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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2017)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2017 Senators: Trump dismissed claims on Twitter account Continued from Page 1A Merkley said last week that Trump should resign. “The president should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific con- duct,” the senator said on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press Daily.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have also called for Trump to resign. Trump, on Twitter today, dismissed the sexual miscon- duct claims as “false accusa- tions and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met.” Trump, a Republican, said Democrats “have been unable to show any collusion with Russia” and now are “moving on” to these alle- gations. He added: “FAKE NEWS!” The president also attacked Gillibrand. Trump said Gillibrand is a “total flunky for Chuck Schumer,” the Senate Dem- ocratic leader. He said Gilli- brand, “who would come to my office ‘begging’ for cam- paign contributions not so long ago (and would do any- thing for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump.” The New York Democrat responded on Twitter, saying: “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfit- ness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.” On Monday, the women — Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey and Rachel Crooks — urged Congress to investi- gate Trump. A fourth woman also spoke at a news confer- ence with them via phone. In a heated exchange with reporters in the White House briefing room on Monday, press secretary Sarah Huck- abee Sanders steadfastly dis- missed accusations against the president and suggested the issue had been litigated in Trump’s favor on Election Day. The allegations surfaced during last year’s presiden- tial campaign, but the women raised the issue anew on NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today” and at a news conference. “It was heartbreaking last year,” Holvey said. “We’re private citizens and for us to put ourselves out there to try and show America who this man is and how he views women, and for them to say, ‘Eh, we don’t care,’ it hurt.” The former beauty queen claimed that Trump ogled her and other Miss USA pageant contestants in their dressing room in 2006. Crooks is a former receptionist at Trump Tower and Leeds says she met Trump on a flight. Sixteen women have come forward with a range of accusations against Trump, many after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape last October in which Trump was caught on an open micro- phone bragging about grop- ing women. One woman, Summer Zevos, a contes- tant on Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice,” sued, con- tending that Trump’s denials of her accusations amount to false and defamatory statements. Rosenbauer America Tractor-drawn aerial apparatus similar to the type pur- chased by Seaside Fire and Rescue. Fire truck: ‘We’ll be able to reach places we can’t right now’ Continued from Page 1A The tractor-drawn aerial, known as the tiller, will offer navigability down the city’s narrow one-way streets. “Through training and viewing of it, we found the tractor-drawn aerial — the tiller — would be a lot more versatile for our city,” Dan- iels said. In addition, the new rig will fit in the city’s Broad- way fire station without the need to make building modifications. The bid was presented by General Fire Apparatus, based in Spokane. The second bid was only $2,600 higher, Daniels said, requiring meticulous review of a 365-page proposal and multiple trips to test-drive vehicles. The department’s 75-foot ladder truck will remain in use while the new vehicle is built to specifications. Dan- iels said. The engine will take about eight to 11 months for delivery and the truck about 12 to 18 months. Funds for the appara- tus, to be manufactured by Rosenbauer America, will come from the fire depart- ment’s levy fund, Daniels said. He thanked voters for their support. City councilors unan- imously endorsed the purchase. “This is going to be such a great addition to the safety of our city,” Mayor Jay Barber said. “We’ll be able to reach places we can’t right now.” Fire board: ‘You are going to be missed’ Continued from Page 1A a part of your lifestyle,” Morgan said. “I missed the camaraderie and the service to the community, so when Linda asked me I saw it as an opportunity to get involved again.” Morgans said he hopes to bring his dual perspectives as a firefighter and as a busi- nessman to the table to help the district achieve its goals. “With my background, I am concerned with the needs of firefighters and the taxpay- ers of Cannon Beach,” Mor- gans said. Beck-Sweeney, who is the owner of Cannon Beach Vacation Rentals, said that while she is resigning from the board she “isn’t going anywhere.” She plans to still volunteer at fundraising functions and host barbecues at her business across the street from the district. Board members thanked Beck-Sweeney for her work. “You are going to be missed. Thank you so much for your time and efforts,” said board member Garry Smith. Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Processed wood products move along a conveyor system at the Hampton Lumber mill in Warrenton. Zika: ‘I think there’s a bright future’ Continued from Page 1A A: Timber supply is always going to be the No. 1 factor, because we have the federal forests locked up, and because of the large vol- ume of log exports — I call them raw log exports — to Asia. The timber price, the log price, is the highest here in all of North America, and logs tend to be about 70 per- cent of your cost of making lumber. So when your cost is really high, you’ve got to be really efficient at the process- ing and the rest of the costs that go into the product. Q: What impact have Canadian softwood lumber imports had on U.S. firms? A: It’s somewhat of an argumentative issue in terms of how much Canadian lum- ber affects the price of lum- ber in the U.S. The U.S. coa- lition says that the lumber producers up there are subsi- dized with cheap logs. I don’t believe that’s the case. The log price in the U.S. South is way below what the log price is in British Columbia, but the Canadians do benefit from a cheap currency. Their cur- rency is related to oil prices. That’s a big part of their economy. So as the currency got cheap, that makes them more competitive in making lumber. Q: What’s your take on the recent tariffs imposed on Canadian lumber imports to the U.S.? A: What our company