FROM PAGE ONE
Tuesday, april 13, 2021
THe OBserVer — 5A
Senate creates crime of intimidation for display of a noose
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Display
of a noose — a symbol
of lynching Black people
— would be consid-
ered a crime of intimida-
tion under a bill that has
cleared the Oregon Senate.
Senate Bill 398, which
passed 27-1 and went
to the House, would
make it a Class A misde-
meanor for such a display
if intended to intimidate
another person or threaten
someone with bodily harm.
Maximum punishments
are under one year in jail
and a $6,250 fine.
“That clinical descrip-
tion does not even come
close to describing the
hateful motivation that
goes behind the placing of
a noose, the fear of phys-
ical safety and the mental
distress on the part of
the people to whom it is
directed,” Sen. Ginny
Burdick, a Democrat
from Portland and one of
the bill’s chief sponsors,
said.
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner
Hayward, D-Beaverton,
likened it to how Jews
react to displays of Nazi
swastikas. Nazi Germany
was responsible for the
mass deaths of 6 million
Jews, plus others, during
the Holocaust in World
War II.
Sen. Lew Frederick, a
Democrat from Portland
and one of three Black
senators, noted last year’s
observance in Coos Bay
of the 1902 hanging of
Alonzo Tucker, the only
documented instance of
lynching in Oregon.
He said he is personally
acquainted with the noose
as a symbol of hate.
“Nooses were a con-
stant image during my
time demonstrating in
civil rights marches during
the 1960s and 1970s,” he
recalled, especially when
Daniel O’Keefe High
School in Atlanta was
desegregated (it closed in
1973). But he said its white
principal did not tolerate
such symbols, which Fred-
erick sometimes found on
his locker.
“He knew then that the
noose was not acceptable
NO-TILL
Continued from Page 1A
about 2,200 acres of wheat,
hay and cover crops near
Joseph. “Now everybody’s
doing it.”
While farmers appre-
ciate the environmentally
friendly aspect of no-till
farming, their farms also
are businesses that wouldn’t
be able to continue unless
they are profitable. The
Melvilles recognize that
no-till has numerous eco-
nomic advantages.
“The economic side of
this no-till is that it used
to take us 27 minutes to
plow and cultivate and fer-
tilize and plant an acre of
ground. In a day, we would
plant 80 acres and you can
figure what that would be,”
Tim Melville said. “With
no-till, we can do one pass
with the sprayer to control
the weeds and one pass
with the drill and we’ll
only spend 7 minutes in a
field.”
The drill is the direct-
seeding implement that
does the actual planting.
“There’s also saving in
fuel, because now you’re
only burning 7 minutes’
worth of fuel instead of 27
minutes, and you’re only
wearing out 7 minutes of
iron (equipment) instead
of 27 minutes of iron. So,
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Tim Melville, patriarch of the family-owned Cornerstone Farms near enterprise, cuts a steel rod Wednesday,
March 31, 2021, in the farm shop as the family prepares for planting.
there’s a huge economic
advantage to no-till.”
The Melville sons have
been brought up on the
practice and took agri-
culture-related courses at
the University of Idaho in
Moscow.
“He started no-till before
I even went to college,”
Kevin said of his dad’s
practices.
He noted that when
he first went to the UI,
professors there had
little regard for no-till,
thinking it wouldn’t allow
crops to survive weeds.
“Now they’re pushing
no-till, whether it’s the UI,
Oregon State or Wash-
ington State,” he said.
“Even though no-till had
come out in mid-late ‘70s,
there was a little push in the
universities in the ‘80s to
promote no-till, but by the
early 1990s, they did not
like direct seeding.”
Then, Kevin Melville
said, there seemed to be
a shift in thinking among
agricultural educators.
“I think it took a gener-
DISTRICTS
Continued from Page 1A
requests a reconsideration
from the court — a request
that the court rarely takes
up.
The court, in the opinion
written by Chief Justice
Martha Walters, said the
deadlines specified in the
Oregon Constitution are
less important than the pro-
cess laid out in amendments
that voters approved in 1952
and updated in 1986.
Walters wrote:
“We have been pre-
sented with no reason why
the voters who adopted the
1952 amendments would
have been concerned with
the exact date by which
the Legislative Assembly
or secretary (of state) are
required to enact or make
a plan, except as part of a
larger framework calculated
to result in the adoption of a
timely final plan.
