Randy Jones: Adult Foster Care Provider(Updated Profile)

There's a yellow house on water street lined with flowers whose petals have given into the fall breeze and been carried away. Inside this home is a collection of individuals who have the same amount of potential as these flowers to stretch their leaves and bloom into independent individuals who can lead full, successful, and happy lives.

This is the mind set of Randy Jones, whose goal is to make his clients feel empowered enough to be able to move onto a more independent living situation. "Our system is self empowerment and behavioral modification. We do this through change in environment and education," said Jones.

He said that the definition of empowerment is the increase of an individual's abilities and knowledge. And that is exactly his approach; skill building so that his clients can become more capable, making them stronger and more secure with themselves.

A client of theirs happily reported: "I like it here a lot, it's the best place of all the places I've lived." This same client, adult-male, said that he feels Randy runs the house very well, "It's as fair as fair could be."

Another client, senior-male, said he enjoys living here but feels he is ready to move out on his own. Whether the state agrees or not he doesn't know, but his focus is set in the right direction.

Both clients agreed that Randy helps them a lot. He helps them when they're hurt or need support and guidance. With Randy's help, a client said, he has made it past a lot of milestones.

By his loved ones he is described as honorable, ethical, intelligent, hard-working, and strong-willed. His nephew, Devin Clifton, thought back fondly to a time he and Jones built a fence together. "He teaches me not just the fundamentals, but life lessons that I can take with me in everything I do." He describes his uncle as knowledgeable: "He knows what he's talking about, not only from books, but from life."

His wife, Kami Jones, said her favorite memory with her husband is their wedding day. "Randy was everything I wanted before I knew what I wanted," said Mrs. Jones. "I became a better person when I began to grow my life with him."

Together Randy and Kami Jones have three children, Zachery-22, Savana-18, and Hunter-13. Jones' hope is for his children to learn the business and one day take it over.

The Jones' business is highly reputed for taking the hardest cases and making significant progress with them. "Our main clientel are those that are behaviorally challenging, or behaviorally intense. I've been told that all of the people we have were refused by everyone else," said Jones.

"With our system of self empowerment we are able to stop violent behaviors almost immediately, and in some cases we have successfully been able to stop individuals desire for violence."

Throughout his career he has owned and operated about 8 homes, ranging from Nevada to Lebanon to our home town of Albany. They've specialized in all sorts of cases, including: most all forms of personality disorders, schizophrenia, autism, aspergers, and sex offenders.

When his clients talk about Jones, no matter what their situation is or where they came from, they have an obvious respect for him. You can tell by the tone of their voices, and the hope in their eyes when they talk about their aspirations.

Sometimes what people really need is someone just to believe in them. In the Jones' home, they found the support they've been looking for in abundance. "I honestly feel like everyone who has come into this house has left it a better person," said Jones.

Randy Jones: The American Dream

Great Great Grandpa Jones was traveling west in the days of wagon trains when his train was attacked by a band of Indians. They slaughtered everyone except for the babies, which were left to die from exposure. But by a stroke of luck another train happened upon the massacre and adopted the babies, bringing them with them to settle in the west.

A single baby, whose only family was dead and he was sure to follow them shortly, by some miracle was rescued and thus produced: Randy Lee Jones. He was born and raised in Salem, Oregon. Through a lifetime of perseverance he raised himself from living in a 12ft long camper, working just to make the rent, to owning and operating a business in the Adult Foster Care field, and being happily married with three children.

By his loved ones he is described as honorable, ethical, intelligent, hard-working, and strong-willed. His nephew, Devin Clifton, thought back fondly to a time he and Jones built a fence together. "He teaches me not just the fundamentals, but life lessons that I can take with me in everything I do." He describes his uncle as knowledgeable: "He knows what he's talking about, not only from books, but from life."

His wife, Kami Jones, said her favorite memory with her husband is their wedding day. "Randy was everything I wanted before I knew what I wanted," said Mrs. Jones. "I became a better person when I began to grow my life with him."

Jones was home schooled, from 8th grade out, in a time when that wasn't exactly legal. His parents told the school that they were moving to Seattle, and then only moved across the city. His mother's rule was that he couldn't leave the house during school hours and had to be learning something the entire time.

Looking back Jones said he considered himself a "social retard". Being social never came easy to him, it was always something he had to work for.

He forged drop out papers when he turned 16 and got his GED. He then taught himself programming on a Commodore Vic-20 computer, that was 20 kilobits, before signing up with the Navy. He was in the Naval Reserve for 8 years, working one weekend a month.

