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7B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017 Red Cross gets money and criticism after disasters early now to outline long-term plans for the Harvey and Irma donations, but that issue will be broached in a one-month- later report, she said. In Houston, more than 50 groups, local and national, are raising money for recovery from Harvey. The distrust of established organizations like the Red Cross has driven many donors to new initiatives. Notably, Houston Texans star J.J. Watt has raised more than $30 million for his foundation, largely through appeals on his social media accounts. Combined donations of $300 million By DAVID CRARY Associated Press NEW YORK — Con- fronted with back-to-back major hurricanes, the Ameri- can Red Cross has received a huge outpouring of financial support — and a simultaneous barrage of criticism based on its struggles to respond to sev- eral past disasters. To date, combined dona- tions to the Red Cross for hur- ricanes Harvey and Irma have topped $300 million. For- mer President Barack Obama tweeted a link to a Red Cross fundraising site. Many pro sports teams, celebrities and major corporations have announced large donations. Yet even in the early stages of the response to Harvey in Texas, a NoRedCross hashtag circulated widely on Twit- ter. Some prominent journal- ists wrote articles suggesting that people should not donate to the organization. The New York Times, in an editorial, urged prospective donors to be skeptical. “Its record on large-scale operations is spotty,” said the editorial, asserting that “there has been less account- ability than Americans might expect emanating from its grand marble headquarters in Washington.” The criticism has been stinging to Red Cross volun- teers, many of whom have taken to social media to rebut the negative commentary. “I worry that our volunteers need to feel appreciated,” Red Cross President Gail McGov- ern said in a telephone inter- view. “After 12-hour shifts, they come back to their hotel really exhausted. They don’t want to read this stuff.” Some local officials in Texas and Florida have com- plained about glitches in the Red Cross response to Harvey and Irma, while others have expressed thanks. But much of 101 Legal Notices Local fund AP Photo/LM Otero Evacuees escaping the floodwaters from Harvey rest at a Red Cross shelter set up in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, in August. After confronting back-to-back major hurricanes, the American Red Cross has received a huge outpouring of financial support — and a simultaneous barrage of criticism. the current mistrust of the Red Cross arises from the after- math of other major disasters over the past 16 years. Terror attacks that did not deter some critics from using social media as the new hurricanes arrived to post Haiti-related headlines like this: “How Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars and Built Only Six Homes.” “People are repeating and retweeting this stuff instead of taking time to research,” said McGovern, a former profes- sor of marketing at Harvard who took over as Red Cross president in 2008 after years of rapid leadership turnover. McGovern said she took solace in evidence of con- tinued public support — the strong flow of donations and the signing up of about 40,000 new volunteers during the hurricanes. The organization ran scores of emergency shel- ters in Texas and the South- east and says it already has provided more than $45 mil- lion in financial assistance to more than 100,000 hurri- cane-stricken households in Texas. After the 2001 terror attacks, the Red Cross irked many donors by earmarking some 9/11 gifts for unrelated purposes, including future needs. It was widely criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and afterward acknowledged problems that included overwhelmed vol- unteers, inadequate anti-fraud measures and too few strong partnerships with local chari- ties and civic groups. More recently, investiga- tive reporting by Pro Publica and National Public Radio made the case that the Red Cross responses to the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and Super- storm Sandy in 2012 were flawed in multiple ways. One key allegation was that the Red Cross failed to adequately doc- ument how it was spending the $488 million it raised for its work in Haiti. Last year, the Red Cross posted a detailed breakdown of its spending in Haiti. But For both Harvey and Irma, the Red Cross is among the hurricane-response groups 101 Legal Notices 101 Legal Notices Finances and transparency AB6439 NOTICE OF COUNTY LAND SALE Pursuant to ORS 275.110 and Resolution and Order of the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners dated August 23, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, I shall proceed to sell the properties indicated below at a public auction, in the Judge Guy Boyington Building, 857 Commercial St., Astoria, Oregon, to the highest and best bidder in Cash. The sale of property is AS IS and includes all of the right, title and interest, if any there be, in and to the following described real properties situated in Clatsop County, Oregon, provided, however, that Clatsop County does not warrant or guarantee the extent to which it has any title or interest in the properties or to the extent to which the properties are free from any encumbrances or claims. The Properties to be sold are: Sale # 17-04 17-05 17-30 17-31 Map & Tax Lot 51010DA00500 51010DA01000 80909CC05000, 5001 & 5100 81021BC01200, 81021CB00400, 500, 600, 1500 & 81021CC00401 General Area South of Seaside South of Seaside 29 th & Irving in Astoria Acres 0.25 0.25 0.70 RMV $ Cash Min. Bid 51,946 2,500 CASH 55,354 3,000 CASH 31,471 20,000 CASH Warrenton, east of Juniper and north of 9 th street. 