“Nor is there any indi-
cation that the voters would
have intended to require
the Legislative Assembly to
adhere to the July 1 dead-
line for legislative action in
the unforeseen event that
federal census data — the
impetus for drawing new
district lines in the first
place — was not available
by that date.
“Instead, the voters’ par-
amount interests seem to
have been to direct the Leg-
islative Assembly to enact a
reapportionment plan based
on census data in advance
of the next general elec-
tion cycle and to provide an
alternative means by which
a plan would still be made
if the Legislative Assembly
fails to act.”
Democrats react
“The Supreme Court has
done its job,” Courtney, a
Democrat from Salem, and
Kotek, a Democrat from
Portland, said in a joint
statement after the court
announced its decision.
“Now it’s time for the Leg-
islature to do its constitu-
tional duty: to redraw the
district boundaries for the
123rF
The Oregon supreme Court on Friday, april 9, 2021, ruled state lawmak-
ers, not secretary of state shemia Fagan, will be first to try to redraw leg-
islative district boundaries despite a pandemic-caused delay in federal
census data.
state of Oregon in a way
that’s fair and accurate. We
have full faith in the legis-
lative redistricting commit-
tees to lead this work.”
The court said law-
makers can adopt a plan
in a special session, rather
than the 2021 regular ses-
sion, which is scheduled to
end June 28. If lawmakers
do not meet the new dead-
line of Sept. 27, the court
said that Fagan will have
until Oct. 18 to come up
with her own plan.
The court also set time-
lines for legal challenges
to either plan. It said a
plan must be final by Feb.
1 or Feb. 8, depending on
whether lawmakers or the
secretary of state draws up
a plan. The timelines do not
change the filing deadline
for the 2022 primary or the
actual date of the election.
Fagan in a statement
afterward said, “Our agen-
cy’s core objectives were to
prevent moving the 2022
election dates and to pre-
serve robust public input
by starting the process
with available population
data. We appreciate that
the Oregon Supreme Court
thoughtfully adopted both
of our objectives. Repre-
sentation matters and that
is what redistricting is all
about. That is why we will
continue to engage Ore-
gonians in the Legisla-
ture’s public hearings from
all corners of the state. ...
Every Oregonian has a
stake in this process, which
is why we must continue to
work together to ensure all
Oregonians have the fair,
equitable representation
they deserve.”
Republicans comment
Senate Republican
Leader Fred Girod of
Lyons said he was satis-
fied the court left the initial
stage of redistricting to the
Legislature.
“Oregonians expect their
district to be fairly drawn,”
he said in a statement.
“The most important prin-
ciples for Republicans are
ational shift. By the late-
1990s and 2000s, they
were pushing it again,”
he said. “In the past 10
years, they’ve really started
pushing it, and cover crops
and soil health is a new
thing. That’s when they
realized no-till was an inte-
gral part of that soil health.”
Tim Melville even takes
it to the point of the global
warming issue.
“This is one thing I’d
like our land-grant univer-
sities like Oregon State and
the University of Idaho (to
‘One-Person-One-Vote’ and
upholding the Voting Rights
Act. Gerrymandering is
unacceptable and by keeping
this process in the Legisla-
ture, we have a chance to
come to a bipartisan agree-
ment to draw fair lines.”
House Republican
Leader Christine Drazan
of Canby restated her sup-
port for an independent
commission to redraw both
legislative and congres-
sional district lines. A pro-
posed initiative failed to
qualify for the 2020 general
election ballot, although
its advocates went to fed-
eral court in an attempt
to reduce the signature
requirements because of
the coronavirus pandemic.
A measure to create such a
commission is pending, but
even if lawmakers referred
it to voters, it would not
come to a statewide election
until 2022.
“Oregon needs to
commit to a nonpartisan
and transparent redis-
tricting process,” Drazan
said. “Shockingly, we are
the only state on the West
Coast that does not cur-
rently have an independent
redistricting commission.
In fact, we’re behind 26
other states in the country
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The court’s decision
does not apply directly to
congressional redistricting.
Although the court is the
final arbiter of such a plan
if lawmakers do not come
up with one — the court
appoints a special panel
under a law passed in 2013
— the rules governing con-
gressional redistricting are
in state law and not the
Oregon Constitution.
