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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 2018)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 Kavanaugh willing to talk, arrives at White House By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said today he was willing to speak to a Senate panel to “refute” an allegation he sexually assaulted a woman while in high school, after his accuser said via her attorney that she was ready to testify in public. Kavanaugh released a new statement calling the allega- tion “completely false” and saying he “had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself” on Sunday to The Washing- ton Post. “I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false sidered the incident to be an allegation, from 36 years ago, attempted rape. “She believes that if were and defend my integrity,” not for the severe intoxica- Kavanaugh said. Kavanaugh, meanwhile, tion of Brett Kavanaugh, she was seen arriving at the White would have been raped,” Katz told NBC’s “Today.” House late this morn- ing. There was no Kavanaugh, 53, immediate explana- “categorically and tion of the reason for unequivocally” denied his visit. the allegations when He had been on a they came out anony- mously last week. smooth confirmation “This has not track, but the new alle- Brett gations have roiled Kavanaugh changed,” White that process. Repub- House spokesman lican senators have expressed Kerri Kupec said today. concern over a woman’s pri- “Judge Kavanaugh and the vate-turned-public allegation White House both stand by that a drunken Kavanaugh that statement.” groped her and tried to take Still, White House coun- off her clothes at a party when selor Kellyanne Conway said of Ford: “She should not be they were teenagers. Debra S. Katz, the attorney insulted. She should not be for the woman, Christine Bla- ignored. She should testify sey Ford, said her client con- under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.” Conway, who said she had discussed the situation with President Donald Trump, said that both Ford and Kavana- ugh should testify, but made clear it was up to the Judi- ciary Committee. She said Sen. Lindsey Graham had told her it could happen as soon as Tuesday and the White House will “respect the process.” Stressing that Kavana- ugh had already testified and undergone FBI background checks, Conway said: “I think you have to weigh this testi- monial evidence from Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh along with the considerable body of evidence that is already there about the judge’s tempera- ment and qualifications and character.” In morning television inter- views, Katz said her client was willing to tell her story in public to the Judiciary panel, although no lawmak- ers or their aides had yet con- tacted her. Katz also denied that Ford, a Democrat, is polit- ically motivated. “No one in their right mind regardless of their motives would want to inject them- selves into this process and face the kind of violation that she will be subjected to by those who want this nominee to go though. ... She was quite reluctant to come forward.” Initially the sexual miscon- duct allegation was conveyed in a private letter, without revealing Ford’s name. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the pros- pect of congressional Repub- licans defending Trump’s nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprece- dented number of female can- didates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement. Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She said Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavana- ugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when the friend, Mark Judge, jumped on them. Bridge: ‘Oregon’s pretty aggressive on taking care of their structures’ Continued from Page 1A Burgess & Niple, an Ohio- based architecture and engi- neering firm, adopted the rope technique more than 30 years ago and has used it to inspect the Astoria Bridge since the 1990s. The through-truss bridge spans more than 4 miles and towers nearly 200 feet above the river. “It’s not always finding new things. It’s sometimes just checking to see if the old things have changed drastically,” said Ben Barkan, an engineer. While this year’s report is not complete, the previous look at the Astoria Bridge in 2016, which cost the state more than $250,000, noted some recom- mendations for routine main- tenance but no critical issues. Some minor deformations and rusting were noted, and a few steel beam anchor bolts were missing. “I am not afraid at all to drive across that structure,” said Dale Poorman, an engineer. Oregon is one of the top 10 states in the country in terms of keeping up with bridge inspec- tions, Poorman said. Other bridges in the country have required more regular inspec- tions due to serious issues. One bridge in Oklahoma, for instance, requires daily check- ins and is scheduled to be fully replaced. “Oregon’s pretty aggressive on taking care of their struc- tures,” Poorman said. The federally mandated inspections began in the after- math of the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse in West Virginia. A small defect a fraction of an inch deep into the suspension bridge caused it to fail, killing 48 peo- ple during rush-hour traffic. The “fracture critical” inspections often involve heavy machinery that require traffic shutdowns. Since the engineers are specially trained to use ropes to access fracture critical points, it negates a number of head- aches, said Bruce Johnson, state bridge engineer for the Depart- ment of Transportation. “We would probably have to do the inspection at night. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian From left, Dale Poorman, Mike Kronander and Ben Barkan take a ride up to the Astoria Bridge to perform a routine inspection. We could do it with lights and things like that, but it’s not as good as doing it during the day,” Johnson said. Poorman has been a bridge inspector since 1985. When he first started, he tied Manila rope around his waist to keep from falling — no harnesses, lan- yards or much else in the way of climbing gear. “It was pretty, pretty rude climbing at that time,” Poorman said. “It’s come so long.” While not the windiest in Oregon, gusts on the Astoria Bridge can present challenges for the climbers. “One of the main concerns is how much space you have between the bridge itself and the shoulder in the lane, is those ropes blowing into traffic,” Kronander said. Some steel parts the engi- neers use to position them- selves on the Astoria Bridge are relatively hefty. As a result, climbers have to be more care- ful when wrapping lanyards around them. Steel bridges can also force climbers to deal with animal habitats, includ- ing wasps, and can be slippery under certain conditions. Of course, there’s always the danger of falling. The Asto- ria Bridge, nearly 200 feet tall at its peak, is tall, but “anything over 30 feet is going to kill you, really, if you fall,” Poorman said. When the engineers inspected the bridge in July, a number of passers-by called 911, fearing that they were pro- testers, suicidal or thrill-seek- ers. Poorman recalls one driver in the 1990s cursing at him because he thought he was pro- testing a passing naval ship. Despite the dangers and quirks, the engineers appre- ciate the sights and size of the decades-old bridge. “It’s one of the biggest struc- tures I’ve been on,” Kronander said. “It’s really, really interest- ing and magnificent.”
