»INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 143
$1.50
Johnson
pressed
on gun
control
Independent candidate
appeared at TEDxPortland
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Recent mass shootings — including an
elementary school massacre in Texas last
week – have put the gun control debate at
the forefront of many Americans’ minds.
That’s perhaps not something Oregon
gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson
was expecting when she agreed weeks
ago to appear on a Portland stage Satur-
day morning.
The former Democratic senator — an
unabashed defender of gun rights who
often voted diff erently than other mem-
bers of her party on the issue — appeared
as a surprise guest at an event put on by
TEDxPortland . Video posted on Twitter
by KGW reporter Evan Watson shows
Johnson’s sit-down with an interviewer
was derailed when members of the audi-
ence demanded Johnson,
who is running for gov-
ernor as an unaffi liated
candidate, address gun
control.
“That’s not going to
be solved in four minutes
on this stage,” host David
Betsy Johnson Rae said, before relenting
to shouts from the audi-
ence. “Help me manage this room, Betsy.
You brought up leadership. What is your
thinking with this?”
Johnson took the reins from there.
“We all have opinions. I have mine, you
all have yours,” she began, saying she’d
long represented a rural northwest Ore-
gon district and is a gun owner and col-
lector. Johnson then suggested that the
gun debate had taken attention away from
a more important issue: Oregon’s “shitty”
mental health system.
The observation drew applause, but
did not dissuade some in the crowd. John-
son got boos when she said “the style of
the gun doesn’t dictate the lethality” —
a comment which Democratic candi-
date for governor Tina Kotek tweeted
“What?!” in response.
Johnson said that American society
needs to be “continuously more vigilant”
about detecting signals someone might
carry out a mass shooting.
At least one person reported being
escorted out of the event for yelling ques-
tions at Johnson.
Rae, the host, attempted to calm ten-
sions. He said mass shootings were an
American problem that, as someone who
grew up in Canada, he does not under-
stand. He also applauded Johnson’s brav-
ery and candor. “We’re not going to solve
it in this room,” he said. “We decided to
do this two weeks ago.”
Daniel Passapera/The Day
Crew members line up along the USS Oregon during the submarine’s commissioning ceremony Saturday in Groton, Connecticut.
The newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, which can dive to depths greater than 800 feet, was originally christened in
2019. But the COVID-19 pandemic created some schedule changes for the crew.
A new — and very diff erent
— USS Oregon joins Navy
The newest Virginia-class
fast attack submarine
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
new USS Oregon offi cially joined
the U.S Navy on Saturday morn-
ing during commission ceremo-
nies at Submarine Base New London in
Groton, Connecticut.
The Navy put the ceremonial com-
missioning of ships on hold for two
years because of the COVID-19 pan-
demic and only recently resumed the
tradition.
The nuclear-powered fast attack sub-
marine will be the fi rst Navy ship to carry
the state’s name since 1893, when the
battleship USS Oregon was launched.
The Virginia-class submarine was
built at an estimated price tag of just
under $3 billion by Groton-based Gen-
eral Dynamics Electric Boat Co. After
its launch and sea trials, the commis-
sioning marks the offi cial beginning of
its Navy service.
Each Virginia-class submarine has
had an offi cial sponsor, a woman with
a connection to the vessel’s name-
sake state. Their role is to bring good
luck to the submarine and crew, with
duties including breaking a bottle of
champagne over the hull of the subma-
rine and giving the fi rst order after a
commissioning.
While still in the White House, fi rst
l ady Laura Bush sponsored the USS
Texas and fi rst l ady Michelle Obama
carried the role for the USS Illinois.
In April, fi rst l ady Jill Biden was the
A
John Narewski/U.S. Navy
The USS Oregon pulls into Submarine Base New London for the fi rst time.
sponsor of the USS Delaware, also a Vir-
ginia-class submarine.
During a commissioning commemo-
ration, she called out, “Offi cers and crew
of the USS Delaware, man our ship and
bring her to life.” The crew responded,
“Aye aye, ma’am,” and swiftly boarded
in dress uniform.
The sponsor of the commission-
ing of the USS Oregon is Dana Rich-
ardson, of Corvallis, the wife of former
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John
Richardson.
Built to kill
The USS Oregon commissioning
was the fi rst traditional ceremony since
2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic
hit the United States. Two Virginia-class
submarines — the USS Delaware and
USS Vermont — were commissioned to
join the Navy and public commemora-
tions occurred later.
The USS Oregon will soon take to
sea to hunt — and if necessary, kill —
Russian and Chinese “boomers,” the
nickname for all ballistic missile subma-
rines that can launch nuclear intercon-
tinental ballistic missiles. The Russians
main missile submarine, the Borei-class,
carries 16 RSM-56 Bulava nuclear bal-
listic missiles.
The USS Oregon has four torpedo
tubes to fi re Mk-48 torpedoes that
move at 50 mph. Unlike older torpe-
does that exploded when the tip struck a
See USS Oregon, Page A6
See Johnson, Page A6
Educator to volunteer in Gambia
Korff on
assignment with
the Peace Corps
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
hen Halie Korff
learned about Peace
Corps, she was set on join-
ing. She saw the volunteer
work as a way to give back
for the help and support she
received growing up.
Having gone through the
foster care system and liv-
ing with diff erent family
members growing up, she
came to rely on neighbors,
W
especially her teachers and
coaches.
“When I moved to Asto-
ria it was like my life kind of
changed in the sense that my
teachers cared,” said Korff ,
who graduated from Asto-
ria High School and West-
ern Oregon University . “I
just felt like I was getting so
much.
“They all fought tooth
and nail for me.”
Korff said she felt like
she could not repay the h igh
school, her coaches, Upward
Bound professor and p rin-
cipal Lynn Jackson, who
she said became her guard-
ian angel after he found out
about her troubles at home.
“I just want to mean
something to people the
way that these people mean
to me,” she said.
Korff is among the fi rst
Peace Corps volunteers to
return to overseas service
since the start of the coro-
navirus pandemic, when the
agency suspended global
operations and evacuated
nearly 7,000 volunteers.
She plans to leave in
early June for Gambia in
West Africa , where she will
spend the next two years.
After a three-month
training, Korff and the other
volunteers will collabo-
rate with their host com-
munities on locally priori-
tized projects in one of the
Peace Corps’ six sectors —
agriculture, community eco-
nomic development, educa-
tion, environment, health or
youth in development. All
projects will engage in pan-
demic response and recov-
ery work.
Korff ’s goal was to leave
for a trip directly after grad-
uating college, but the pan-
demic delayed her plans.
Using her degree in early
childhood education, she
has spent her time work-
ing as a substitute teacher.
She also coached track and
fi eld at Astoria High School,
where she was a thrower
before moving on to the
team at Western Oregon
University.
She waited for opportu-
nities to volunteer in Nepal
Halie Korff was a thrower in track at Astoria High School and
Western Oregon University.
— her fi rst choice — but
when she got an email for
an opening in Gambia she
decided to go.
“I don’t usually have my
heart set on things. I usually
just take (life) for what it is,”
Korff said. “This is quite lit-
erally the only thing that
I’ve ever wanted. So, I’m
really, really excited to be
able to go.”