Seaside couple behind Miss Oregon pageant pays settlement

SEASIDE, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Department of Justice has reached a settlement with a couple over their handling of the Miss Oregon scholarship program.

Seaside City Councilor Dana Phillips and Seaside School District board president Steve Phillips agreed to pay $150,000 to the Oregon Community Foundation for the Tiffany Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for the couple’s 17-year-old daughter, who died in a 1998 car accident.

The Daily Astorian reports that the settlement was reached after the state alleged unlawful trade practices.

The couple, who had been involved with the Miss Oregon pageant for decades, will make restitution in three installments.

Dana Phillips denied the couple personally profited from the pageant. Phillips said when she left her role as director of the pageant in 2015, financial documentation was shredded, a situation compounded by a computer crash that destroyed a system backup.