7.36 143,710 250,000 CASH SALE TERMS: Cash or Certified Check by 5:00 p.m. on day of sale, except for parcel 17-31, which requires a non-refundable deposit of $25,000 down by 5 P.M. on the day of sale and balance due in 30 days (October 19, 2017). Clatsop County shall not warrant or defend the titles of the properties offered for sale to be free of defects or encumbrances and will not warrant that its foreclosure proceedings or any other proceeding authorizing sale of these properties to be free of defects and will only sell and convey such titles, if any, as the County has acquired. Interested bidders are encouraged to obtain a title report prior to bidding. Conveyance is subject to any recorded easements to the United States or any agency thereof. The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners reserves the right to reject any and all bids. A bid packet is available in the office of the Clatsop County Property Management, 820 Exchange Street, Suite 230, Astoria, Oregon, weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. For further information, contact Sirpa Duoos, Property Specialist at (503) 338-3674. Clatsop County Sheriff Published: August 25, September 1, 8, 15, 2017 recommended by Charity Navigator, a watchdog group that rates charities on their finances and transparency. On the Charity Navigator web- site, several hundred com- ments about the Red Cross were posted, including vis- ceral exchanges between sup- porters and critics. Charity Navigator’s presi- dent, Michael Thatcher, says the Red Cross “is under pretty intense scrutiny” and he hopes the result is improved accountability. “It’s a hard job to be able to ramp up quickly and deploy volunteer resources and expert resources at the drop of a hat,” he said. “Are they perfect? No. I would love to see them do better, but I definitely want them to hang around.” Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, urged the Red Cross to be as spe- cific as possible in explain- ing how emergency dona- tions will be spent, both short term and long term. “Part of why the Red Cross got in difficulty is they’re rais- ing money in such large quan- tities they can’t use it all for the reasons people gave it,” he said. Another source of concern to some critics is McGovern’s salary of just over $500,000. The Red Cross defends it as being in the normal range for leaders of major national nonprofits. In the wake of various past controversies, the Govern- ment Accountability Office issued a detailed report about the Red Cross in 2015, rec- ommending that Congress establish some sort of feder- ally overseen process for reg- ular, independent evaluations of Red Cross disaster services. The Red Cross contended that existing evaluation mecha- nisms were adequate, and the GAO’s proposal has not been implemented. Congress chartered the Red Cross in 1900 to play a central role in responding to domes- tic and international disasters, though it does not receive fed- eral funding for this purpose on a regular basis. McGovern says the Red Cross wants to be as transpar- ent as possible about its han- dling of donations. It’s too The Red Cross remains dominant, raising more than $200 million on its own for Harvey relief. About $40 mil- lion has gone to a local fund set up by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County’s top official, Judge Ed Emmett. They openly urge donors to forgo contributions to the Red Cross. Emmett blames the Red Cross for problems that arose with setting up and running the emergency shelters used by tens of thousands of people flooded out of their homes. The major shelter for sev- eral days was the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Orig- inally setting a capacity of 5,000 people, the Red Cross ended up with double that number in three days. It ran out of cots. Some people slept on strips of cardboard or the floor until more cots arrived. Others said they were not get- ting enough food. David Brady, CEO of the Red Cross for the Texas Gulf Coast region, said the group’s volunteers and staff were doing the best they could during a chaotic and unprece- dented storm. Many Red Cross volunteers slept on cots at the shelter themselves. “There are challenges that we and everyone else faced during the storm,” Brady said. “We always look at how we can serve better.” Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant in Houston contributed to this report. 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