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Bail goes for child support By CHRIS BRISTOL EUGENE -- Persistence and pluck -- and maybe a little luck -- paid off for Delphia Powers. In a subtle but precedent-setting decision that may influence Oregon lawmakers intent on holding deadbeat dads accountable, a federal judge on Tuesday said the homeless Medford woman was entitled to her ex-husband's forfeited bail because he owed her nearly $4,000 in unpaid child support. That figure may not sound like much. Powers, whose odyssey for economic justice was chronicled in a Mail Tribune story in March, said it is. "It's going to bring me and my kids together finally," she said in a phone interview from her mother's home in Grants Pass. "This is just so huge." Powers, 28, was not on hand Tuesday as U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene sentenced her ex, Brice Powers, to nine years in prison for trafficking methamphetamine. She didn't make the trip because she doesn't own a car. She also doesn't have a fixed place to live. Since she was evicted two years ago in a rent dispute, Powers has been basically homeless, staying wherever she could for as long as she could. Without a permanent address and a car, she was unable to find solid employment. With two boys to raise, Powers had taken a keen interest in the bonds -- a total of $17,500 -- her ex-husband posted last summer after his arrest in Medford on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Brice Powers, 31 and a self-employed contractor, later forfeited the money, and his freedom, for skipping a court date. But when she tried to assert a claim to some of the money, Powers was dismayed to discover that she had stumbled across a gray area in the law. In Oregon, more than 225,000 noncustodial parents are behind in child support payments. Jackson County has more than 2,800 active cases. Up to 85 percent of the deadbeats are dads, experts say. In recent years, as welfare reform became a hot-button political issue, lawmakers across the country have tried to crack down on deadbeat dads. The Oregon Legislature passed laws that allow authorities to suspend or revoke a deadbeat's license to drive, attach lottery winnings or garnishee wages. But nothing has ever been done about bail money. Ruben Rudolph, a Jackson County deputy district attorney assigned to family support cases, said part of the problem is that deadbeat defendants like Brice Powers are rare. "They never seem to post this amount of money ($17,500) and also coincidentally have a child support case open," he said. Unfazed, Powers began hounding local and state authorities to do something. She made hundreds of phone calls, but not until she hired Medford attorney Bill Haberlach did she begin to get anywhere. Working with Rudolph, Haberlach eventually convinced a variety of skeptical federal authorities that his client deserved the money. Normally it would have been forfeited to pay court costs or to underwrite law enforcement crime-fighting programs. Haberlach, who also moonlights as a Medford municipal judge, praised Powers for her perseverance. "She knew something wasn't right and she kept pushing the right buttons until something happened," Haberlach said. "She just wouldn't give up." Despite her success, Powers said she would still like to see the state Legislature streamline the process so nobody else has to overcome the same obstacles she faced. People who know her doubt anybody else could. Blunt-spoken, stubborn and proud, she never considered welfare an option. "I didn't want to do their system," she said. "Every time I played their little game, they never helped me out the way I needed it. And they talk down at you." What she especially needed, she says, was help paying off traffic tickets so she could get a driver's license. That kind of help was never available, despite her desire to work. She said her first order of business is to pay off her fines, get her license and rent an apartment. She plans to stay in Grants Pass for now, so her mother can babysit the boys while she works. Future payments owed by her ex-husband will be made from the balance of the bail. "For the first time in my life I'll be able to be self-sufficient," she said. "That's the big thing, being able to help myself." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA