7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
DACA: ‘This administration Council: Decision hinged on
how they defined Shooting Stars
has been so unpredictable’
Continued from Page 1A
Her lawyer went over
more of the specifics about
what the Trump administra-
tion is planning. If Congress
does not pass legislation by
March 5, the government
will stop renewing permits
for those covered by the pro-
gram. Permits set to expire
before that date may still be
renewed, but applications
must be submitted by Oct 5.
Applications already submit-
ted will still be processed,
and the program will end
gradually.
Ponce May is working
toward a career as a medical
assistant helping translate for
non-English patients. She is
concerned about her ability to
work, go to college and take
care of her kids, she said.
Since the government now
possesses some of her per-
sonal information, including
her home address, she is wor-
ried she may be targeted for
deportation.
“We depend on DACA.
That’s the only way we can
work and go to school,”
she said. “If they catch me
and they do something to
me, what will happen to my
daughters?”
She remembers her fam-
ily members and can partially
visualize the ranch where she
grew up in Mexico. Other-
wise, she is much more famil-
iar with her new home in
Astoria.
“I don’t know anything
about Mexico,” she said. “I
don’t know what it looks like,
nothing.”
‘They have
broken that trust’
Eileen Purcell, a board
member of the hispanic coun-
cil and coordinator of Clatsop
Community College’s liter-
acy program, has helped stu-
dents like Ponce May with
DACA applications. The
council helps those who wish
to fill out a DACA application
but cannot afford a lawyer.
She received numerous
calls Tuesday from concerned
students.
“We have invested so
much money in these kids.
It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid,”
Purcell said. “I never thought
it would come to this.”
Purcell lamented the fact
that DACA applicants have
now, like Ponce May, turned
over their private infor-
mation to the government,
which may in turn seek to
deport them. “We trusted
them to treat them right, and
they have broken that trust
today.”
‘We’re
reaching a
breaking
point with
this where
something
has to give.’
Jorge Gutierrez
executive director
of the Lower Columbia
Hispanic Council
Many of the students with
DACA benefits are the only
members of their families
who can work or even have a
driver’s license.
“This is a definite blow for
students and their families,”
she said.
Tuesday marked the
first day of school for most
North Coast children. Asto-
ria High School Counselor
Andrew Fick, though he does
not record who participates
in the DACA program, said
the repeal would affect some
students.
“We talk with students
about a variety of issues that
relate to family life,” he said.
“School counselors are avail-
able for anyone who feels like
they need support. That’s our
job.”
‘America is
better than this’
Demonstrations against
the repeal broke out in sev-
eral cities across the coun-
try, including Portland. Gov.
Kate Brown said in a state-
ment that Congress should
push back against the Trump
administration’s
decision,
adding dreamers contribute
over $6 million annually to
the state.
“I am deeply troubled by
federal orders that seek to
tear apart otherwise law-abid-
ing families and undermine
Oregon’s economy,” Brown
said. “I call on Congress to
step up and push back against
the White House’s reckless
immigration policies.”
Oregon’s U.S. senators
and multiple representatives
agreed.
“Deporting
people
brought to this country as
children is heartless, doesn’t
improve national safety and
will have a detrimental effect
on our economy,” U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici said in a
statement. “America is bet-
ter than this; we don’t — and
shouldn’t — penalize chil-
dren for the actions of their
parents.”
‘Something
has to give’
Gutierrez is hopeful the
six-month time limit will
prompt Congress to pass
meaningful legislative reform
to address the more than 11
million undocumented immi-
grants in the country. But he
isn’t sure what to realistically
expect, he said.
“This administration has
been so unpredictable,” he
said. “I’m hoping that we do
get some legislative reform.
We’re reaching a breaking
point with this where some-
thing has to give.”
Until something does give,
immigrants such as Ponce
May will continue to grapple
with an uncertain fate.
“It will be difficult, I think,
for everyone,” she said.
