2A — THE OBSERVER
D AILY
P LANNER
TODAY
Today is Friday, Jan. 24,
the 24th day of 2020. There
are 342 days left in the year.
Wallowa Mountain Cruise
Annual event still short of volunteers
■ Wallowa Mountain Cruise in Joseph in
need of help for June show
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Jan. 24, 1943, Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt
and British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill conclud-
ed a wartime conference in
Casablanca, Morocco.
ON THIS DATE
In 1848, James W. Marshall
discovered a gold nugget
at Sutter’s Mill in northern
California, a discovery that led
to the gold rush of ‘49.
In 1945, Associated Press
war correspondent Joseph
Morton was among a group
of captives executed by the
Germans at the Mauthausen-
Gusen concentration camp
in Austria.
In 1985, the space shuttle
Discovery was launched
from Cape Canaveral on
the fi rst secret, all-military
shuttle mission.
In 1989, confessed serial
killer Theodore Bundy was
executed in Florida.
In 1993, retired Supreme
Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall died in Bethesda,
Maryland, at age 84.
In 2003, former Pennsyl-
vania Gov. Tom Ridge was
sworn in as the fi rst secre-
tary of the new Department
of Homeland Security.
In 2018, former sports
doctor Larry Nassar, who
had admitted molesting
some of the nation’s top
gymnasts for years under
the guise of medical treat-
ment, was sentenced to
40-175 years in prison.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020
LOCAL
JOSEPH — Another
20 volunteers are still the
greatest need for the Wal-
lowa Mountain Cruise, said
organizational committee
chairwoman Jude Graham.
The committee is considering
soliciting help from other com-
munity and service groups.
The group held its second
meeting, Jan. 16 at the
Kokanee Inn in Joseph. Less
than a half dozen organiz-
ers attended, Graham said,
some being kept home be-
cause of the wind and snow
of recent days.
At the December meet-
ing, organizers decided on
a 1950s and 1960s theme
based on the movie “Grease.”
Those in attendance noted
there has been progress
toward holding the classic
car show that hopes to draw
participants from all over the
Northwest. The registration
deadline is May 18 or when
the maximum of 250 partici-
pants have signed up. The
250 maximum is because of
limited parking in Joseph.
Last year, there were be-
tween 130 and 140 entrants,
Graham said. The group
has sent out about 90 email
invitations so far and knows
of others who will be invited.
Graham gave an update
on progress the group was
making. She said the cruise’s
website and Facebook page
are both working.
She also said they’re mak-
ing progress fi nancially, with
$2,500 now in the bank. In
seeking sponsors, the com-
mittee is offering $100, $250
and $500 sponsorships and
new this year is offering a
$1,000 sponsorship.
She read an email from
sponsorship Chairwoman
Ashley Lee who said they’ve
already gotten one $1,000
sponsor. Lee is hand-delivering
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
Dominic Nation’s 1972 Chevrolet Nova drew attention at the 2019 Wallowa Mountain
Cruise in Joseph. The annual car show needs 20 volunteers this year.
letters to prospects for $1,000
sponsorships.
Asked what the fundrais-
ing goal is, Graham said,
“The sky’s the limit so next
year we’re not starting out
from zero.”
Greg Jarman, in charge of
getting entertainers, said The
Senders, from Lewiston, Idaho,
have agreed to perform.
“They’re really stoked to
come,” he said.
Graham emphasized the
need to keep as much of
the group’s spending local
as possible. She said Valley
Bronze has agreed to do me-
dallions for participants and
they hope to have automo-
bile-related vendors set up
booths on a side street.
But she doesn’t want the
vendors’ booths to present
unfair competition to the
downtown merchants who
support the Joseph Chamber
of Commerce under whose
auspices the cruise is doing
business.
“It’ll have to be stuff that’s
not sold on Main Street,” she
said. “I don’t think it’s fair
to the merchants who are
paying for the chamber to
operate.”
Oregon Legislature
State GOP, Democrats at odds over short session
By Claire Withycombe,
Jake Thomas and Sam Stites
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — You could say Oregon
is a bit “odd.”
Until 2012, the state’s legislators
met only in odd-numbered years, a
practice dating to 1885.
But the sessions got longer as law-
makers grappled with issues facing
a growing state. By the 1980s, the
average session lasted six months,
according to the secretary of state’s
offi ce.
In 2010, voters said “yes” to allow-
ing annual sessions — and limiting
the number of days in each session.
