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February 2010

Serrano convicted in triple murder, may get death penalty

Submitted by KATU.com Staff on Fri, 2010-02-26 19:10

BEAVERTON, Ore. - A Washington County man was convicted Friday of murdering three members of a Beaverton family and may end up getting the death penalty.

A jury found 34-year-old Ricardo Serrano guilty on 10 counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of Melody Dang and her two sons, 16-year-old Steven Dang and 12-year-old Jimmy Dang.

The three were killed at their home in November of 2006. Prosecutors in the case said Serrano was outraged when his wife became impregnated by another man, Mike Nguyen, and he went to the man's house, determined to get revenge by killing the people Nguyen loved - his live-in girlfriend and the boys.

Now that the jury has found Serrano guilty in the murders, their next step will be to decide if he should be put to death.

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Beaverton City Councilor announces he is battling cancer

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Fri, 2010-02-26 14:50

Beaverton City Councilor Bruce S. Dalrymple announced Feb. 25 that he is fighting lung cancer.

Dalrymple was diagnosed in early February and is currently undergoing treatment at Oregon Health Sciences University Knight Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Cancer Center.

"After a number of tests, it turns out that I am one of the estimated 219,440 Americans who will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year," Dalrymple said. "At this time, I fully expect to continue performing my responsibilities as a City Councilor throughout treatment. With the support of my family and friends throughout the community, I'm confident that I will beat this disease.

"I'm certain that Bruce will tackle this challenge with his usual focus and determination," said Mayor Denny Doyle. "I know that the entire community stands with him in this fight and we all wish him courage and strength on the road to recovery."

"Bruce is the type of person who will not be set back by this kind of adversity," said Council President Marc San Soucie.

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Woman listening to iPod when fatality struck by MAX

Submitted by Jeremy Doucette... on Fri, 2010-02-26 13:30

BEAVERTON, Ore. - On February 26, 2010, at 10:17 a.m., 24-year-old Sydney Merly Coleman was struck and killed by a MAX train.

The accident occured near SW Baseline near SW 175th Avenue.

According to the police report, she crossed the MAX tracks while wearing an iPod with her hood up over her head.

Witnesses said Coleman had her head down, seemingly to keep her face out of the rain, and it appears she did not hear or see the approaching train.

The Washington County Crash Analysis Reconstruction Team (CART) was called out and is continuing their investigation. However, preliminary evidence indicates that this terrible tragedy was an unfortunate accident.

Tri-met has confirmed that there was a previous pedestrian death in this same intersection back in June of 1999. 

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Thief snatches woman's purse, but not dignity, outside Elks Club

Submitted by Jeremy Doucette... on Fri, 2010-02-26 13:38

Washington County Sheriff's Deputies are searching for a man who snatched an 89-year old woman's purse from her grasp, then knocked her to the ground.

The crime occurred outside the Beaverton Elks Club.

The victim's purse was recovered nearby, however her cash was missing.

The suspect is described as a while male, 20-30 years of age, medium height and weight, with dark hair.

Anyone with information on this senseless crime should call the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

 

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Crash leads to DUI arrest

Submitted by Tessie Lopez on Thu, 2010-02-25 12:24

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Police say a 61-year-old woman was driving under the influence when she rolled her 2005 GMC Envoy.

The crash happened at the Walgreen’s parking lot at Murray and Scholls at approximately 3 p.m., Wednesday.

Witnesses described the driver as crossing two different grass medians before rolling over.

Beaverton Police Sergeant Jim Shumway said the driver, Helen Laney, of Beaverton admitted to drinking brandy at around 11 a.m., four hours prior to the accident. Laney was taken to a hospital but no serious injuries were reported.

“Laney was charged with DUI and will be arrested,” said Shumway.

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TriMet holding open house on proposed service cuts

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Thu, 2010-02-25 09:00

A public meeting will be held Wednesday, March 3 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Beaverton Community Center (12350 S.W. 5th Street, Suite 100).

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Will Groner Elementary School change school districts?

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Wed, 2010-02-24 12:19

Parents of students at Groner Elementary School will host a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday in the school's cafeteria to discuss that the Hillsboro School District might have to give the Beaverton School District nearly 2,000 acres of land, potentially switching school districts for the school.

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WES cutbacks possible as TriMet aims to save $$$

Submitted by Bob Heye on Wed, 2010-02-24 00:45

TriMet has promised to cut bus and MAX service to save money but it says it still wants to fund the Westside Express Service, one of TriMet’s least efficient people movers.

Whether TriMet will cut back on WES is still under discussion, but after just over a year in service, ridership on the trains that shuttle people to and from Beaverton and Wilsonville isn’t what TriMet hoped it would be.

WES riders, however, said if the service is stretched out to one train every 45 minutes - instead of one each half hour - trains will become crowded.

“I wasn’t even sure I was going to get on this one because there were so many people waiting for it,” said one rider. “Go to 45 minutes and that’s just going to make it a lot worse.”

Officials at TriMet said it will cut MAX and bus service to balance a $27 million budget shortfall. Both were already cut last year.
 
Officials said suspending the commuter rail service entirely isn’t an option and scaling it back would be challenging because of existing agreements.

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Beaverton mayor to announce plan for 2010

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Tue, 2010-02-23 16:53

A capacity crowd is expected to attend Mayor Denny Doyle's first State of the City address, Beaverton Now: A Stronger Beaverton through Partnerships, Feb. 23 at the Beaverton City Library.

With keeping and creating real jobs, fostering economic growth and creating a comprehensive civic plan for Beaverton's downtown as his top priorities for next year, Mayor Doyle will announce a 10-point plan for 2010 that includes:

  • Local investment: Investing a portion of the city's portfolio into local banks to support small business owners and entrepreneurs. 
  • Sustainability: New sustainability coordinator will launch new initiatives such as greenhouse gas inventories and explore a solar power program for residents. 
  • Business funding: Budget line item to help local businesses grow. 
  • Visioning: Put the Beaverton Community Vision into action, in part, with a comprehensive Civic Plan.
  • Marketing and Branding: Launch new brand and commit resources to marketing the city.

"Now, more than ever, our citizens are asking us to be bold and challenge traditional ways of thinking," said Mayor Doyle.

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Washington County residents living a healthy life

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Tue, 2010-02-23 10:20

The 2010 County Health Rankings, a national survey of the health of counties all over the United States, was released Feb. 17 and Washington County ranked second compared to the 33 ranked counties in Oregon for "Health Outcomes," a measure of overall health by death and illness rates in the county, and third for "Health Factors," community characteristics that influence the health of county residents.

The County Health Rankings also show how Washington County ranks on individual factors that influence its overall health ranking. For example, Washington County has strengths in the areas of "health behaviors," and "social and economic factors," where it ranked third and second respectively. The Rankings also indicate that Washington County is at-risk pertaining to the "physical environment," where it ranked 26th. Physical environment is a measure of environmental factors such as air quality and access to healthy foods.

"The health of a community depends on many different factors, including individual health behaviors, education and jobs, the environment and quality of health care," reports Kathleen O'Leary, Public Health Administrator for Washington County.

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