An Oregon judge Thursday turned aside a legal challenge to the civil asset forfeiture reform measure approved by Oregon voters last year. The measure, known as Measure 3 on the ballot, enacted a wide-range of reforms including restricting the ability of law-enforcement agencies to seize and keep property of people not found guilty of committing any crime. Shortly after voters approved the measure, Lincoln County and its interagency narcotics team brought a legal challenge against the measure. The challenge sought to overturn the measure on technical grounds, but Marion County Circuit Court Judge Pamela Abernethy upheld the measure. Lincoln Country law-enforcement agencies are expected to appeal the decision.

In related news, a new Oregon state report shows that police seizures of cash, cars and houses rose last year in the months before the public vote on Measure 3. The report, compiled by the Criminal Justice Commission, found that were 1,526 seizures in 2000, up from the 1,064 reported in 1999. 85 percent of seizures in 2000 involved cash, 22 percent involved vehicles and 2 percent involved real estates. About $2.8 million in proceeds was distributed to local law-enforcement agencies in 2000, up from $2 million in 1999. The number of owners filing claims to get their property back on the grounds that they were innocent rose from 202 in 1999 to 368 in 2000. Under Oregon