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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2015)
NORTH COAST THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015 3A Brown declines to take position State slow to take action against µÀagged¶ child service Sroviders on accepting Syrian refugees By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown has rejected calls by Republicans to take a po- sition on whether Oregon should accept more refugees after reports that at least one of the suspects in the Paris attacks carried a Syrian pass- port. “The governor’s response stands,” said Melissa Navas, a spokeswoman for Brown. “I can’t tell you what will happen tomorrow or a week from now.” Several Republican gov- ernors have declared they will block more Syrian ref- ugees from settling in their states following the Paris attacks, though federal law suggests they have no power to do so. States have no authority to reject Syrian refugees or to act independently in any way concerning the handling of the Syrian refugee crisis, according to the Oregon De- partment of Human Services. “It’s kind of easy to pick, but it doesn’t seem anyone is paying attention to the big- ger issue on whether gover- nors can close their states to refugees, if that can actually happen,” Navas said of me- dia coverage on Republican governors who say they are refusing more refugees. Congress and the presi- dent set policy on accepting children’s service provider has Lawyers for the state are re- been on the “RADAR list” more viewing whether the Department than 30 of the last 36 months. of Human Services can release SALEM — Oregon law- DHS appears to have used the WKHQDPHRIWKDWXQLGHQWL¿HGSUR- makers learned Monday that “RADAR list” as an informa- vider and other information from a state-licensed child services tional tool to alert top adminis- the list, said department spokes- SURYLGHU KDG EHHQ ÀDJJHG IRU trators to problems and potential woman Andrea Cantu-Schomus. problems 30 out of the last 36 media or political attention at The EO Media Group/Pamplin months, even more frequently DHS-licensed facilities. Media Group Capital Bureau than the Portland foster care pro- The agency has not sus- DQGRWKHUQHZVRXWOHWVKDYH¿OHG gram Give Us This Day, which pended, revoked or even denied public records requests for the was the focus of a series of the renewal of licenses for any list or information on it. stories by the Willamette Week problematic service providers No sense of urgency newspaper about a range of during the last 36 months. Lois Day, the state’s child problems, from misuse of funds It’s unclear from the agen- to child neglect. cy’s response to Gelser why the welfare director, said during a According to testimony unnamed provider remained on meeting of the Senate Interim 0RQGD\ EHLQJ ÀDJJHG E\ WKH the list so many months, but the Committee On Human Services agency didn’t necessarily lead to criteria to get on the list include and Early Childhood Monday any action being taken. “high severity or high quantity that in retrospect, it is clear the Willamette Week’s cover- of allegations,” a state licensing agency has more information age, which prompted multiple action such as suspension, politi- about foster care facilities than legislative hearings, revealed cal implications, potential media RI¿FLDOVPLJKWKDYHUHDOL]HG$W that top Department of Human attention and “chronic non-com- the same time, the RADAR list, Services administrators ignored pliance or ‘yo-yo’ compliance.” one of the key information sourc- reports of problems at the pro- The list covers all facilities es they did have, did not inspire gram. The latest hearing was at the Department of Human Ser- a sense of urgency for the agency the Senate Interim Committee vices licenses, including assisted to stop placing children with the On Human Services and Early living facilities and therapeutic most problematic providers. Day and other Department of Childhood, which met Monday boarding schools, and state li- to discuss potential legislation censing staff email the list on Human Services administrators next year and other actions to a monthly basis to the agency described a decentralized child address problems in the state’s director, deputy directors, pro- welfare system, in which licens- foster care system. gram director, communications ing, inspection, contracting and director, the director of the Of- compliance workers aren’t nec- On the radar ¿FHRI$GXOW$EXVH3UHYHQWLRQ essarily communicating or even Give Us This Day showed and Investigation, the long-term looking at the same information up on the Department of Human care ombudsman and the Legis- about the programs caring for kids. Services’ “RADAR list” for 26 ODWLYH2I¿FH of the last 36 months, according to information the agency pro- vided in response to questions from state Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis. Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber %XW DQRWKHU XQLGHQWL¿HG N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau Gov. Kate Brown refugees. President Barack Obama recently announced the United States would ac- cept 10,000 Syrian refugees, a small fraction compared to some other countries. So far, only one Syrian refugee has settled in Oregon, a De- partment of Human Services spokesman said. Refugees may ask to set- tle in a particular state where they have social connections, or national volunteer agen- cies might settle refugees based on resources available in different regions, accord- ing to the state. 7KH862I¿FHRQ5HIX- gee Resettlement did not im- mediately return a call from the EO Media Group/Pam- plin Media Group seeking information on gubernatorial authority over refugee reset- tlement. State Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, wrote to Brown Monday to ask the governor whether the state plans to ac- cept more Syrian refugees. “I strongly believe that $PHULFD DQG VSHFL¿FDOO\ Oregon, should always be a place where those seeking relief from religious perse- cution may come and build a new safer life,” Post wrote. “At the same time, I am very concerned that if we take any and every refugee, we may expose Oregonians to acts of terrorism like Paris experi- enced last Friday.” The Department of Hu- man Services gives refugees up to eight months of cash assistance and employment services. The agency tracks only refugees participating in the short-term refugee program. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. W A NTED City moves forward on Neighborhood Greenway City Council also postpones hearing on appeal of Verizon monopole By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian The Astoria City Council Monday night gave initial ap- proval to the Neighborhood Greenway phase of the city’s Riverfront Vision Plan. Neighborhood Greenway, which covers the Alderbrook neighborhood on the city’s east side, would further re- strict new development along the Columbia River. The zoning along the river would change from aquatic conservation to aquatic nat- ural, which basically limits new structures to piers and docks. On land, new design guidelines would be imposed on multifamily and commer- cial projects such as apart- ments or day care centers. Neighborhood Green- way would recognize the traffic concerns raised by Alderbrook residents and envision that the Astoria Riverfront Trolley might eventually extend into the neighborhood. Alderbrook residents had told the city they wanted min- imal land-use changes in their community. The City Council is ex- SHFWHG WR JLYH ¿QDO DSSURYDO to the Neighborhood Green- way phase in December. The council has already adopted the Civic Greenway and Bridge Vista phases of the Riverfront Vision Plan, which is designed to set land-use guidelines along the river. The Urban Core leg downtown is the last remaining section. In other business Monday night, the City Council: • Postponed a hearing on an appeal against a new Ver- izon Wireless monopole in Shively Park. Ron Zilli, a forester, has challenged the 150-foot-tall tower as incompatible with the historic park. He has warned the city that the monopole will be more visible above the tree line than Verizon has indicated. The monopole is part of an agreement between the city and Verizon to move an ag- ing communications tower off Coxcomb Hill and away from the Astoria Column. The agreement includes a new tower the city and Veri- zon will share off Reservoir Road as well as the new Veri- zon monopole at Shively Park and equipment atop the Astor Building. Verizon asked to postpone the hearing, which is now scheduled for early January. • Announced, through City Councilor Cindy Price, a ded- ication for the new Irving Av- enue Bridge near 19th Street. The event is at 11 a.m. Thurs- day at the new $5.8 million bridge. Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 G u ess w h a t d a y it is! It’s Hump’s Day!!! No reservations, please AT HUMP’S RESTAURANT EV ERY W ED N ESD AY 4 -8 PM 14 OUN CE N EW Y ORK STEAK & BAK ED POTATO $9.95 M ust present coupon to server. N ot va lid w ith other offers. All You Can Eat Chicken & Dumplings- Thursdays 4-8 pm $6.95 Prime Rib Fridays- starts at 5pm $9.95 Just 15 m in. from the Lew is & Cla rk Bridge on H w y. 30 Hump’s Restaurant- 50 W. 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