Philomath, OR

POW 30 DAYS, 90 DAYS, CHANGES

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Ex-POWs share the bond of survival

BYLINE: HANSELL, SALLY Sally Hansell Staff Writer Cobb 
DATE: March 20, 1986
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution
EDITION: The Atlanta Journal Constitution
SECTION: EXTRA
PAGE: G/1

A group of some 30 former war prisoners living in Cobb and Cherokee counties are flesh-and-blood survivors of some of the nation's most historic military engagements like Normandy, Corregidor, the Bataan Death March and the Battle of the Bulge. The North Central Georgia Chapter of American Ex-Prisoners of War Inc., a Congressionally chartered group, unites approximately 30 veterans from World War II and the Korean and Vietnamese wars, into a brotherhood that means much more than swapping war stories, organizing parades and promoting legislation for former prisoners. A group of some 30 former war prisoners living in Cobb and Cherokee counties are flesh-and-blood survivors of some of the nation's most historic military engagements like Normandy, Corregidor, the Bataan Death March and the Battle of the Bulge.

"They're a unique and positively vanishing breed. They did things that you and I only remember from history books," 38-year-old Bane Ashley of Marietta said of the graying veterans, downplaying his own heroism as a Green Beret and Ranger captured in the Vietnam War.....

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Vet says films like Rambo mislead
Ex-prisoner of war says movie heroics give false sense of hope

BYLINE: DOLMAN, CATHY S Cathy S. Dolman Staff Writer STAFF 
DATE: July 20, 1985
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution
EDITION: The Atlanta Journal Constitution
SECTION: LOCAL NEWS
PAGE: A/20

No one like Rambo is going to help Americans discover the fate of missing soldiers in Southeast Asia and popular movies portraying such single-handed heroics are a disservice to the country, according to a former prisoner of war. "If we start believing in these things, we'll start pulling away from what those who fight and prisoners of war really go through," said Bane Ashley, who served as a Green Beret and a Ranger in the Vietnam War.

"When you get shot you bleed. When you get tired, you fall. You get hungry and sick. When the enemy shoots, they almost always hit you. Believe me. That is reality. The movie `Rambo' is a cartoon," Ashley said, referring to the hit movie "Rambo: First Blood Part II," starring actor Sylvester Stallone.

Ashley, who spoke at the Veterans Administration Medical Center as a part of National MIA/POW Recognition Day, said such movies also give the public and the families of those missing in action a sense of false hope about soldiers who have not been accounted for.

Ashley, who is now studying to be a veterinarian, was held prisoner by the Vietnamese for several months before escaping.

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Metro Digest
Library vote, city election may conflict

DATE: July 18, 1985
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution
EDITION: The Atlanta Constitution
SECTION: LOCAL NEWS
PAGE: A/36

... At the Veterans Administration Hospital on Clairmont Road in DeKalb County, a service will be held at 2 p.m. in the hospital chapel. A Vietnam prisoner of war who escaped from captivity, Dr. Bane Ashley, will speak at the service. The public is invited.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established to honor the 92,000 former prisoners of war as well as members of the armed forces listed as missing in action. ...

http://www.kptv.com
July 21, 2005

Sex abuse charge against former judge may disappear

CORVALLIS -- A former judge in Corvallis has a record of his own. He pled guilty to the sex abuse of a fifteen year old girl.  But could he be back on the bench soon?

Otis Ashley, a former teen  court judge admitted to abusing the teen in 2003.  But the charge could disappear, leaving the judge a brand new clean record.

Ashley was a colorful figure around Corvallis. He founded teen court, and served as its judge.

He was a municipal court judge as well, a reserve deputy for the sheriff's department. and was known as a war hero.

'Sarah', a former teen court juror told FOX 12, "the kids loved him."  Sarah says Ashley told her that he was a prisoner of war when he was a Green Beret.

But her respect for Ashley soured, especially after learning of the abuse.

Ashley met a young teen juror named Danielle Botner when she was just thirteen, in middle school in Corvallis.

But by the time she was fifteen, their relationship changed.  The girl said Ashley fondled her in the steam room of the Timberhill Athletic Club in Corvallis.

After a police investigation, Ashley pleaded guilty to one count of sex abuse in the third degree against a teen.

The former judge had to spend three days in jail, apologize to the victim, and send the apology to the Mormon church where he was a member.

I-Team 12 asked Ashley for answers.  He did not want to talk on camera.  But later told FOX 12 that he believed a sex abuse trail would kill his teen daughter, who he says is mentally ill, so he "threw himself on a hand grenade to save his family."

"He's not honorable," says Sarah. "There's nothing honorable about him and a judge should be honorable."

There are also questions about the judge's military past.  Was he really a P.O.W. in Viet Nam?

The P.O.W. Network says Ashley did serve in Viet Nam but was not a prisoner of war.

Another group, the American Ex-P.O.W.'s say they kicked Ashley out of their membership because he would not show them proper evidence of P.O.W. status.

And the U.S. Ranger Army Association also asked Ashley to leave after they say he showed fake documents about his awards.

Some local veterans, like Albany's Ed Hahn say fake military claims are insulting to real P.O.W.'s and the community will eventually learn the truth.

"Especially when you're a national figure or state figure or a county. . .they're gonna get--- people are gonna find out," says Hahn.

Ashley himself says there was some confusion over his P.O.W. status.  He says the V.A. listed him as a P.O.W. and he believed them. But later he was told it wasn't true.

He says he did not claim to be a P.O.W, but if he did, it was because the V.A. told him so.

But all this may soon be over for Otis "Bane" Ashley.  The prosecutor in the sex abuse case cut a special deal allowing Ashley to get the crime erased from his record if he does not commit any further crimes before next summer.

In less than a year, Ashley could have a clean record, with no sign he plead guilty to sexually abusing a teen.

The prosecutor did not answer FOX 12's calls asking why he made that special deal.  But documents show the former judge can ask the court to dismiss his charges in May.

FOX 12     KPTV.com  Sex abuse charge against former judge may disappear A former judge in Corvallis has a record of his own. He pled guilty to the sex abuse of a fifteen year old girl. But could he be back on the bench soon