would like to see is both sides sit down and negotiate a settle- ment that’s fair to both sides. One of the things that I par- ticipate in is called the Soft- Recently cut boards near the end of one of the processing facilities. wood Lumber Board. That’s made up of U.S. companies and Canadian companies that sell into the U.S. market, and we’ve been investing in trying to look for new uses of wood, things like cross-laminated timbers, tall wood buildings, comes out of some of the work the Softwood Lumber Board is doing. So I would like to see us continue to grow the pie, so to speak, so there’s more wood use, as opposed to fighting against each other with these duties. Q: How has automation affected employment at the mills? A: First of all, you have the optimization, looking at each log to make the maxi- mum value out of every sin- gle log, because the logs are expensive, so you’re trying to find the best solution for how to cut that log into lum- ber. The second part is the machines, since they talk to each other now, hand off the lumber from one machine to another. So what you have is these control systems that are really the automation. What we’re trying to do, also, is automate some of the jobs that maybe we have trou- ble recruiting for, like clean- ing up the mill. It’s tough to talk young people into com- ing and shoveling sawdust like they did in the old days. Q: Do you see any new opportunities for diversi- fication and creating new lumber demand? A: I think there’s a bright future. Part of it can be restricted if we’re going to restrict the amount of trees that can be harvested. Instead of harvesting 2 percent of the federal growth, if we har- vested 10 percent and thinned the forest so we had healthy forests, I think that would create a wood source that would allow us to not only make more lumber or ply- wood, but then maybe set us up for cross-laminated tim- bers and some of these other value-added products. I think people are getting more cre- ative on how to use wood beyond just basic lumber. Tax package would ease hit to residents of high-tax states By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER and MARCY GORDON Associated Press WASHINGTON — Con- gressional Republicans on Tuesday were speeding toward an agreement on a massive tax package that would ease the hit on Americans living in high- tax states and appease corpora- tions that could have lost pre- cious tax breaks. Negotiators were work- ing to expand a deduction for state and local taxes to allow individuals to deduct income taxes as well as property taxes, said two congressional aides. Negotiators were also work- ing to eliminate the alternative minimum tax for corporations, the aides said. The aides spoke on condi- tion of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private negotiations. Negotiators were still work- ing Tuesday on how to pay for the expanded tax breaks, though Republican lawmakers were optimistic that a deal was eminent. The total amount of tax breaks cannot exceed $1.5 trillion over the next decade, under budget rules adopted by both the House and Senate. The Senate’s No. 2 Repub- lican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said a deal could come as soon as Tuesday. “I think it could and I hope it is,” he said. Both the House and Sen- ate bills would scale back the deduction for state and local taxes, limiting it to $10,000 in property taxes. The issue is important to lawmakers from high-tax states such as New York, New Jersey and California. California Republicans are pushing to amend the bill to enable individuals to deduct state and local income taxes as well as property taxes. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said there is an agreement on how to address the issue, though he wasn’t specific. “It’s a huge issue in dis- tricts and there’s an agreement about how they are going to approach it and I just want to see that issue taken care of,” said Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee. “Once again, we’re in negotia- tion, and sometimes when you negotiate you have to decide what you’re willing to fight for and we need to fight for that.” Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., warned that nothing is final until the whole package is worked out. But, he said, he believes negotiators have found a way to include income taxes in the deduction for state and local taxes. “I’m sure income tax is something, obviously address- ing that concern is a big con- cern for many members, so I think there’s a solution there,” Reed said. Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, one of 13 House Repub- licans who voted against the tax bill in protest of the reduced deduction, said Tues- day he was awaiting details from leaders of a new agree- ment affecting income or prop- erty taxes. Doubling the limit to $20,000, he said, would help a number of homeown- ers in his high-tax Long Island district. “Somebody might be a loser under $10,000 and become a winner above $10,000,” Zel- din said. For corporations, the House-passed bill would elim- inate the alternative minimum tax but the Senate bill would retain it. The tax was meant to ensure that corporations pay at least some tax. Republican lawmakers from both the House and Sen- ate said retaining the tax would limit the ability of corporations to take advantage of popular tax credits, including one for research and development. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has come out in favor of repealing the corporate AMT, giving the proposal momentum. Both the House and Sen- ate bills would cut the corpo- rate income tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. Republi- can lawmakers said they were resisting efforts to set the tax rate at 22 percent as a way to pay for other tax breaks. Busi- ness and conservative groups have been lobbying hard for the 20 percent rate. “We’re obviously trying to drive as low as possible in the House and the Senate, so we’ll see where it lands,” Reed said. House and Senate negotia- tors were rushing Tuesday to finalize the tax package so both chambers could vote on it next week, handing a major leg- islative achievement to Pres- ident Donald Trump before Christmas. The chief tax-writer in the House, Rep. Kevin Brady, said “We’re on track to finish” this week. Trump will try on Wednes- day to sell the American peo- ple on a GOP tax overhaul that is unpopular with many. His pitch: the plan will lift all economic boats, bringing a brighter future for taxpay- ers and their families, accord- ing to spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.