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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017 Session: Members of both parties seek to pass a transportation package Continued from Page 1A suing the administration to stop enforcement of the order. “There’s obviously a great deal of concern here for our vulnerable neighbors who are under attack by the actions of the White House,” said House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Port- land. “We’ve resolved to stand with them and to use very legal tool at our disposal to protect them.” Invocation In a gesture of resistance to Trump’s executive order, House Speaker Tina Kotek kicked off Wednesday with an invocation from a Port- land imam. Imam Muhammed Najieb, director of the Mus- lim Community Center of Portland, recited opening chapters of the Quran on the floor of the House. “I hope the recitation he shared with us today helps send the message to those in the Capitol and to Orego- nians across the state: every- one is welcome here,” Kotek said in a statement. Meanwhile, on the floor of the Senate, Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, spoke to some Demo- crats’ anxiety concerning the Trump administration. “We understand how Democrats may be feeling, especially when they look at the Washington, D.C., situa- tion, and it’s a terrible thing to be without any access to the levers of power,” Ferrioli said. “We certainly know how that feels here in Oregon.” Ferrioli said he hoped that Democrats would work with Republicans to solve the state’s pressing problems. Republicans have asked Democrats for reforms to the Public Employees Retire- ment System, spending cur- tailment and adjustment to the carbon fuels standard in exchange for their support of tax measures for general rev- enue and transportation. Compromise needed Despite the Legislature’s Democratic majority, Repub- lican votes are needed to pass tax measures, which require a three-fifths majority vote. “We need compromise on key legislative issues before us, and we would like to start by reaching out. Republicans are reaching out to Demo- crats in the spirit of compro- mise, and we hope that this sets a tone for a very produc- tive legislative session,” Fer- rioli said. Some Republicans said they worry the state’s $1.8 billion budget gap may grow larger as federal matching formulas change under the new presiden- tial administration. One of those potential changes is the way health care is sub- sidized for the poor under Medicaid. Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, casting more uncertainty on Oregon’s state budget. “We’ve seen this play out in the reverse when Demo- crats in Congress had a Dem- ocratic president, red states suffered,” said Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn. “Now, it’s the opposite. Now, we’re a blue state with a red fed- eral administration, and we have the potential to make our $1.8 billion budget hole worse.” Transportation package One area where lawmak- ers from both parties agree is on their desire to pass a transportation package this session. “To be frank, since I’ve been in this building, this is the one session that has actu- ally so far, been the most civil and been the most non- partisan,” said Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, who sits a joint committee crafting the transportation package. Two Democrats and two Republicans are heading up that effort. Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor- vallis, said this session gives “an opportunity for Oregon to shine and really demon- strate our Oregon values and to make Oregonians proud of the place that we live.” Fish plan: Decrease isn’t expected to affect staffing in the short term Continued from Page 1A includes two other Mitch- ell Act-affected hatcheries on the Klaskanine River and Gnat Creek, neither of which are significantly affected by changing production. Each year, Big Creek raises and releases on average 543,000 coho, 154,000 chum and 55,000 winter steelhead. But the hatchery’s biggest export by far is the 3.1 million fall “tule” Chinook salmon released each year, which will be capped at 1.4 million by 2022. Klaskanine Hatch- ery, which Dietrichs said is largely funded by Bonneville Power Administration, will continue to produce a maxi- mum of more than 2.4 million Chinook. Each fall, Chinook that make it past recreational and commercial fishermen come back up Big Creek, ready to spawn, into holding ponds. The hatchery’s staff, often with the help of local stu- dents, removes eggs from ripe adults, sending the fish to local food pantries or deposit- ing in local streams for nutri- ents. The hatchery raises the eggs into alevin, places the fry into cement raceways and releases them as juveniles in the spring. The cycle starts over again when previously released salmon, drawn back by the smell of the water and other navigation techniques not totally understood by sci- entists, return to their artificial spawning grounds after years of feeding in the ocean. “Coho are solid,” Dietrichs said of the more than half-mil- lion coho the hatchery raises. “They really hone into their home site. Tules stray more. That’s what’s really driving the changes” in production. Strays About 80 percent of the salmon caught in the Colum- bia River are raised in hatcher- ies, which supplement endan- gered wild species being Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Steelhead salmon flop around in a net at Big Creek Fish Hatchery. rebuilt and allow for commer- cial and recreational fisheries, but can also compete with and hinder their recovery. Rob Jones, chief of Anad- romous Production and Inland Fisheries for NOAA Fisher- ies’ West Coast region, said the agency started in 2013 looking at the impacts of hatcheries on the recovery of endangered wild salmon spe- cies. Special focus was paid to where farmed fish stray onto wild spawning grounds, breeding with and weakening the genetics of wild salmon. On Jan. 15, NOAA released a biological opin- ion detailing changes com- ing over the next several years to the 62 hatcheries on the Columbia receiving federal funding through the Mitch- ell Act, along with about $1.8 million in federal fund- ing withheld until the opinion was issued. Jones estimated the act funds about 50 mil- lion of the 120 to 140 million hatchery salmon produced in the Columbia River Basin each year through a variety of agreements to mitigate the impact of development. The result was a decrease in federal funding for Chi- nook production that fish- ery managers have estimated will translate into a 7 percent reduction in commercial and recreational landings. Federal funding for coho, which have been found less harmful to wild stocks, was increased and is expected to raise catches by 4 percent. While it’s Chi- nook production is being halved, Big Creek is expected to increase coho production from 543,000 now to a maxi- mum of 735,000 by 2022. NOAA’s biological opin- ion also included