During this time he met and married his first wife, Anissa, they separated 6 months later. Shortly after he met the true love of his life Kami Burgess and her 2 year old son Zachery. They dated on and off, through long distances and short, had 2 children together, Savana in '93, and Hunter in '97, before sealing the deal in '98.

Jones never grew up dreaming of being a Foster Care Provider, but he is grateful for what he has. Through his work he has been able to gain more insight into life. He has come to the conclusion that the root of all problems is abuse, specifically sexual abuse.

"Society, in the whole, acts a lot like borderline personality disorder," said Jones. The root of this disorder is abuse, it's a victim-response disorder. People with this disorder commonly carry on a cycle of abuse. Their parents abused them, so they abuse their children, who in turn will abuse theirs.

He wrote a report on this theory entitled Demosthenes Theekayoseenee, and is devoted to the cause of making people realize that the root of our problems is abuse and what the solution of this is. 

Jones outlined a plan to this solution in his report:

"1) Build an agency infrastructure to begin gathering a base of supports to advocate for victims of child/sex abuse:
(a) Fundraising to establish an operating budget.
(b) Recruiting survivors to raise public awareness and support.
(c) Recruit all interested people and identify useable skills.
(2) Use the agency budget to assist victims of child/sexual abuse:
(a) Recruit and organize Mental Health and Medical providers for follow up care.
(b) Recruit, organize and train victim advocates to support and case manage each victim.
(c) Provide ongoing educational services addressing emotional health.
(d) Identify expert witnesses to assist victims in legal actions.
(e) Assist financially in the prosecution of sexual predators.
(f) Lobby law makers to make reforms to our criminal system to better reduce repeat sex offense.
(3) Given the dire consequence of failing to take action, and the extremely limited time we have, we must petition to change Oregon laws to protect our citizens, such as:
(a) Enact a “Justifiable Homicide” law in certain circumstances, such as a predator approaching a previous victim within 25 feet permits the use of lethal force against said perpetrator (with immunity from civil law suits).
(b) Mandate the use of capital punishment for the third conviction of any sex abuse, or after the first conviction of any aggravated sex abuse. Adult, none disabled offenders only and excluding statutory offenses.
(c) Mandate a minimum 10 year (1) sentence and complete a comprehensive behavior treatment program for the first conviction and at least 10 years and lifetime probation for the second conviction of sex abuse.
(d) Create a special court to fast track all capital punishment cases, because the sentence is mandatory it should also be mandatory that the sentence is carried out immediately after all appeals.
(e) Each event of sex abuse is to be charged separately, thus three convictions may occur from one arrest."
   

Q: Randy Jones, what is your message to America?

A: "Responsibility is the road to commitment. Commitment is vital to my life and the way I choose to spend it. Without commitment sacrifice is not possible and an unwillingness to sacrifice does not foster ethics. My conviction for ethics has afforded me the strength to fulfill my duties time and time again. Without fail responsibility has led me to honor. Honor is the virtue I treasure most."

At a Glance:

History:
Jones has a long military lineage. His grandfather, Robert Lee Jones, was accidentally drafted into the Navy, mixed up with with his son Robert Lee Jr. Jones. When the navy realized his age they denied him to go as a soldier, instead he was offered the position of Sea Bees' Instructor. His dad was in the army, and his uncles were in the air force.

Contact info:
Commonsense2010@comcast.net

His Report:
Demosthenes Theekayoseenee

Family:
Randy Jones
Kami Jones
Zachery Jones
Savana Burgess-Jones
Hunter Jones

Halloween Arts & Crafts at the Library Photos

Doris Hicks & Louie Carnley  put on a marionette show about a horse and a clown who are haunted by a fiendish ghost.

When asked what a zombie is by Hicks, the children enthusiastically demonstrate.

Abe Peterson makes a ghost at the arts and crafts table.

