The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, April 19, 2017, Image 7

The daily Astorian., April 19, 2017, Page 7A, Image 7

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Newspaper Page Text7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017 Ride: Journey to end in Idaho Photos by Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Kat Cannell and Katelyn Spradley ride their horses up through an Astoria neigh- borhood Tuesday during their Ride for Redd, an effort to raise awareness about Idaho’s endangered salmon populations. BELOW: Katelyn Spradley and Kat Cannell are making a Ride for Redd to bring attention to endangered salmon populations. Dam argument In May, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon ruled the current salmon recovery plan violated the Endangered Spe- cies Act by not doing enough to protect 13 listed Columbia River Basin species of salmon and steelhead. Setting off a regional debate, Simon said the removal of one or more of the Ice Harbor, Lower Mon- umental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams on the lower Snake River in Wash- ington should be considered in a new recovery plan. The dams produce about 5 percent of the Paciﬁ c North- west’s power, passage for agri- cultural barges upriver to Lew- iston, Idaho, and irrigation for local farmers. Billions have been spent on salmon recov- ery and retroﬁ tting dams to improve ﬁ sh passage, but many still see the Snake River dams as a major impediment to upriver ﬁ sh populations. In March, Simon ordered dam managers to start spilling more water over those and four other dams to aid with salmon pas- sage starting in spring 2018. Associated Press Georgia House race down to two candidates, plus Trump, Pelosi Continued from Page 1A summer and fall Chinook salmon are listed as threat- ened, likely to become endan- gered in the foreseeable future. In 2015, the sockeye run was particularly hit by low snow- pack and warm waters, very few making it back to upriver spawning grounds. Spradley said the trio, from agricultural backgrounds themselves, are trying to be balanced in their awareness campaign about the plight of salmon, which connects the entire region. “As a human race, I think we’re pretty intel- ligent, and if we can quit argu- ing, we can actually come up with a solution that would ben- eﬁ t the salmon and maintain our livelihood,” she said. WORLD IN BRIEF tary, “Redd,” about the ride. Why horses? “We’re not anti-dam,” Cannell said. “We want to make that really clear to peo- ple. We’re not attacking the Columbia dams, but the Snake dams … were kind of the nail in the cofﬁ n for Idaho salmon.” Idaho Rivers The riders are directing people to Idaho Rivers United, a nonproﬁ t focused on restor- ing the state’s rivers and ﬁ sh runs. The nonproﬁ t was formed in 1991, the same year sockeye salmon were listed as endangered. Greg Stahl, a spokesman for the nonproﬁ t, said at least half of what the nonproﬁ t does focuses on re-establishing salmon runs in Idaho. Stahl said a combination of overﬁ shing and pollution hurt Idaho’s salmon. “But the big- gest hit was the dams,” The ride is also being doc- umented by a ﬁ lm crew. Can- nell, a photographer, said the hope is to produce a documen- At an average 3 mph, the three could go as fast on foot as on horseback, and faster on a bicycle. But they said the more usual forms of cross-country travel wouldn’t draw as much attention. “Horses, when you walk down the road, people ﬂ ock to you,” Cannell said. “Peo- ple come up to you like, ‘What are you doing? Where are you going?’ What’s on your horses?’ They ask you a bazil- lion questions. If we were just walking down the road in ten- nis shoes with a backpack on, nobody would stop and ask us that.” Spradley said that if they had walked with backpacks, some people might write them off as hippies, whereas horses bring people from different social backgrounds together. “One thing MJ, our riding partner said, was ‘We couldn’t ﬁ nd a salmon big enough to ride, so we decided to ride horses,” Cannell said. DUNWOODY, Ga. — A Georgia congressional election in a historically conservative district is headed to a runoff that raises the stakes in an early measure for President Donald Trump and both major parties ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, fell a few percentage points shy of an outright victory amid an 18-candidate scramble in Georgia’s 6th Congressio- nal District. Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia sec- retary of state, ﬁ nished a distant second, qualifying for the June 20 runoff. The winner will succeed Republican Tom Price, who resigned the seat to join Trump’s administration as health sec- retary. But the matchup in greater Atlanta’s northern suburbs is just as much about Ossoff and Handel acting as proxies for the nation’s roiled political atmosphere. Leaders in both major parties agree the race offers a prime test run for 2018 elections, because the afﬂ uent, well-educated Georgia district is replete with the kind of voters Democrats must attract to reclaim a House majority and win more guber- natorial and Senate races. For Democrats, Ossoff’s near win in such a district — a Republican has held the seat since 1979, and Price won 62 per- cent of the vote in November — encourages the opposition movement that has ﬂ ourished since Trump’s election. Yet fall- ing short also highlights the party’s lingering power deﬁ cit in Washington and around the country. US VP Pence warns North Korea: ‘The sword stands ready’ YOKOSUKA, Japan — From the wind-swept deck of a massive aircraft carrier, Vice President Mike Pence today warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. mili- tary, promising it would make an “overwhelming and effec- tive” response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons. Pence, dressed in a green military jacket, said aboard the hulking USS Ronald Reagan that President Donald Trump’s administration would continue to “work diligently” with allies like Japan, China and other global powers to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang. But he told the sail- ors, “as all of you know, readiness is the key.” “The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready,” Pence told 2,500 sailors wearing blue fatigues and Naval baseball caps on a sunny, windy morning aboard the carrier at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay. “Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response,” Pence said. The vice president said the U.S. would honor its alliance with Paciﬁ c Rim nations and protect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the sea lanes vital to global shipping where China has been staking claim to disputed territory. Zaitz: ‘If you have a big story, you pour everything into it’ Continued from Page 1A The Enterprise has a print circulation of about 1,400. It’s drawn national attention in recent weeks for its success- ful battle against a state agency that repeatedly denied Zaitz access to public records involv- ing a 49-year-old man who kid- napped his son and ﬁ rst wife, and then was held at the Oregon State Hospital or was released under state medical supervision for 20 years. Within a month of his release last December, Anthony Mont- wheeler was accused of fatally stabbing a different ex-wife, Annita Harmon, of Weiser, out- side an Ontario gas station. He also stands accused in the death of Vale resident David Bates, who was killed in a head-on crash police say was caused by Montwheeler while he was ﬂ eeing police in January. “(Bates) and his wife were driving to work, like we all do, and he ended up dying,” said Enterprise reporter John Braese. The couple worked at Saint Alphonsus Medical Cen- ter in Ontario. Bates’ wife, Jes- sica, was seriously injured but has since been released. Harmon was on her way to work at the Dickinson Frozen Food plant near Fruitland that morning when she was kid- napped. Her body was found in Montwheeler’s truck after the collision. “I guess the question we’re going to keep asking is: Why was he (Montwheeler) allowed out? Why was he allowed so much freedom after kidnap- ping and threatening the life of a child?” said Harmon’s sister, Stacey Harmon-Roeber. To answer that, Zaitz and his team turned to the records. Shocking details Circuit Court records from the 1996 kidnapping in Baker County contained a clue: evi- dence that Montwheeler might have been faking his mental illness. They were able to obtain Public plea the incident, he is grateful In a public plea for dona- for the investigative work the some, but not all, of the records they sought from the Psychi- tions to cover the paper’s paper has done to get answers atric Security Review Board, attorney fees, Zaitz noted that — and possibly prevent future which supervises those who the review board had hired unnecessary deaths. successfully assert an insanity high-paid private attorneys “I appreciated them being defense to a criminal charge in to press its case. That really willing and able to stick their Oregon. One key item turned upset some local readers. neck out,” Abbott said. “They “That’s our taxpayer just want the truth to come over was audio from Mont- wheeler’s discharge hearing, money — used to stop us from out. That’s what we want as when he revealed his scam to being able to know what hap- well.” pened,” said Tracy Landreth, stunned board members. With a background in owner of Vale’s health care, Harmon-Roeber “I was using Miracle Eatery. this as a teachable knows the tension between Gov. Kate private and public records and moment on how to Brown inter- said she is a big believer in background some- vened earlier this privacy laws. She didn’t want one. I was show- month, pressuring to comment speciﬁ cally on the ing these guys (two the state agency to Enterprise’s battle for records reporters) how to drop its lawsuit. without knowing what they use court records The board con- contained, but said her family to proﬁ le this man ceded and released generally supports efforts to accused of horriﬁ c the records, which track public ofﬁ cials’ actions. crimes,” said Zaitz. among other things In the process, he “We feel that any