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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017
Women’s prison focus of state
summit, legislative session
second women’s prison at the
old Oregon State Penitentiary
Minimum Security facility in
Salem.
The state’s only exist-
ing women’s prison, Coffee
Creek Correctional Institu-
tion in Wilsonville, has been
chronically over capacity for
more than a year. The popu-
lation on Thursday stood at
1,290, about 10 over the limit,
according to the Department
of Corrections.
Meanwhile, the state faces
a nearly $1.8 billion revenue
shortfall, and the state’s jus-
tice reinvestment funding is
at risk of reduction or elimi-
nation this budget cycle, said
state budget writer Sen. Rich-
ard Devlin, D-Tualatin.
Yet lawmakers from both
parties are rallying behind
efforts to avoid opening
another prison and to main-
tain funding for the criminal
justice reform initiative.
“I am very excited about
the fact that both Democrats
and Republicans, men and
women, are saying to me:
Let’s figure out how we can
avoid opening a second wom-
en’s prison, and I am like,
hallelujah,” said Gov. Kate
Brown in a phone interview
with the EO Media Group/
Pamplin Media Group Capi-
tal Bureau.
“I would just say the open-
ing of that facility is at a time
Researcher
recommends
gender-focused
treatment
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Plans call for a video poker area with four lottery ma-
chines in a new Gearhart brew pub.
Gearhart to
schedule
poker date
Owner’s appeal
to be heard
by City Council
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — Video
poker will be on the agenda
for the City Council in April as
councilors decide whether to
permit four lottery machines in
a new brew pub.
A special session was held
Wednesday to determine the
next step as Gearhart hears
an appeal by property owner
Terry Lowenberg of a Plan-
ning Commission decision
blocking the machines in his
brew pub.
Lowenberg, who closed the
former Gearhart Grocery in
December, received a permit
for his brew pub at 599 Pacific
Way last spring.
In December, he sought
to add four video lottery
machines.
Lowenberg said he needed
the machines to make his pro-
posed brew pub profitable.
The city responded that
installation of four poker lot-
tery machines will devote
space to “adult-only activ-
ity” that may operate in con-
flict with surrounding proper-
ties. “The machines encourage
drinking and conflict with
the family-friendly character
described in the original pro-
posal,” City Planner Carole
Connell wrote in a staff report.
Poker lottery machines are
not in compliance with some of
the city’s comprehensive plan
policies, the planner added.
“Further there is no evidence
of demand for the machines
in the central city core … The
city finds gambling stations
that encourage alcohol con-
sumption do not coincide with
the intent of a neighborhood
cafe as defined.”
Planning commissioners
agreed and denied Lowenberg’s
request 5-2. They said the lot-
tery machines could open the
door to gambling downtown.
Others were skeptical that
video poker could “prop up”
Lowenberg’s failing business.
In an appeal, Lowenberg
said the city lacked evidence
to deny the machines based on
studies linking gambling and
drinking. The staff report, he
wrote, “sounds like it was writ-
ten by an angry citizen firmly
against lottery machines.”
Wednesday’s meeting lim-
ited the council’s hearing to
public testimony already on
the record, one of four avail-
able council actions. “The
default for appeal of the Plan-
ning Commission decision
is review of the record,” City
Attorney Peter Watts said.
Under this option, the record
will include all comments and
correspondence presented at
earlier hearings. “That means
you will see in written form
everything the Planning Com-
mission saw. Both parties will
be able to testify, but will not be
able to introduce new informa-
tion,” Watts said.
Others council options
could have been to pres-
ent additional evidence, con-
duct a new hearing or send the
appeal back to the Planning
Commission.
“We have a consensus,
which is the recommendation
of attorney and staff,” Mayor
Matt Brown said.
“Staff will work imme-
diately on trying to schedule
that,” City Administrator Chad
Sweet. “I’ll do my best to get it
in April.”
Astoria schools add
two days back to year
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria School Board
voted Wednesday to add back
two student days, after three were
canceled because of icy weather.
The board added March 6,
SALEM – The women’s
prison population has tri-
pled in the past two decades
because of sentencing reforms
and a criminal justice system
that is biased against women,
according to a criminal justice
reform researcher.
The increase is “not the
result of women becom-
ing more violent or becom-
ing more problematic, but the
fact that our sentencing laws
have changed and our policies
around the war on drugs has
also been a war on women,
particularly on women of
color,” said Emily Salisbury,
a criminal justice associate
professor at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas.
Salisbury’s provocative
statement during an address
at Oregon’s Justice Rein-
vestment Summit Thursday
is salient to crucial decisions
lawmakers will make this leg-
islative session.
Lawmakers will have
to decide whether to spend
$17.5 million into opening a
when the state resources are
already limited and is con-
trary to Oregon’s approach of
justice reinvestment and focus
on reducing recidivism and
supporting self-sufficiency.”
