The news that Stabbin Wagon, a Medford-based harm-reduction nonprofit, is slated to receive $1.5 million in state funds for a peer-run respite program was met earlier this year with dread and disbelief by local city officials, law enforcement and addiction treatment providers.

Concerns ran deep enough that City Manager Brian Sjothun and Medford police Chief Justin Ivens contacted the Oregon Health Authority, the agency that approved Stabbin Wagon’s grant and grants for two other organizations looking to establish peer respite centers.

Their reactions and those of other prominent figures — as well as their efforts to engage with the health authority about Stabbin Wagon — are captured in a trove of city emails spanning mid-March to early April.

The communications were originally obtained through a public records request filed by an informal research group called Information for Public Use. This group, which has members with Rogue Valley ties, passed the documents to Stabbin Wagon. The nonprofit then gave them to the Rogue Valley Times.

Alicia LeDuc Montgomery, a lawyer with a civil rights focus representing Stabbin Wagon, said in an interview that the emails show city employees and local organizations colluding “in a direct attempt to interfere with the nonprofit Stabbin Wagon’s contractual relationship with OHA, including potentially trying to pay for backdoor lobbying to undermine the grant-making process.”

Pull Quote 1

“Everyone is in shock over this because it was completely under the radar and there has been no communication.” 

— Lori Paris, president and CEO of Addictions Recovery Center

On March 16, Lori Paris, president and CEO of Addictions Recovery Center in Medford, emailed Ivens and Central Point police Chief Scott Logue to let them know of Stabbin Wagon’s grant award.

“Everyone is in shock over this because it was completely under the radar and there has been no communication,” she told the chiefs. “Community partners are concerned for several reasons, but most concerned that the funds will be used to create a safe injection site.”

In his response, Logue said: “My concern, like yours, is that the grant money is utilized as intended. I’m not sure what oversight is going to be in place at the state level for auditing the use of the grant funds.”

Paris replied: “The oversight will be from OHA and will be based on what is reported to them. It’s very concerning.” 

The controversial grant comes from HB 2980, a 2021 law that allocated $6 million to fund four peer respite centers in Oregon for two years. Eleven organizations applied for funding, six were deemed non-responsive and disqualified, while five were evaluated and scored, according to the health authority. Stabbin Wagon, which scored highest, was among three chosen for a grant and learned in November of the health authority’s intention to back their project. The grant for one recipient, Portland-area’s Black Mental Health Oregon, is on pause pending a state Department of Justice investigation, The Lund Report reported last month.

Stabbin Wagon’s proposed peer-run respite program — now named Mountain Beaver Respite — would provide low-barrier services for people facing an emotional or mental health crisis. It would be staffed by trained “peers” who have received care for similar challenges and know how to navigate the mental health care system, according to the grant proposal. The center would be based in a home in Jackson County and serve up to six people for two weeks or less, the proposal said. Guests must be 18 or older and could come and go voluntarily, the nonprofit explained.

Stabbin Wagon’s name comes from its harm-reduction work — the clean injection needles the nonprofit distributes for free with other supplies for safer drug use and overdose prevention. Its mobile unit makes scheduled stops at various sites in Medford, including Hawthorne Park. Last year, the nonprofit received more than $582,000 in Measure 110 funds for harm-reduction efforts.

Confrontational attitude

The director and founder, Melissa Jones, has taken a pugilistic approach to critics, from city leaders to private citizens, online and in person. She and her staff make no secret of their far-left views and antipathy toward law enforcement. The nonprofit has a tense relationship with Medford police, often depicting them as pigs and clowns on social media and deploying the acronym ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards).

Pull Quote 2

[Stabbin Wagon] has a tense relationship with Medford police, often depicting them as pigs and clowns on social media and deploying the acronym ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards).

Jones and a Stabbin Wagon associate, Samantha Strong, were arrested last month while hosting an “HIV Testing Party” at Vogel Plaza. They allegedly became physically confrontational when police arrived to place a female “runaway juvenile” into “protective custody,” the RV Times reported. Police charged Jones and Strong with interfering with a peace officer and harassment. Jones was also charged with second-degree disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Jones and Strong pleaded not guilty in Medford Municipal Court and have been banned from part of downtown through Nov. 11.

When Paris broke the news in March of Stabbin Wagon’s peer respite grant, Ivens replied in an email: “This is unbelievable and unfortunately will cause more destruction than help.”

He asked her “who would be the best point of contact for law enforcement to reach out to regarding this?”

Paris got him a name at the health authority. When Ivens reached out to this person, he told her in an email, “I was wanting to find out information about the grant, what the application process was, and what the oversight of the grant funding looks like moving forward.”

Ivens also asked Paris what concerns he should share with the health authority.

Paris replied, “I have lots of concerns about this grant in general, but specifically OHA won’t be able to tell what is happening locally and operationally. Funding recipients typically are required to report on expenditures and outcomes (such as the number of people served, how long they stayed, etc.). OHA will not be able to tell what the condition of the house is or the activities that are taking place there.”

Eventually, Ivens connected with Brandy Hemsley, director of the Office of Recovery and Resilience at the health authority, who told him, “I would appreciate the chance the learn more about your experiences with the Stabbin Wagon and the concerns you have about their plans to operate a peer respite center.”

