 94 campaign, said her group had nothing to do with Beardslee�s argument in the Voter�s Pamphlet and that she has never spoken to him personally. She did, however, accuse Crime Victims United of using "scare tactics" by raising the specter of Thurston High School killer Kip Kinkel. "They say (Kinkel) could get resentenced and be out soon," she said. "All the experts agree he would do a lot of time, regardless of Measure 11." Although many of the most vocal supporters of the Yes on 94 campaign are family members of teenagers who have been ensnared by Measure 11, Lawler defended discrepancies in their stories as honest differences of opinion. Lawler herself is the mother of a teenager who was imprisoned under Measure 11 for what prosecutors said was an unprovoked baseball bat attack on two Mount Hood Community College students. "Many of these cases were plea-bargained, which means we�ll never know what really happened," she said. "There�s always two sides to every story." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.