So now, in every even-numbered
year, lawmakers and lobbyists
descend on the Capitol for a “short
session” of up to 35 days.
Confused yet?
In the 10 years since voters ap-
proved the change, the short session
has provided something else for
Democrats and Republicans to quib-
ble over. GOP lawmakers complain
the even-year sessions have become
unruly with consequential new laws
pushed through with inadequate
time for the public to have its say.
The next of these maligned “short
sessions” begins Feb. 3. Sen. Ginny
Burdick, D-Portland, who leads
Democrats in the Senate, told report-
ers last week that short sessions
are intended “primarily for budget
issues.”
Legislators write the state’s
two-year budget during its longer
sessions, then use the even years in
between for touch-ups.
But in her next breath, Burdick
said the session also is time to ad-
dress issues of an “urgent nature,”
such as reducing the state’s emis-
sions. A similar proposal stalled last
session after Senate Republicans fl ed
the state.
During the 2016 short session,
for example, lawmakers raised the
minimum wage, intended to stave off
a potential ballot measure Burdick
said wouldn’t have been as carefully
crafted.
“I think you’re always going to
have that tension, you know, what
is an emergency?” she said. “What is
urgent?”
With a plan to enforce emissions
restrictions on greenhouse gases
expected to dominate the session,
Republican lawmakers have com-
plained the public won’t have time
to give input as the legislation is
shepherded through the House and
Senate with a tight 35-day deadline.
Democrats counter that time is
running out to tackle climate change
and that ballot measures on the
horizon, pushed by environmental
groups, mean lawmakers should use
the session to craft a more careful
plan.
Some lawmakers contend the short
session isn’t used as intended. Sen.
Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, has proposed
doing away with it altogether.
“Ever since it was instituted, as I
live through each of these short ses-
sions, I think, ‘Wow, this is not what
was sold to the voters,’” Thatcher
said. “I think it needs to be reevalu-
ated as to whether it’s working or not
and make some changes.”
Thatcher’s proposal — Senate
Joint Resolution 202 — would
eliminate the short session but keep
the 160-day limit on regular sessions
in odd-numbered years. Lawmak-
ers could extend that session by fi ve
days at a time by a two-thirds major-
ity vote in each chamber.
“I would even say that (regular
sessions) could be made a little
shorter,” Thatcher said.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think of a hero as
someone who understands
the degree of responsibil-
ity that comes with his
freedom.”
— Bob Dylan
Oregon
Kate Brown urges action on climate change
By Kyle Spurr
EO Media Group
BEND — Crafting climate
change policy in the wake of
a landmark bill that failed
last year is a top priority
during the upcoming short
legislative session for Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown, she told a
forum in Bend on Thursday.
“We must do something
meaningful and soon about
climate change,” Brown told
the audience. “This is the
issue of our time.”
The forum, hosted by the
City Club of Central Oregon
and held in the Riverhouse
on the Deschutes convention
center, was full of City Club
members, elected offi cials
and business leaders.
Since the climate change
legislation collapsed last year,
Brown met with people on all
sides of the debate to refi ne
future policies, she said.
“I am committed to
FAMILY
OWNED
crafting climate policy that
protects our environment
and also grows our economy,”
Brown said. “In Oregon, I
know we can do both.”
Specifi cally, the new pro-
posed climate policy would
not create unfair disparities
in rural communities, Brown
said.
The proposed plan to cap
carbon emissions would
start in Portland, and other
large populated cities, before
affecting rural areas. It would
be rolled out similarly to how
minimum wage is increased
across the state, Brown said.
“Under this plan, or a simi-
lar version, the majority of tru-
ly rural communities will be
exempted from price increases
at the pump,” Brown said.
Brown took several ques-
tions from the audience about
health care, wildfi re response
and affordable housing.
Kellen Sears, 10, a fi fth-
grader at Juniper Elemen-
tary School in Bend, asked
Brown how she plans to
accomplish so many things
in such a short legislative
session. The 2020 session
begins Feb. 3 and will last a
maximum of 35 days.
“We are going to stay
focused. We are going to get
our work done,” Brown told
Sears. “Everybody is going to
show up and we are all going
to smile and work through it.”
Brown was later asked
about how she might be able
to avoid another situation
like last legislative session,
when 11 Oregon Repub-
licans walked out of the
Senate for nine days in June,
with some of them leav-
ing the state, to boycott the
climate bill.
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