After seeing the turnout
of 1,000 registrants at Thurs-
day’s summit, Brown said she
is “confident the Legislature
will continue to fund Justice
Reinvestment.”
The governor’s proposed
budget includes about $32
million for justice reinvest-
ment grants for counties in
the next two years. Brown
said that if the state can avoid
opening the second women’s
prison, she would propose
adding the savings from that
to the $32 million.
The justice reinvest-
ment initiative came out of a
2013 law that expanded early
release programs, lowered
penalties for certain property
and drug possession crimes
and authorized about $55 mil-
lion in grants since 2013 to
pay for counties to set up and
enhance support services for
offenders on probation and
parole.
So far, the program has
saved the state an estimated
$52.7 million from reducing the
male and female prison popu-
lation, said Rep. Duane Stark,
R-Grants Pass, co-chairman of
the Ways and Means Subcom-
mittee on Public Safety.
“It’s a proven investment
that is reducing public safety
costs and improving commu-
nities,” said House Majority
Leader Jennifer Williamson,
D-Portland. “It’d be penny-
wise and pound foolish to cut
funding for the program.”
Salisbury, a former fac-
ulty member of Portland
State University, has trained
employees at the Oregon
Department of Corrections
in “gender-responsive strat-
egies.” Similar strategies are
becoming international policy
in the treatment and super-
vision of female offenders,
Salisbury said.
“Women are far less
likely to engage in violence,
less likely to use a gun, or a
weapon in commission of an
offense, far less likely to be
the kingpin or ringmaster in
criminal enterprises,” Salis-
bury said. “This, of course,
doesn’t mean that women
shouldn’t be punished or
held accountable. … But it
should be recognized that
they are far less dangerous,
pose less of a risk to public
safety and that the social and
fiscal costs of their incarcera-
tion have wider implications
and effects on families and
their children.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Rural job growth expected to
trail behind state through 2024
to grow 14 percent between
2014 and 2024, more than
double the national expected
rate for that period.
But in Harney and Malheur
counties, the number of jobs
is expected to increase merely
3 percent until 2024. That’s
compared to 6 and 7 percent
in neighboring counties to
the north and west, which is a
rate on par with expected job
growth nationally.
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Job growth in
Oregon’s rural areas — par-
ticularly southeastern Oregon
— is projected to trail behind
the rest of the fast-growing
state until 2024, according
to the Oregon Employment
Department.
Oregon’s jobs are expected
Counties near the central
Columbia River Gorge, mean-
while, are expected to see 11
percent job growth until 2024.
The outlook comes in the
broader context of the slow
post-recession jobs recovery
in rural areas of the state.
While Oregon as a whole
has made up the jobs it lost
during the Great Recession,
that’s not the case for many of
the state’s rural areas — such as
Gilliam and Wheeler counties.
But the future may be brighter
for them: Both are projected
to exceed the country’s jobs
growth rate until 2024.
Construction, health care
and professional and business
services jobs are expected to
grow the fastest, according to
a presentation employment
department officials made to
lawmakers on the state’s work-
force committee Thursday.
Pop-up lunch on tap for next week
an opportunity to learn,
gain experience and be part
of a diverse community,
while also offering a dining
experience to guests from
all walks of life, regardless
of their income level.
The Clatsop Commu-
nity Action Regional Food
Bank will be in attendance
Wednesday and Thursday
to distributie supplemen-
tal produce for low-income
visitors to the pop-up lunch.
Chef Outta Water is a
global membership program
of events that celebrate food
and travel through chef
exchanges. This event will
The Daily Astorian
Baked Alaska, and
Tongue Point Job Corps
Culinary Arts program pres-
ent a “Pay What You Can
POP-UP Lunch” next week.
This Chef Outta Water
event takes place Monday
to Friday between the hours
of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the
Baked Alaska “Annex.”
The Baked Alaska “Annex”
is located just east of Baked
Alaska at the foot of 12th
St.
The purpose of this lunch
is two-fold., event organiz-
ers said, is to offer students
previously a teacher in-ser-
vice day, and June 15, which
will extend the school year by
one day.
Visit
www.astoria.k12.
or.us for the revised 2016-17
school calendar.
Flower • Edibles
Concentrates • Beverages
All purchases are confidential
NO Personal Info Captured
take students from through-
out the Northwest out of their
comfort zones and give them
an opportunity to learn from
professional chefs on the
front line. Diners will have
the opportunity to interact
with the chefs, students and
other diners in a family-style
setting while offering a lim-
ited, made-to-order lunch
menu.
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Vendors are ready to DEAL!
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Cash Bar!
3
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Enter thru the “Black Door”
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off Duane Street Side - Opens at 6:30 pm
Knock 3x - Tell ‘em “Joe” sent you.
Roulette, Craps,
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Gaming Starts
Heritage Museum
15 Entry for One:
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503.338.0101
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