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6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017 Training: Scenarios involve making quick decisions Continued from Page 1A Just as subtle are the sensory clues coming from a subject the deputy approaches. Appearances — how they’re dressed and how they smell; movements — like widen- ing their stance; and verbal clues — such as saying, “I’m not going back to jail!”; are just some possible indi- cators of aggressive intention. “These scenarios are built where if they do the right thing, it works out,” Hoover said. External factors such as avail- ability of backup and who has the more powerful weapon sometimes determine whether a deputy pursues a subject in the first place. Deputies, who often patrol rural roads, may not, for instance, attempt to arrest a subject who is much larger in size if he or she is miles away from the nearest backup. “You’d be surprised how quickly it comes to you,” Hoover said. Deputy Sheriff Thomas Phillips said his training in 10 years with the Sheriff’s Office has helped him heighten his sensory awareness and utilize adrenaline. “I wish people had the ability to come see this training to see how it is,” he said. “I don’t think peo- ple understand all the dynamics involved.” Parole and probation officers, who may not experience as many Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Sgt. Michael Smith participates in training exercises at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds on Wednesday. Quick decisions crisis situations as deputies on the street, have particularly benefited from the training, Parole and Proba- tion Officer Heather Senquiz said. “This is good training for when I go out on my home visits or end up being called to a scene to talk to a subject I might know,” Senquiz said. Some scenarios involve making quick decisions about whether to shoot a subject who may or may not be armed. One situation this week combined elements of an actual standoff in Cannon Beach in Febru- ary with another scene in Gearhart. Body: Tattoos may help ID remains Deputies knew only that a man’s wife had called to report a possible suicidal subject who may be in pos- session of two firearms. As is often the case in real life, deputies did not have access to the subject’s criminal and mental health history, Hoover said. After finding the subject at a bus stop, the deputy must try to con- vince him to peacefully enter the police car and go to the hospital. But after a brief conversation, the hooded subject walks out of the bus stop, begins to run toward the deputy and uses both hands to point a dark object toward the officer. Deputies fired at the subject in each version of the scenario. It was not until after the exercise that Hoover revealed the object in the subject’s hand was a cellphone. With national scrutiny on law enforcement’s use of deadly force, deputies in the field should focus on proper techniques based on infor- mation available to them at the time, Hoover said. If other deputies agree those actions may have saved lives, the Sheriff’s Office will sup- port them. “Of course we have to deal with the fallout of it, but you were com- pletely justified in shooting him,” Hoover told one deputy after the scenario near the bus stop. “It’s bet- ter to be tried by 12 than carried by six.” Continued from Page 1A The investigators are also research- ing the history of tides and currents in the area. Thanks to advances in tech- nology, it is sometimes possible to determine where a body might have originated, based on tidal and climate data, Matlock said. Identifying remains can take any- where from hours to a year or more, depending on the condition of the remains and other factors. However, Walters and Matlock each described features of the remains that could help investigators make a fairly fast and deci- sive identification. “We have some partial tattoos on the body that we are trying to identify, to see if anybody had someone of this descrip- tion that was missing,” Matlock said. A pathologist will perform a post-mortem examination this weekend, he added. The examination could potentially pro- vide new insights into the case. In the near future, deputies will also enter images of her dental records and other distinctive features into national law enforcement databases. Deductions: Proposal would not alter federal interest deduction Continued from Page 1A The upper income limit for single filers to itemize the deduction would be $100,000, and for joint filers, $200,000. For those making less, any amount of annual interest above $15,000 — an amount that as time passes would be adjusted for inflation — could not be deducted from taxable income. Pros and cons Proponents of the bill, including many of the state’s affordable housing advocates, say that the tax break has had little effect on the rate of home ownership, that it largely ben- efits higher earners, and that some of the tax revenue sac- rificed through the deduc- tion could be instead used to address the state’s low-in- come housing