Halloween Arts and Crafts at the Library

     At 3:30 pm, Monday the 25th, in the conference room of the Albany Public Library an enthusiatic and colorfully outfitted group of children gathered around to watch a Halloween themed marionette show about a horse and a clown who were being haunted by a goulish spirit. After the show chairs were scooted to the side and replaced with Halloween themed game stations and arts and crafts tables.
     If you are looking for something fun to do on a budget look no further than our Albany Public Library. Heather Doan, mother of two girls, said that she likes it because there aren't many actvities for children after school and that are in a safe location."The kids really enjoy it," Doan adds.
      "It's not as much fun as I thought it would be," said Abe Peterson, age 10. When questioned why, he responded looking forlornly at his zombie mask: "Because I couldn't wear my mask; it's too scary for the little kids." Though Peterson later said that he would like to come to more of these events.
     All events and activities are free of charge; likewise, if you are interested in holding an event or activity there is no cost to use the conference room. The only limitations are that your event must be open to the public, and you may not charge admission, nor make a profit in any way from it.
     The Albany Public Library is big on community outreach, especially youth outreach. Doris Hicks, Young Adult Librarian, and Scott Keeney, Children's Librarian, are the leaders of this event and many others like it. "I was very fortunate to come into a tradition of outreach to the schools," Hicks said.
     Their main objective is to promote art and literature in the community. "We're a staging place for culture in our society," said Keeney.
     They offer these programs in order to bring people in, people that may not usually go to the library and don't know about all they have to offer. You can check out more than just books, you can also borrow movies, audio books, magazines and even CDs. It is also a great place to kick back and read a book on one of their comfy chairs, or do your homework using one of their computers.
     The Halloween Arts & Crafts activity was just one of many events they do. This December 5th they are having a historical program on early settlers that will include stories and songs by a costumed story teller. For young adults the library also hosts clubs, such as their anime club.
     For those considering themselves a little too old for puppet shows they also have book clubs and events for you. For instance, they once had a Hollocaust survivor come in and speak, attracting an audience of around 200.
     The Albany Public Library is working hard to encourage everyone in our community, especially the children, to become more involved in art and literature and they are well on their way. Keeney said with a look of triumph: "It's amazing, every story-telling at least 10% of the people are new."

At a Glance:

Location & Hours:
Main Library
2450 14th Avenue SE
541-917-7580
M-W 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Th-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sa 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Su 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Carnegie Library302 Ferry Street SW
541-917-7585
M-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Contacts:
Doris Hicks: doris.hicks@cityofalbany.net

Ways To Get Involved:
Volunteer forms can be located at the front desk

Calendar:
Open the Adobe 'Calendar of Events' located on the right hand side: http://library.ci.albany.or.us/

Portraits

 

Savana Burgess-Jones

Adult foster care giver Savana Burgess-Jones and her 4 month old son Bentley Lee Jones play under his toy. Savana will be starting her sophomore year at LBCC this winter and is still considering her career options.

LBCC Auto Shop

James Smith, Fawn Sharette, Nate Larson, and Austin Yoch work on a transmission.

Instructor Phil Krolick works with a student.

Auto Shop student Austin Yoch works on the transmission.

LBCC Automotive Shop

     Hidden below LBCC's Industrial Building A is our very own Automotive Technology Program. Whether you are a student interested in the program or a student interested in a having a car that runs, our auto shop is something you should know a little about.
     In order to get this degree you must take 10 credit courses, which means 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. It typically begins with an hour long lecture, followed by lots of hands on learning in the garage.
     The type of people that take this course usually fall into 3 categories, described by instructorial specialist J.O. Walker: Farmboys, who came to learn to work on their equipment back home. Backyard Mechanics, who want to learn to be able to do a little handy work. Then there are those that came to get a career.
     One thing to keep in mind though is that the training you receive in the shop is a little different than in the career itself. "This is an unreal world," said Walker. In the real world you have to work a lot faster, you have to know what you are doing, and you have to be good at it.
     There is constant schooling for this career because things are always changing. "The ones who are really dedicated are the ones who succeed," said Walker.
     They do offer services to actual customers, but it also doesn't run on real time. average time span for a repair is anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks, and the services offered depend on what the students are studying.
     Department Co-Chair, Phil Krolick informs us they are covering: the check engine light, clutches, driveshafts, and etc.. The cost of services is 10% over the cost of parts and a small service fee (information provided by linnbenton.edu/auto/repair). ''The thing to keep in mind is that the cars are here for student learning," adds Krolick.
     Krolick describes his environment as being comfortable and friendly, but still professional. "I enjoy working with the students and being challenged by them," he said. If you are interested in pursuing automotive technology then you are encouraged to contact one of the instructors. There are few spots and they are hard to get into; the instructors will tell you what you need to do to get in.

Where: LBCC, Industrial Building A
Contacts: J.O.Walker  at 917-4593 or Phil Krolick at 917-4602