The emails end with Ivens and Lt. Geoff Kirkpatrick trying to find a time to connect with Hemsley.

Meanwhile, Sjothun, the Medford city manager, had also been looped in, along with other city officials and agency heads.

‘Disaster waiting to happen’

Sjothun contacted the city’s lobbyist, Cindy Robert, owner of Rainmakers Government Strategies. He asked her, “Who do we need to contact at the state regarding this grant.” He adds: “I can give you more information on Melissa Jones, but this is a disaster waiting to happen.”

Robert replied, “I do not know how you go about undoing.”

She said she could “tip” the health authority’s lobbyist or “forward problem to House Behavioral Health & Health Care Chair Rob Nosse and let him run with it.

“Or I can just ask their lobbyist who you should call,” she wrote.

Sjothun affirmed: “Please ask the lobbyist who we should call. We have an entire community of nonprofits that are outraged over this grant and who it went to,” Sjothun wrote.

Pull Quote 3

“I think perhaps the public, or the city, sees Stabbin Wagon applying for this grant and makes the assumption it somehow is related to drug use or drug issues because Stabbin Wagon provides harm reduction. … These two programs are completely different, and the peer respite has nothing inherently to do with drug use; it’s about mental health.”

— Alicia LeDuc Montgomery, Stabbin Wagon attorney

A few days later, Robert told Sjothun said she had spoken with someone at the health authority who “knew very well about issue with Melissa” and “referred to her as odd.”

Sjothun replied, “Thank you. All of the legitimate nonprofits in our area are outraged that she is getting any funding.”

It is unclear in the emails what became of the city and police department’s outreach to the health authority, and whether their actions influenced the grant process. Asked about these emails, Paris declined to comment.

Montgomery, Stabbin Wagon’s lawyer, said in an interview that the nonprofit has signed and submitted the grant contract to the health authority, which has acknowledged receipt. OHA, she said, has “confirmed that they’re moving forward in the process with the particulars for the grant award,” including how funding will be disbursed.

Sjothun said in a statement: “The city of Medford has been attempting to gain additional information regarding the proposed grant funded respite program to be operated by Stabbin Wagon from the Oregon Health Authority.

“Our need for such information is to better understand how an organization, that has not provided a respite program or provided mental health services in the past, has the capacity, training and expertise to be able to serve potential clients for this sort of program.

“Our outreach to the OHA has yielded no response to our request for information, either directly from our staff or through our lobbyist.”

Medford police directed all Stabbin Wagon-related questions to City Attorney Eric Mitton, who said he had nothing to add to Sjothun’s statement.

Chief Logue, who had expressed concern that the nonprofit’s grant would be used as intended, said in an interview that he hasn’t had any direct dealings with Stabbin Wagon, but he’s aware of Jones’ arrest.

“From what I’ve just heard in the law enforcement world … nothing has alleviated my concerns,” Logue said.

‘I think that can be deemed collusion’

Montgomery, Stabbin Wagon’s attorney, said the emails suggest the city of Medford’s intentions go beyond information gathering. She points to Robert’s message to Sjothun that she doesn’t know how someone would go about “undoing” the grant award.

“Clearly (Robert’s) understanding the communication she’s receiving as sort of an urgency to try to undo this contract or prevent it from occurring, and I think that comes through in some of these emails,” Montgomery said.

The sense of urgency is worth questioning, she said.

“Is it because it’s a peer respite center, or is it because it’s Stabbin Wagon?” she said. “And if it’s because it’s Stabbin Wagon, you start, I think, getting into some of these issues and longstanding concerns about retaliation — about trying to interfere with a contract because Stabbin Wagon may have ideologically different views and approaches to public service than some of the mainstream folks with the city or with the public police department.”

Montgomery said, “To the extent these emails reflect a coordinated attempt to undermine an existing grant award of state funds to what could be classified as a political rival, I think that can be deemed collusion.”

The attorney also addressed Sjothun’s claim that the respite center would be staffed by inexperienced individuals.

Stabbin Wagon’s current staff, including Jones and Strong, would not run or work at the peer respite center, which would be covered by Stabbin Wagon’s nonprofit status but operate separately from its harm-reduction services, Montgomery said.

“The peer respite center staff has been assembled, the team is there and ready, and folks on that peer respite team are experienced and trained and have worked in other peer respite in other states, and have a peer respite charter, they understand how to follow the peer respite handbook that OHA and others are aware of,” she said. “There’s a system for information in place — guidance materials on best practices for running peer respite — and the staff that would run this Southern Oregon peer respite do have training and background in that area.”

She said Paris’ concern that Stabbin Wagon would use its funds to create a safe injection site is “completely unfounded.”

“I think perhaps the public, or the city, sees Stabbin Wagon applying for this grant and makes the assumption it somehow is related to drug use or drug issues because Stabbin Wagon provides harm reduction,” she said. “But, again, these two programs are completely different, and the peer respite has nothing inherently to do with drug use; it’s about mental health.”

Montgomery said, “It is bizarre that the city of Medford and Medford Police Department would be working so hard to prevent a program that would allow people — anyone, but certainly unhoused folks — to come off the street and access a low-barrier mental health service at no cost to the city.

“And so — in tandem with what we’re seeing in these emails — it just makes one wonder what is the true motive behind this concerted outreach to interfere with this grant contract award that had already been awarded.”