a require- ment to use only breed- ing stock that originates in the Columbia, reducing the genetic risk to native fish stocks, and more monitoring of the effects of hatcheries on wild salmon. Healthier upstream While fall Chinook pro- duction was drastically cut on the lower Columbia, Bonne- ville Hatchery is expected to go from 2.5 to a maximum of 5 million Chinook produced each year. “The wild stocks in the lower river, what we call the coastal area, are in worse shape than the stocks in the Cascade stratum upstream, or in the (Columbia River) Gorge stratum,” Jones said. “That was the No. 1 factor for reducing production in the estuary.” Jones said states continue to research why estuary fish do worse. Scott Patterson, the manager of Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife’s fish propagation program, said there are several guesses as to why, although none of them conclusive. One idea, he said, is that there are sim- ply more wild and farmed fish caught in the estuary. Patterson said he doesn’t expect the decrease in Chi- nook production at Big Creek to affect staffing in the short term, with about nine staffers shared between Big Creek and Klaskanine. Dietrichs said production has changed every year he’s been at Big Creek Hatchery, but that his focus remains on raising quality fish for other hatcheries and con- sumers on the river. Girls: Kits will be sent ‘all over the world’ Continued from Page 1A Anna Reed /Statesman-Journal People gather outside hearing rooms on the first day of the Oregon 2017 legislative session at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on Wednesday. Garner: Court found no ‘wrongdoing by police, prosecutors, or trial judge’ Continued from Page 1A The appeals court on Wednesday rejected Garner’s claim that his attorneys also failed to properly challenge the trial court’s dismissal of a juror who was uncomfort- able with the death penalty. Both Garner and the state Department of Justice, which had fought against a new sentencing hearing, could appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the state Supreme Court. The appeals court rul- ing raises the possibility the infamous case will return to Clatsop County. Garner and a friend, Leslie Roy Simp- kins, were charged with kill- ing Bailey for talking about their drug activity. Simpkins claimed he was a bystander to Garner’s cocaine-and-al- cohol-fueled rage with Simp- kins’ knife that August day on the run-down boat. Simp- kins was acquitted of aggra- vated murder in 2002 after two trials. District Attorney Josh Marquis, who prosecuted Garner and Simpkins, spoke of the difficulty of redoing the sentence for a crime that is nearly two decades old. “Given that it took four years to take this case to trial, finding out 19 years after the murder that an appeals court may require a new penalty phase is very disappointing,” the district attorney said in an email. Marquis said Garner’s guilt is not an issue, nor is the conduct of local police, pros- ecutors or the Circuit Court. Garner’s arguments now rest “on claims that one of his appellate lawyers failed to raise an issue. At no point did the court find any wrongdo- ing by police, prosecutors, or the trial judge.” Ryan O’Connor, a Port- land attorney who repre- sented Garner before the Court of Appeals, said: “I’m sure that he’s pleased to get an opportunity for resentenc- ing, but disappointed in the result of the juror issue. We’ll have to consult with him to see whether he wants to ask the Oregon Supreme Court to review the juror issue.” Kristina Edmunson, the communications director at the state Department of Jus- tice, said the state is “review- ing the court’s decision and evaluating our next steps.” The Rainier Oregon Stake, which oversees the other con- gregations, is leading the proj- ect through Days for Girls, an international nonprofit founded by a Mormon woman but that is independent of the church. In April, members of these churches will meet for two days in Rainier and assemble full kits, which will be taken to the Days for Girls headquarters in Lindy, Washington, and, from there, transported to where they are needed. Ken Jones, an Astoria ward member, said the churches do not know where Days for Girls will send the kits. “They do projects all over the world. A good share of them do go to Africa, but there are some that go to South America,” he said. “Wherever the young women are having problems getting their school in, and having this problem (of feminine hygiene), they help out.” The kit includes eight absor- bent flannel pads, two “shields” (fabric stuffed with liner) that act as moisture barriers, two pairs of underwear, plastic bags for clean and soiled items, a washcloth and travel-sized soap. “We are all donating our own time and our own materi- als to make these,” Joy Jones, an Astoria church leader and Ken Jones’ wife, said. Early Days for Girls ideas included sending regular dis- posable pads. But disposal is a problem in places where waste infrastructure isn’t up to the task. Pads “end up just clogging their water systems. They throw them away, and they get into fences, they get into the brush and the bushes … So dispos- able things do not work at all,” Joy Jones said. Avoiding trash buildup is one reason why tampons aren’t part of the kit. (Another is a cul- tural taboo, in some regions, against insertable items.) The chosen fabrics are pat- Submitted Photo From left: Joy Jones, Toni Kasper, Renee Vocana and Eliza Ferrin — four Days for Girls committee leaders — helped organize Saturday’s event at the Astoria Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church. terned and darkly colored so that staining isn’t obvious — a key feature in managing the stigma of menstruation. In Western countries, where menstruation does not perma- nently stunt a woman’s life, this stigma can be hard to imagine. “You never think about something like this being a problem in another country,” Joy Jones said. But traditional beliefs in some villages of Africa, the Indian subcontinent and else- where mandate that women on their period spend up to one week a month sequestered in a hut, often with little to no human contact. Teenage girls frequently fall behind their male classmates, and many abandon their education altogether. “When we first heard of it, we said, ‘Well, of course — of course this is some- thing we need to do,’” Jones said, “because it just seemed so logical that we need to help these young girls in these other countries.” Emma Goldthorpe, 12, a Warrenton church member who participated in Saturday’s bag-making, said in an email message that she enjoyed “help- ing to serve other girls who live far away from me.” “I learned they don’t have some things I do, but we are all still girls,” she wrote. “It felt nice to help.” Pbace a regubar ad or cbassified ad in T H E D AI L Y A STORI AN between February 1 st & 9 th and be entered into a drawing for 2 free tickets to the Sportmen’s Show in Portband!