Giliga and her staff had
hoped to spend the month of
August getting the Gateway
building, formerly used by the
Oregon State Police, ready for
students. She had also planned
to add 20 more slots at the new
location, bumping the total of
children enrolled in the cen-
ter’s programs to approxi-
mately 60.
These students are now “in
holding,” she said Tuesday.
“Today would have been our
first day of school.”
The City Council’s deci-
sion Tuesday, like the Planning
Commission’s decision in July,
hinged on how they defined
Shooting Stars — as a primar-
ily educational facility, or a
day care. Day cares would not
be permitted in the Gateway
Avenue area under city zoning.
Mayor Arline LaMear
and City Councilors Bruce
Jones, Tom Brownson and
Cindy Price voted in favor of
upholding the Planning Com-
mission’s decision. LaMear
and Jones argued that, though
Shooting Stars takes children
as young as 6 weeks old, edu-
cation takes place at a very
young age and Shooting Stars
Connaway did not say if he
would appeal the City Coun-
cil’s decision to the state, say-
ing only as he left the meeting
Tuesday night, “I just might.”
Several councilors also
expressed concern over a point
Connaway made about the fact
that the Gateway building is
located in the tsunami inun-
dation zone. However, they
concluded that tsunamis have
not been factored into Asto-
ria’s land use decisions before,
and to do so now would likely
require a development code
update.
The fractured vote echoed
what happened with the Plan-
ning Commission when they
considered Shooting Star’s
request in July. Commissioners
voted 4-3 to approve the center,
with those in favor of the per-
mit request accepting the cen-
ter’s definition of itself as pri-
marily an educational facility.
However, Commissioner
Daryl Moore contended that
Shooting Stars is a day care
center and therefore a use
not permitted. Commission-
ers Kent Easom and Jennifer
Cameron-Lattek also voted to
deny the permit, saying they
believed the Gateway building
was the wrong location.
‘Today would
have been
our first day
of school.’
Continued from Page 1A
Denise Giliga
owner of Shooting Stars
is not a day care; it is an educa-
tion center.
They also did not accept
Connaway’s characterization
of the area as an industrial area
that would be unsafe for a child
care center. Price said more
traffic travels along down-
town’s Commercial Street,
where a variety of businesses
are located, than on Gateway
Avenue.
Councilor Zetty Nemlow-
ill was the only councilor who
voted in favor of Connaway’s
appeal.
“I agree that there is defi-
nitely a demand for qual-
ity child care in Astoria,” she
said, “but I also feel that just
because there’s a demand that
doesn’t mean we should allow
day cares to go into inappro-
priate places. This is a land use
issue and we must apply our
development code.”
Haze: Water quality issues not expected
Continued from Page 1A
due to air quality concerns far-
ther inland. In Seaside, boys
and girls soccer was canceled
Tuesday.
Astoria City Engineer Jeff
Harrington said he checked
with staff on Tuesday to make
sure no one was doing espe-
cially strenuous work out-
doors — a precaution Jonah
Dart-McLean, parks mainte-
nance supervisor for the city’s
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment, also followed.
Dart-McLean said they
are trying to limit exposure
to employees outdoors today
as well by focusing on indoor
work. Elsewhere, doctors have
advised anyone with pulmo-
nary conditions such as asthma
to stay home.
The blaze in the Gorge has
forced hundreds of people to
leave their homes and shut
down a highway. The Coast
Guard also closed 20 miles
of the Columbia River to all
vessel traffic east of Portland
Tuesday. The Captain of the
Port deemed it was unsafe for
vessels to travel the river from
Reed Island to Bonneville
Dam because of hot ash and
firefighting aircraft landing on
the river.
So far, the ash has fallen
in such small amounts that
Astoria Public Works is not
worried about water quality
issues at Bear Creek Reservoir.
The Oregon Department of
Forestry’s Astoria office sent
one engine and two people
to help fight the fire in the
Gorge.
As the winds shift, it is
expected the air at the coast
will clear.
The National Weather Ser-
vice in Portland, meanwhile,
issued a red flag warning for
lightning in the region, includ-
ing the coast, through this
evening.
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