Oregon has new poet laureate

SALEM — Anis Mojgani, a two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and an International World Cup Poetry Slam winner, is Oregon’s new poet laureate.

Gov. Kate Brown on Monday announced Mojgani’s two-year appointment to the post. Mojgani is Oregon’s 10th poet laureate, succeeding Kim Stafford.

Born in New Orleans, Mojgani moved to Oregon in 2004. He is the author of five books of poetry, including his latest, “In the Pockets of Small Gods.” His work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio and several journals. He has performed at hundreds of universities across the U.S. as well as international festivals.

“I believe all of us wish to be seen on some level, to be heard,” Mojgani stated in the press release. “For then we get a little closer to being known and understood. … That is what poetry does – it gives us all the power and path to being known, both to ourselves and to others. It shows the ways in which we as humans, while carrying our aloneness, also belong and are connected to one another. The poem illuminates this collectiveness.”

“And in a state I was not born in but have a belonging to, I am overjoyed and honored to find the ways to further how as Oregonians we might become more known to one another,” Mojgani added.

The Oregon Poet Laureate fosters the art of poetry, encourages literacy and learning and more. Mojgani will provide up to 20 public readings per year across the state with funding from the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Mojgani will assume the poet laureate role May 4. Until COVID-19 social distancing ends and public gatherings with the poet laureate are again possible, he will explore online ways to connect with Oregonians.

To learn more about the Oregon Poet Laureate program visit the Poet Laureate website.

Lawsuit: Restaurant served fatal meal

BEND — The estate of a Bend man who died of salmonella claims he was served tainted chicken enchilada meals, according to a $2.5 million wrongful death lawsuit filed against El Rodeo restaurant.

The estate of Arthur Charles Sutton filed the lawsuit Monday in Deschutes County Circuit Court. Sutton died Aug. 16 at 70. The month before, he dined twice at El Rodeo, a Mexican restaurant in Bend.

El Rodeo owners Rodolfo and Lorena Arias did not return messages seeking comment.

Attorney David Wallace said the lawsuit is a matter of public health.

Sutton on July 16 went to El Rodeo and ate a meal of a chicken enchilada with rice, cabbage dip, coleslaw and chips, according to the lawsuit.

Over the next few days, Sutton experienced “constant dull aching pain in his abdomen, significant bowel problems, sweating and difficulty moving,” the lawsuit states.

Sutton returned July 23 and ate the same meal, and that night his symptoms grew worse.

The next day he was taken to the emergency department of St. Charles Bend and was treated for two days for dehydration, vomiting and other conditions, according to the lawsuit. On July 29, he was readmitted to the hospital with kidney failure and other conditions.

Sutton died two weeks later, the cause determined to be sepsis with acute organ dysfunction due to salmonella. The lawsuit states that before Sutton’s death, samples of his blood had tested positive for a species of salmonella.

3 police recruits resign for roles in other recruit’s injury

PORTLAND— Three police recruits resigned amid internal affairs investigations into their roles in the serious injury of another student at the state’s basic training academy.

Oregon State Police rookie troopers Austin Daugherty and Dylan Hansen resigned Thursday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Daughterty is the stepson of Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson and son of Bend Police Officer Lisa Nelson. Deschutes County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph DeLance resigned April 16.

The three had been hired by their respective agencies and then were sent to the state’s police academy to complete their basic training.

Salem police conducted a separate criminal investigation that aised alarms about each recruit’s candor and credibility surrounding what led to the Oct. 17 hospitalization of Portland police recruit Dustyn Matlock. He was hurt in a dorm at the training complex the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training operates.

Matlock suffered a brain bleed, a fractured vertebra, an orbital fracture and a broken wrist. Doctors said the injuries suggested Matlock was body-slammed into the ground.

Matlock returned to the Portland Police Bureau on desk duty. The 28-year-old has been getting stronger and plans to complete the basic police academy class so he can work as an officer.

Matlock also obtained civil attorneys, who filed a notice of intent to sue the state public safety training agency, Oregon State Police and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office for Matlock’s injuries, seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The behavior of his three fellow recruits was “antithetical to what real officers do: protect others,’’ Marion County deputy district attorney Matt Kemmy concluded in a scathing memo released in January after the criminal investigation.

Investigators couldn’t determine what led to Matlock’s injuries because the accounts of the three recruits were inconsistent and Matlock had no memory of how he got hurt, according to Kemmy.

DeLance, Daugherty and Hansen were allowed to graduate from the academy in Salem on Nov. 1. They weren’t put on paid administrative leave by their respective agencies until after the prosecutor’s memo was made public. Their agencies then initiated internal investigations.

— EO Media Group and The Associated Press