Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2020)
2A ❚ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2020 ❚ APPEAL TRIBUNE In-store grocery sales changes remain Emily Teel Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK As stay home orders swept the nation and people shifted away from a patchwork of restau- rant meals to almost en- tirely in-home consump- tion, grocery retailers hustled to meet the booming demand. They weathered sup- ply and staff shortages while attempting to re- duce risks for shoppers and employees. The grocery industry nationwide saw record sales in March and April and with them a massive increase in adoption of online purchasing for de- livery or curbside pick- up. Because of their es- sential status, grocers were among the first Gas tax Continued from Page 1A People stopped driving No event in history has precipitated such a rapid decline in driving as the COVID-19 pandemic. During the worst of the Great Recession in 2008, the largest drop in gaso- line purchases was 7% in a quarter, according to ODOT, and there were fall-offs during gas ra- tioning in the 1970s and during World War II. According to data compiled by traffic ana- lytics company INRIX, traffic had its most sig- nificant month-to-month drop off in years in con- junction with the CO- VID-19 pandemic. In the United States, there were over 1.6 million trips by passenger cars on March 8, which dropped to about 700,000 trips as of April 12 as many states enacted stay home orders. There were about 1.2 million trips on May 23, but that is still far short of the rare in previous years. Vehicle counts across Oregon dropped about 50% in the early weeks of Gov. Kate Brown’s execu- tive order, according to an April report by the Ore- gon Department of Transportation. Though some restric- Alpacas Continued from Page 1A Neither of them had any experience caring for alpacas before purchas- ing the ranch and the ani- mals. "By December 2013, Jocelyn's Alpaca Ranch was a disaster," Kamins said during Robert Sil- ver's trial. "There were animals dropping dead in front of neighbors' eyes." Some of the alpacas were eating a tarp when deputies found them. Au- topsies on six of the ani- mals determined they businesses forced to adopt new safety proto- cols in retail environ- ments. They designated one- way aisles, set specific shopping hours for older people and the immuno- compromised, enforced occupancy recommenda- tions by only allowing in a certain number of shop- pers at a time, and in- stalled Plexiglass barriers between cashiers and customers. Now, as other busi- nesses begin to imple- ment the same strategies, grocers offer a bellwether for the changes we can expect in retail spaces go- ing forward. As states allow busi- nesses to operate more normally, local grocers re- port sales returning to more normal volumes, but questions linger about personal protective equipment in public spaces and other safety measures. No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service Before the CDC made the recommendation that people wear cloth masks out in public, some gro- cers and other large re- tailers resisted allowing grocery workers to wear masks on the job. Others didn’t expressly ban them, but also didn’t take steps to provide them as workplace-specific safe- ty equipment. Oregon's United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555 has advocated both hazard pay and physical protections for grocery workers. Nation- See GROCERY, Page 3A Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 Phone: 503-399-6773 Fax: 503-399-6706 Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Staff News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Westsmb@gannett.com Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6602 Legal: call 503-399-6789 Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Deadlines News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 To Place an Ad Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. tions have been eased as businesses return to op- eration, drivers have not returned to Oregon’s roads at the same level as before, people in the state are driving 21% less than usual, according to data from INRIX. The American Associ- ation of State Highway and Transportation Offi- cials estimated gas tax revenue will decline 30% nationwide and have asked Congress to appro- priate $50 billion to com- pensate for lost state rev- enues. Uncertainty of when drivers go back to normal State agencies were told in May to plan on budget cuts of 17% by Brown, but ODOT is clas- sified a non-general fund agency, which means its department gets its reve- nue from sources outside the general fund. Of ODOT’s total bud- get of over $5 billion, the $125 million reduction doesn’t seem like a lot. “It’s reasonably mod- est in comparison to oth- er parts of the state bud- get,” Brouwer said. The lost gas tax reve- nue could hurt smaller governments harder, where those revenues can make up a larger por- tion of their budget and some have hundreds of miles of roads to main- tain. died from starvation. Silver's defense attor- ney Timothy Park argued the couple tried to do the best with what they had by sometimes selling