Who deserves a second chance? And what should they have to do to earn it?

Those were some of the questions raised by our centerpiece story in last week’s edition. 

As we reported, a woman named Kimberly Rolanda Kimball recently took advantage of an Oregon law that allows people previously convicted of certain crimes to ask a court to have their conviction set aside, a process known as expungement. If enough time has passed, and if the petitioner has kept their nose clean since their release from prison, the law requires the court to set the conviction aside. 

The result of an expungement is that all official records in the case, including the record of the person’s arrest and the charges filed against them, are placed under seal and hidden away from public view. As stated in Oregon Revised Statute 137.225, “Upon entry of the (court) order, the person for purposes of the law shall be deemed not to have been previously convicted, arrested, cited or charged.”

Kimball’s crimes were not insignificant. According to prosecutors, during her employment as a clerk at the Prairie City School District from 1997 to 2003, she repeatedly forged payroll checks, wrote checks to herself for bogus expenses and used other tactics to steal more than $70,000 from the district. Arraigned on a 40-count indictment, Kimball ultimately cut a deal, pleading guilty in March 2005 to two counts of first-degree aggravated theft, one count of first-degree forgery and one count of official misconduct. In exchange, the other 36 counts were dropped.

She was sentenced to six months in jail, 120 hours of community service and three years of probation, and was ordered to pay $74,000 in restitution and fines. 

Kim Kimball served her time, completed her probation and made restitution. She moved to Union County, where by all accounts she has stayed out of trouble.

And now her 18-year-old conviction has been set aside. As far as the law is concerned, she has a clean slate. A second chance.

And what’s wrong with that?

When offenders have completed their sentences, we expect them to reintegrate into their communities, to become productive members of society. That can be hard to do with a criminal record, which can prevent people from getting a job, establishing credit or even renting an apartment.

But what about the rights of those employers, lenders and landlords? Don’t they deserve to know who they’re dealing with? Is it fair to a potential employer to conceal the fact that an applicant has been previously convicted of theft?

We believe in second chances. We hope that Kim Kimball will prove worthy of hers and spend the rest of her life as a productive and law-abiding member of society.

But we find it impossible to condone the state’s willingness to paper over the record of a significant crime. It strikes us as a misguided attempt to deny reality, to rewrite history. 

And it’s worth pointing out that Oregon’s expungement law applies only to court records, not newspaper archives — thank goodness. In the age of Google, the facts of Kimball’s offenses will still be available through an internet search. 

In the end, despite the expungement proceeding, Kimball will have to persuade society that she does indeed deserve a second chance — not by pretending that her crimes never happened, but by demonstrating that she has well and truly reformed.

Other top stories in last week’s edition included an update on the deadlock over filling the empty seat on the Joh Day City Council, the selection of Josh Turner to headline the Grant County Fair, an award for Carrie Young Memorial Foundation director Lucie Immoos and a globe-trotting surgeon now working at Blue Mountain Hospital.

In this week’s paper, watch for stories on leadership changes at the Malheur National Forest, high school graduation rates at Grant County schools, what happens after the expiration of Iron Triangle’s long-term stewardship contract and coverage of prep sports. We’re also working to track down an explanation for recent resignations from the Grant School Board.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!

— Bennett Hall