CSEPP problems spark resignation at OSP

This story was published Wed, Aug 16, 2000

By Karen Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

PENDLETON - Lt. Mike McCullough is resigning after 22 years on the Oregon State Police in protest over what he describes as mismanagement of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.

"I hope every elected official and bureaucrat involved in this whole process understands that this state trooper gave up a $72,000 a year job to make a point," McCullough said.

"The entire process is an insane merry-go-round. It's about damn time somebody stood up and said enough is enough," he said.

McCullough's resignation comes barely two weeks after he was assigned to represent state police on CSEPP, the panel charged with protecting the public from any release of deadly nerve gas from the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

His decision was a disappointment to his admirers, if not a shock.

Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty said he hated losing McCullough but understood why he made the decision.

"Mike is a man of principle who acts on his convictions. He found out in short order what we've all known for a long time - this program has problems. I don't know what to do about these problems. We are trying to reorganize," Doherty said.

Hermiston Fire Chief Jim Stearns said McCullough is a great asset to Eastern Oregon but added that he's not surprised to see him step down.

"This program has eaten up a lot of good people along the way. I hate to see it get Mike, too," Stearns said.

McCullough said he was appointed to manage the state police's responsibilities for CSEPP on Aug. 1, even though he told Deputy Superintendent Bill Paden that he didn't want the job. Paden declined to comment on McCullough's resignation.

Lt. Gregg Hastings, spokesman for OSP, said Paden wanted the opportunity to speak with McCullough before making any public comments.

But McCullough said he's through talking. And despite rumors that OSP will offer him his station commander position back, McCullough said he wouldn't accept the offer.

"After two weeks of a lot of soul searching, I realized this job was going to consume me. I feel bad that I have put the superintendent and deputy superintendent in a tough situation; I count them as friends. But this is a good, good thing for me."

He said his decision to resign was galvanized by a comment Doherty made during a meeting Friday.

"I told him that I was coming to the table as a state police officer. That was my background, and that's what I had to offer. Doherty responded by leaning over the table and saying, 'Mike, you quit being a state police officer two weeks ago. Now, you have to be a politician like the rest of us.' That's when I realized my career was already over," McCullough said.

He said he was trained to respond to emergencies, and that training left him frustrated over CSEPP's track record.

For the past year, McCullough has served as a station commander, heading up a department of 22 state troopers, six detectives, and five Fish and Wildlife officers for Umatilla and Morrow counties.

"I was proud to lead a very fine group of men and women during my administration," he said.

That tenure covered one of Oregon's worst highway accidents in history: a 52-car pile-up last September along Interstate 84 that claimed eight lives.

In the immense tragedy of that accident, McCullough said he learned a lesson that CSEPP officials have yet to learn: Eastern Oregon's emergency workers are capable of handling the worst accidents.

But CSEPP only hinders those professionals, he said. "The chemical preparedness program is so convoluted with politicians, and layers of government, and turfs and agendas. It's insanity."

McCullough got a hint of the problems within CSEPP during his tenure as station commander.

"It was frustrating just being at the meetings," he said.

For example, CSEPP officials ordered law enforcement officers to put on protective equipment and station themselves at 23 different points around the depot during an actual emergency.

"Nobody in law enforcement had been approached about the functionality of using that equipment," McCullough said.

In fact, when officers finally tested the equipment, what they found was they couldn't perform their duties in the protective gear, he said.

Emergency plans should be formulated by the local fire chiefs and law enforcement officials who will have to respond to an emergency.

"My approach to emergencies is that you need to have a broad, basic plan that is very fundamental," he said.

McCullough maintained CSEPP's plan was so complicated, there was no way for emergency workers to actually use it if there was ever an accident at the depot.

He said he brought up his concerns at meetings with CSEPP committees over the past year, but it was six months before his complaints were even addressed.

"It took a long time for one issue to be resolved," he said.

From the beginning, his biggest frustration has been that CSEPP is managed from the top down.

"There are a lot of people from a lot of different political entities with varying agendas that are formulating emergency plans," he said.

The telephone directory for CSEPP alone lists hundreds of names and numbers - business, home, cell and pagers - for contact in event of an emergency.

Although McCullough said he is at peace with his decision, he is angry about what he said led him to this point.

"Nobody is coming out and asking fire departments or law enforcement, 'What are your capabilities? What can you do? What do you think?' It angers me because this process could be so simple, so basic."

 

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