reporting Anthony showed that at least that sheds light, or gives atten- broke a 3,000-word Montwheeler two state-employed tion to, the poor choices that story in late March doctors suspected put anyone in danger is a good about how Mont- wheeler faked mental illness early on that Montwheeler thing,” she said. for 20 years to avoid going to was faking mental illness to Zaitz plans to return all the stay out of prison. Those sus- legal-fee donations, all made prison for seven. picions, Zaitz noted, appar- to the Oregon Newspaper Widely read ently weren’t acted on. Publishers Association. He Zaitz tapped his former col- “Access to public records is didn’t know how much money leagues at The Oregonian to a basic tool that reporters use was raised toward his $20,000 edit the complex story. The to keep the public informed goal, and the association Portland-based paper co-pub- about what their government didn’t respond to a request for lished it online and in print, is doing, and the idea that a that information. and the Statesman and other state agency would sue a small Home on the ranch Boise-area media picked it up weekly newspaper to try to Zaitz is the son of a news- as well, bringing the story to a prevent that access is appall- wider audience in both states. ing,” said Betsy Russell, pres- paperman who worked on The Enterprise sought more ident of the Idaho Press Club weeklies and dailies all over records, but the review board and co-founder of Idahoans the country before settling in — citing health care privacy for Openness in Government. Oregon. His dad also owned concerns — balked. Oregon’s Landreth and others said some Oregon weeklies. Zaitz and his wife, Scotta attorney general sided with the the death of David Bates, a small paper on an appeal, writ- well-known father of ﬁ ve, Callister, a former editor at ing that public interest in Mont- hit the Vale community hard. The Oregonian and the Blue wheeler’s case far outweighed More than 1,000 people turned Mountain Eagle in John Day, any privacy exemptions, not all out to his funeral, according to bought and ran the Keizer- of which even applied to start the Rev. Phil Abbott of Vale times (based in Keizer) in 1987. He returned to The Ore- with. Christian Church. The review board then took Abbott said that even gonian in 2000, and with his the very rare step — and one of though it is hard on Bates’ younger brother, Lyndon, he its few allowed options under family to keep reading about and Callister bought the Mal- Oregon code — of suing the Enterprise rather than releas- IN & OUT GARDENING SUPPLY ing the documents, which were 15 of the exhibits from is NOW OPEN in our Montwheeler’s discharge new location at hearing. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 3095 Hwy 101 N. Gearhart, Oregon 503-739-7015 Come join us for our GRAND OPENING SALE 20% OFF everything in the store all April along! heur Enterprise in late 2015. An avid bicyclist and camper, Zaitz became enam- ored with the idea of living on a ranch in Eastern Oregon after years of pedaling around the state as part of Cycle Ore- gon and other rides. He and his wife bought the Boul- der Creek Ranch in 2004 and moved there in 2006, run- ning it as a working ranch that also allows tourism. He was by then a senior investigative reporter for The Oregonian, and it wasn’t imperative that he live in the Portland metro area. Last year, he found himself uniquely prepared to cover the armed occupation of the Mal- heur wildlife refuge in early January 2016. “It was ideal,” said Zaitz, who essentially made Burns his home for 40 days. “I knew the issues already. I had very deep contacts in law enforce- ment, and I know how to talk to ranchers. … I exhausted myself, but it was a blast.” Braese described Zaitz as a workaholic, working “like 20 hours a day, seven days a week.” “I’ll get up at 6 or so, and I’ll have ﬁ ve or six emails and text messages from him,” said Braese, a Boise native who has been a reporter at the paper about ﬁ ve years. Zaitz said he’s typically up at 4 a.m. but denies he works so many hours. He prom- ises he’s going to cut back at the ofﬁ ce in Vale, a 100-mile drive from his Grant County ranch. He’s also frank about the calling he and his small staff feel, the impetus that led them to push the review board for access. “If you have a big story you’re working and you want to do it well and right, you pour everything into it,” Zaitz said. “You disregard both the clock and the calendar.” Car Show! Entry Fee: $15. Show Opens at 9AM HOT RODS ANTIQUES SPECIAL INTEREST CARS Spectator Parking: $2 per person in car Children under 12 FREE When accompanied by an adult Kids Games & PRIZES Loads of Raffles 40+ TROPHIES PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE CLATSOP COMMUNITY COLLEGE “AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY” PROGRAM and other local Youth Automotive Educational Programs. April 29th, 2017 17th Annual CAR SHOW Camp Rilea - Warrenton, OR REGISTRATION - $15. Active Military - FREE (with current Military ID) SHOW TIME FROM 9AM-4PM JUDGING FROM 10AM-NOON SHOW SPONSOR