the animals to buy food for the remaining alpacas. He said Robert Silver inherited a large amount of money and agreed to open an alpaca ranch based on his wife's wish- es. When they started the ranch, they could sell an alpaca for $5,000 to $7,500. The market soon turned, and the Silvers could no longer afford to buy nutritional pellets for the alpacas. PUBLIC POLICY NOTICES Public Notices are published by the Statesman Journal and available online at w w w .S ta te s m a n J o u r n a l.c o m . The Statesman Journal lobby is open Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach them by phone at 503-399-6789. In order to receive a quote for a public notice you must e-mail your copy to SJLegals@StatesmanJournal.com , and our Legal Clerk will return a proposal with cost, publication date(s), and a preview of the ad. LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE DEADLINES All Legals Deadline @ 1:00 p.m. on all days listed below: ***All Deadlines are subject to change when there is a Holiday. The Silverton Appeal Tribune is a one day a week (Wednesday) only publication • Wednesday publication deadlines the Wednesday prior LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE RATES Silverton Appeal Tribune: • Wednesdays only - $12.15/per inch/per time • Online Fee - $21.00 per time • Affidavit Fee - $10.00 per Affidavit requested The South Salem Fred Meyer gas station opens on Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2018. ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL The latest numbers Marion County received from ODOT say it will see a decrease of about $2.6 million in gas tax revenue over the next 12 months due to the decrease in gas sales. Marion County Public Works Director Brian Nicholas said the county is balancing its transpor- tation budget by defer- ring some equipment purchases, downsizing some projects, putting off other projects and using some of the contingency Jocelyn Silver, 62, pleaded guilty to first-de- gree and second-degree animal neglect and was sentenced to three years of probation. She was also ordered to pay joint restitution for the al- pacas' care. Robert Silver pleaded not guilty and was later convicted by a jury of two felony counts and 16 mis- demeanors counts of ani- mal neglect. He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $15,000 to reimburse the Polk County Sheriff 's Of- fice for the animals' care. At the sentencing, Polk County Judge Norman Hill said Silver deserved a heavier sentence than his wife because he had pre- viously shown no re- morse for the dead and neglected alpacas. Hill also said the mon- ey for the feed was con- trolled by Robert Silver, not his wife. "(His) position was that there was nothing wrong," Hill said. "He did nothing to try and reme- dy the situation. He didn't offer to clean up." Robert Silver appealed the restitution amount in 2018, arguing that he should only have to pay restitution for the ani- mals specifically listed in the counts he was con- funds it has. “For Marion County, the decreased revenue isn’t going to translate into a noticeable de- crease in service on the roads,” Nicholas said. “Cities and counties whose transportation funding programs in- clude county gas taxes, large system develop- ment charge programs and other types of fees might see a more signifi- cant impact from CO- VID-19. The impact to Marion County is project- ed to be pretty manage- able.” Silverton finance di- rector Kathleen Zaragoza said the city received $624,603 of a budgeted $640,000 from state gas tax revenues as of May and $71,718 of a budgeted $95,000 from the local fuels tax and has revised the local revenue down by over $10,000. The uncertainty of when people will resume driving and creating gas tax revenue as much as they once did means fu- ture roads projects could be delayed for years. “What are we going to see in three months, six months, a year? That’s kind of the uncertainty,” Campbell said. “Short term this is pretty devas- tating. What will be the long-term impacts in terms of consumers driv- ing?” bpoehler@Statesman- Journal.com or Twit- ter.com/bpoehler Stall worker Rylee Henderer fills water buckets for rescued alpacas at Oregon State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Corvallis in 2014. About four dozen alpacas were rescued from a ranch in Falls City and taken to OSU For treatment. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE victed of. The 18-count indictment he was con- victed on listed 17 ani- mals found dead at his property. But the jury had found that this neglect was part of a criminal episode in- volving more than 40 ani- mals, argued Greg Rios, senior assistant attorney general, who represented the state in the appeal. The appeals court judges used this aspect to determine the finding re- ferred to the herd as a whole, not just the 17 dead animals listed in the indictment. They then concluded the trial court had the au- thority to order Silver to pay $15,622 in restitution for the herd's care. For questions, com- ments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwood- worth@statesmanjour- nal.com, call 503-910- 6616 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth