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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016
Union Paciic resuming oil trains in Columbia Gorge
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Union Paciic
plans to resume transporting oil by
train through the Oregon side of the
scenic Columbia River Gorge at some
point this week.
It will mark the irst time trains car-
rying barrels of crude oil will move
through the area since June 3, when
a train derailed near Mosier. The iery
derailment caused 42,000 gallons of
oil to spill.
The company’s latest plans,
announced Wednesday, stand at odds
with several government and pri-
vate-sector leaders in Oregon and
Washington state, who say oil-by-
train is too dangerous and are urg-
ing their governors, Congress and the
White House to push for a morato-
rium on the practice.
Union Paciic defended its deci-
sion, saying its oil train operations are
a federal obligation.
Submitted Photo
Horse Feathers will perform at Liberty Theater on July 13.
Submitted Photo
Israel Nebeker
Theater: ‘I want to see that generational gap start to bridge’
Continued from Page 1A
The trio spearheaded the
project and secured $8,000
in seed money from the
city’s Promote Astoria fund.
The theater had requested
$20,000 in tourism promo-
tion money.
However, the grant will
only cover about one show,
Bovenizer said. Productions
beyond Blind Pilot’s opener
will likely be funded by ticket
sales and local donations.
The organizers plan to hold
one show every month, but
know that scheduling con-
licts may prevent that. The
bands that’ll follow Blind
Pilot will be announced soon,
Bovenizer said.
“It will probably carry
into next spring with the last
couple shows of the season,”
Orange said. “And we’ll ire it
back up again as long as we
have participation from the
community.”
Once the inaugural series
gains traction, “we’ll have
a budget to keep putting on
these shows,” he added.
Eventually, ticket sales
may go toward helping the
theater stay aloat inancially,
Bovenizer said.
Generational gap
If the Liberty doesn’t
become more relevant to a
younger crowd, it may be in
trouble over the long run,
according to Carol Shepherd,
the interim theater director.
“Our regular audience is
going to start dying off, and
we won’t have anybody to
replace them,” she joked, “so
this is an effort to do that.”
Orange said he has noticed
a generational gap affect-
ing local nonproits; the peo-
ple running them are usually
established residents, often
retirees, with plenty of spare
time.
As a result, the communi-
ty’s working youth don’t get
much representation. “I want
to see that generational gap
start to bridge,” he said.
The Sunset Series, which
aims to bring together patrons
young and not-so-young, may
be vital to keeping the com-
munity-owned Liberty alive.
More than one source noted
that many of the North Coast’s
20- and 30-somethings have
never even stepped foot in the
theater.
“There was nothing there
to bring them in,” Orange said.
“But if they can get behind
the amazing space that’s in
their backyard, I think they’ll
be proud of that space and
take ownership of it, and be
invested in their community
theater, and grow to appreci-
ate and then support it.”
Photo Courtesy of Alex Loops
Mandolin Orange, a duo consisting of Andrew Marlin and
Emily Frantz, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., will be in concert
at Liberty Theater on July 13.
OT rules: Oregon is home to more
than 17,000 nonproit organizations
Continued from Page 1A
“Fundraising events are a
lot of work and require staff
to put in a lot of hours lead-
ing up to them,” Mickel-
berry said. “We will need to
look at either paying over-
time or re-evaluating how we
run those events. We are very
supportive of the changes,
but it is affecting the way we
think about how we do our
work to make sure we are
compensating and supporting
staff through those times.”
Getting a raise
The new rules by the U.S.
Department of Labor could
give up to 4 million Ameri-
cans a raise, according to the
U.S. Department of Labor.
President Obama irst pro-
posed the changes in 2014
with a memorandum direct-
ing the labor department to
update the Fair Labor Stan-
dards Act overtime reg-
ulations. The department
received more than 270,000
comments on proposed rules,
including from pro-business
groups such as Associated
Oregon Industries.
“The proposed over-
time wage threshold increase
unevenly affects Oregon busi-
nesses due to Oregon’s lower
wages while failing to address
the varying characteristics
of local and regional econ-
omies,” Associated Oregon
Industries and other business
groups wrote in a letter to the
labor department. “Institut-
ing such an increase endan-
gers both job security and
advancement opportunity for
far too many Oregonians.”
Nonprofit staff
While for-proit employ-
ers have been vocal about
how the changes will impact
their bottom lines, nonproit
organizations also anticipate a
boost in costs or a reduction in
services due to the new rules.
There are more than
17,000 nonproit organi-
zations in Oregon. A vast
majority of those have no
paid staff. But between
those that do, there are about
172,000 employees, said Jim
White, executive director of
the Nonproit Association of
Oregon.
It’s unclear how many
of those are exempt from
overtime and how many are
hourly.
In discussions with the
association, nonproit leaders
have generally been support-
ive of the new overtime rules
but have felt burdened by the
fact that the new rules will
take effect shortly after Ore-
gon’s new higher minimum
wage rate takes effect July 1.
“We have heard concerns
that it wasn’t one or the other
but the back-to-back suc-
cession,” White said. “Non-
proits have expressed con-
cerns: How are we going to
do this? How are we going
to make these changes simul-
taneously? They are con-
cerned with being able to
absorb changes without cuts
in program services or cuts in
staff.”
Oregon SMART (Start
Making a Reader Today), a
nonproit organization that
provides one-on-one reading
support in schools, has ive to
10 employees out of 36 who
could be eligible for overtime
under the new rules, said Nell
Whitman, director of inance
and administration.
“We are, like many orga-
nizations, trying to ride the
right line between fair com-
pensation and making sure
we keep the business side
within budget and provide all
the services to the commu-
nity,” Whitman said. “I think
we can make the rules work.
I think they provide a pretty
reasonable balance between
those things.”
SMART will review its
positions and determine
whether to make some of
them hourly or raise salaries
to make employees exempt
from overtime, she said.
“Organizations with a lot
of government contracts and
a set amount to spend will
have more dificulty with the
new rules,” she said. “We are
not in that situation.”
‘... We are very supportive of the changes,
but it is affecting the way we think about
how we do our work to make sure we are
compensating and supporting staff through
those times.’
Noel Mickelberry
executive director of Oregon Walks
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