needs. Critics of the proposal say that it would make buying certain homes less affordable for certain people by increas- ing the amount of taxable income they will have to pay. Loans up to $1 million for joint filers, and $500,000 for single taxpayers are eligible for the deduction. In 2013, about half a mil- lion tax returns filed in Ore- gon used the deduction, but of those, less than half — about 237,000 — recorded incomes of more than $84,300 per year, according to the Legis- lative Revenue Office. Recent state revenue pro- jections expect the state to forgo about $880 million in revenue due to the deduction in the 2017-19 budget cycle, which begins in July. Additional revenue It’s not clear exactly how much the state would realize in additional revenue if the changes proposed by the bill are made. But Christine Broniak, an economist with the state’s Legislative Revenue Office, told lawmakers Thursday that based on census data she estimated that revenue from taxes on undeductible mort- gage interest would increase 5 percent if homeowners were precluded from receiving the A lobbyist for the Ore- gon Association of Realtors, Shaun Jillions, told lawmak- ers that he was concerned that the bill did not call for the three-fifths majority needed in legislation that would raise revenue. “It’s very clear the intent of this legislation is to raise revenue,” Jillions said. But Mary King, professor emerita of economics at Port- land State University, said that the deduction has not substan- tially altered the rate of home- ownership in the state. King and 23 other econ- omists and housing policy experts wrote a letter support- ing the measure to the House Committee on Human Ser- vices and Housing. “Evidence shows that it does not affect homeown- ership rates,” King said of the deduction. And while the state has “one of the largest mortgage interest deductions in the country,” King said, homeownership rates here are lower than average. mortgage interest deduction on non-principal residences. She did not specify an exact dollar amount. She said the office could follow up with estimated rev- enue changes given other stip- ulations in the bill such as the income limits. In the data available to her, Broniak said, there was no distinction between sec- ond homes that are vaca- tion homes and those that are rentals, although in cer- tain circumstances interest on a mortgage on a rental home could be considered a busi- ness expense. Housing shortage Jon Chandler, CEO of the Oregon Homebuilders Association, acknowledged the state’s housing short- age, but argued the legisla- tion would not address the problem. “We are underbuilding in this state, relative to demand, by about a 25 percent mar- gin,” Chandler said. Jillions, the lobbyist for the Realtors, argued that part of the reason homeownership rates are lower in Oregon is that median home prices are higher here than in states, such as West Virginia, where there is both an income tax and a relatively low mortgage interest deduction. The median home price in Oregon is about $317,000, and just over $400,000 in Portland, according to the online real estate company Zillow. Rural divide Juan Carlos Ordonez, communications director for the Oregon Center for Pub- lic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, charged that the mort- gage interest deduction was inequitable, leaving fewer state resources for low-in- come people. Most people who take advantage of the deduction Native Plant Sale 2017!!! S ATURDAY , A PRIL 1 ST 10 AM - 2 PM Experienced caregivers for senior homecare W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Bob Chisholm Community Center 1225 Avenue A | Seaside, OR Large variety of native plants for landscaping, conservation, or pollinator habitat projects! Pre-order sales available through March 20th. Find pre-order info at ClatsopSWCD.org Long Beach, WA 360-892-4442 We’re Hiring! N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A are white and live in urban counties, Ordonez said. “The mortgage interest deduction is exacerbating the economic divide between rural and urban Oregon,” Ordonez said. Housing comes at a pre- mium in rural Oregon com- pared to rural areas in other states, according to Oregon’s Office of Economic Analy- sis. While median incomes in rural Oregon are on par with the rest of rural America, the median home value in rural Oregon is about $151,500 — compared to $95,700 nationally. The proposal here would not alter the federal mortgage interest deduction. Under the Oregon pro- posal, the estimated amount of revenue brought in that can be attributed to the change would go to the state’s hous- ing fund, which is managed by the state treasury. www.visitingangels.com Questions? Call Clatsop SWCD 503-325-4571 Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 PLEASE JOIN US PLEASE ADOPT A PET! for a Sapphira for Ad u lt Fem a le Ta bby JULIE CHAPMAN SAT., MARCH 11 TH | SUN., MARCH 12 TH 9 am to 6 pm Pacifi c Grange 90475 Hwy. 101 | Warrenton "" ! ! 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