DSHS Retains Reprimanded Boss -- Woman Played Role In Boys Ranch Scandal

OLYMPIA - A Washington State Patrol investigation into the O.K. Boys Ranch scandal paints a picture of Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) supervisors blind to problem employees and deaf to urgings from front-line workers to close the Olympia group home.

Yet DSHS officials announced yesterday the firing of only one low-level worker and reprimands against three other employees in connection with the scandal.

Kristy Galt, one of those reprimanded, retained her job supervising, among other things, child-abuse investigations in the Olympia office.

Galt, Olympia-area manager for the Division of Children and Family Services, was described in the State Patrol report released yesterday as "oblivious to situations."

"No one in Galt's office would go to her because they knew Galt would not give them any service or help," said Diane Cote-Smith, who worked for Galt in 1991.

DSHS auditor Art Cantrell also described her office as "the worst-managed" in the state, according to the report.

Galt was reprimanded for not ensuring that investigations be done of child-abuse complaints, and for not completing required annual performance evaluations of workers.

DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears acknowledged Galt would retain her post, but said she would be closely supervised. DSHS settled on a reprimand because the agency already had addressed the failings outlined in the report.

After an internal DSHS review found problems with Galt's performance last year, DSHS assistant secretary Rosie Oreskovich gave Galt a corrective plan to follow.

One of the workers Galt was supposed to supervise was Miriam Madison, a Child Protective Services (CPS) supervisor in the Olympia office until she retired last year.

The State Patrol said management reviews in 1989, 1991 and 1995 found Madison was not assigning many child-abuse and neglect complaints for investigations. Some involved boys at the home.

Past State Patrol and DSHS investigations of the ranch found inadequate CPS investigations helped cause the state to keep the home open for more than a decade.

In court papers, former residents described the Boys Ranch as "a jungle," where older boys beat and molested younger residents, often with the knowledge of staff. The state took no serious action until the home was shut down in 1994.

The state, thus far, has reached settlements totaling more than $18 million in civil suits filed by 25 former residents.

Galt did not return phone calls yesterday. But she told the State Patrol she knew Madison wasn't always assigning cases for investigation. She condoned the practice because Madison was an experienced CPS worker, she said.

Galt also said she was too busy to do the performance evaluations, even though DSHS Secretaries Richard Thompson and Jean Soliz had told her to do them.

The other two employees reprimanded yesterday were Mark Redal and Steven Ennett.

Redal ran the state Division of Children and Family Services regional office, responsible for monitoring the ranch. He was described in the report as ineffective and indecisive. He also ignored some recommendations of front-line workers to close the home earlier.

He received only a reprimand yesterday because Soliz already had demoted him.

For a time, Ennett was responsible for monitoring and licensing the Boys Ranch.

In 1988, Cantrell, the DSHS auditor, found financial problems and indications of sexual abuse at the home. The following year, Ennett approved its relicensing; however, he never looked at behavioral logs kept by ranch staff, where Cantrell found notations about sexual activity between the boys.

Several co-workers and a supervisor had recommended to Redal that Ennett be removed because of shoddy work. But Redal brushed aside the complaints - a move that bars the state from taking stronger action now.

Ennett told investigators he was overwhelmed with the workload and was coping with the death of his daughter.

At a news conference yesterday, DSHS Secretary Lyle Quasim said the disciplinary actions signaled that "employees will be held accountable for their actions. A pattern of neglect of duty will not be allowed to develop over time."

The one worker fired was George Hartwell, a 26-year CPS veteran, who was accused of giving Boys Ranch staff a confidential police report of orgies that occurred at the home in 1992. Hartwell, who denies the allegation, is appealing the dismissal and contemplating a wrongful-termination suit against the state.

To DSHS, the disciplinary actions end the sad saga of the ranch.

"Now that the investigation is completed, the department can come to closure on this issue and continue its work protecting the health and safety of children in our care," Quasim said.