Oregon expects to gain
a sixth U.S. House seat as a
result of the 2020 Census.
Lawmakers approved
both legislative and con-
gressional redistricting
plans in 2011, and neither
was challenged in court. For
legislative redistricting, it
was the first time since 1911
that lawmakers completed
the task themselves without
intervention by the secre-
tary of state or the court.
For congressional redis-
tricting, it was the first time
since 1981, when Oregon
gained a fifth U.S. House
seat after the 1980 Census.
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economic impact makes
these current payments
more important than
ever.”
The senator added he
is working on securing
another reauthorization
of Secure Rural Schools.
Wyden, Sen. Jeff
Merkley, D-Oregon, and
Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo
and Jim Risch, both
Republicans, are making
a bipartisan push to
reauthorize the SRS
program through Sep-
tember 2022, according
to Wyden’s website.
“I’m gratified that
this funding is headed
to our state to help build
on the past success of
SRS, and I will con-
tinue to fight for a long-
term reauthorization of
this program to ensure
that our families can
rely on it throughout our
recovery from this pan-
demic and in the years
to come,” Merkley said
in the release.
Beverage said she
hopes Congress reautho-
rizes another extension
of SRS funding. She said
this would make it easier
for counties to plan their
budgets because they
would have a better idea
of how much funding
they can expect if they
know the SRS funding is
coming through.
“Every year it is up
in the air,” the commis-
sioner said.
Beverage said each
fall members of the
Union County Board
of Commissioners go
to Washington, D.C.,
to lobby Congress to
support Secure Rural
Schools.
Commissioner Paul
Anderes noted Wyden
is pushing for the estab-
lishment of a permanent
endowment fund that
would support SRS pay-
ments without the need
for reauthorizations.
In the 116th Con-
gress, which ran from
Jan. 3, 2019, to Jan. 3,
2021, Wyden introduced
legislation that would
have created the fund.
The legislation, however,
was not voted upon.
Wyden has expressed
interest in reintroducing
the legislation in the
future.
Since Wyden co-wrote
the original SRS program
in 2000 with then-Sen.
Larry Craig, R-Idaho, in
2000, SRS has brought
about $3.4 billion to
Oregon counties.
Congress excluded
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that have or are moving to
an independent system this
year. Oregonians deserve
better, and they overwhelm-
ingly support independent
redistricting.”
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do): I want to know why
they’re not speaking up in
defense of global warming,”
he said. “What I mean is,
the warmer it is, the more
crops you can grow, and
the more carbon that’s in
the air, the higher-yielding
the plants are because they
breathe that carbon. I want
to know why nobody is
speaking up on that.”
He said there have been
studies where plants were
fed extra carbon in green-
houses and productivity
increased.
“Between you and me,
this ‘global warming’ might
be God’s way of saying the
population of this Earth is
getting so great we’ve got to
feed these people and we’ve
got to figure how to make
ag production increase.
Heat units and carbon are
going to help that,” he said.
“I’m just a farm boy out
here, but I’ve been taught
that heat units make things
grow and carbon breathes
it. … It increases pro-
duction by increasing the
amount of carbon that a
plant breathes.”
Until now, producers
have been preparing and
testing their equipment for
the planting season that is
expected to take six to eight
weeks.
“I think we’ll get started
if weather holds in week or
so,” Kurt Melville said.
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“Oregon is not the first
to act this way,” Man-
ning, the bill’s other chief
sponsor, said. “But we are
on the right path.”
Sen. Dennis Lin-
thicum, R-Klamath Falls,
was the only vote against
it. Independent Sen.
Brian Boquist of Dallas
and Republican Sen.
Dallas Heard of Roseburg
were officially excused.
Heard showed up at the
end of the April 1 ses-
sion, but he declined to
cast votes on SB 398 or
other bills he missed.
in a school environment
smack dab in the middle of
the South when Jim Crow
was slowly being disman-
tled,” Frederick said. “It
is certainly not accept-
able now, when the ves-
tiges of Jim Crow returned
to the forefront because of
a wink and nod during the
past four years.”
Sen. James Manning
Jr., a Democrat from
Eugene and another Black
senator, said Oregon
would join the few states
that have made it a crime
to display a noose.
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