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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
BUCKS BEAT LA GRANDE BASEBALL/1B 55/35 Pasco shooting inquest not coming soon 2A WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 139th Year, No. 119 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD One dollar House advances $7.3B school bill to Senate By PETER WONG Capital Bureau SALEM — No new arguments were advanced during a two-hour debate — and no minds were changed — as the Oregon House voted along party lines Tuesday for a $7.3 billion state school fund for the next two years. The 35-25 vote sent the budget to the Senate, which is expected to take it up in a few days. Demo- crats have an 18-12 majority over Republicans in that chamber. Twenty-one House members, 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats spoke during the debate. The amount is about $600 mil- lion more than in the current two- year cycle. It includes $220 million to cover costs of full-day kinder- garten, which Oregon’s 197 dis- WULFWVDUHUHTXLUHGWRVWDUWWKLVIDOO “I did not come here to short- change kids; I came to give them HYHU\WKLQJZHFDQ´VDLG5HS3H ter Buckley, D-Ashland, who as House budget co-chairman was WKHEXGJHW¶VÀRRUPDQDJHU³7KLV budget represents the best we can GRXQGHUWKHUHVRXUFHVZHKDYH´ The schools budget contains a trigger that earmarks for the school fund 40 percent of any increased income tax collections SURMHFWHGLQWKHVWDWH¶VQH[WTXDU terly economic and revenue fore- cast on May 14. A procession of school district administrators and board mem- bers told lawmakers, however, that the minimum should be at least $7.5 billion. Rep. John Davis, R-Wilson- ville, said lawmakers should be See SCHOOL/8A Peterson Maiocco Green lobbyists strike while iron is blue ATHENA By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau Staff photo by E.J. Harris Weston-McEwen band instructor Rob McIntyre has been a driving force in the restoration of the Gem Theater in Athena. Polishing the Gem Historic Athena cinema sat dark for 40 years By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian The ghost rumored to wander the Gem Theatre has plenty of company these days. Closed in the 1960s and aban- doned for decades, the old Athena movie house is getting some seri- ous love. A community group that formed about 10 years ago to ren- ovate the vintage theater recently received two $200,000 grants that will allow the project to go full speed ahead. The 300-seat theater evokes plenty of memories for long-time residents. ³,KDGP\¿UVWGDWHDWWKH*HP´ said Sen. Bill Hansell, D-Athena, who grew up in the town of 1,100. “Movies cost ten cents, or some- WKLQJOLNHWKDW´ Hansell remembers watching a young Charlton Heston perform- ing in B-grade westerns before the actor’s leap into superstardom. He and his friends often headed to the cinema on Main Street during weekends. “It was an integral part of the FRPPXQLW\´+DQVHOOVDLG The 1901 building started out as a saloon and restaurant owned by Jacob Betz Brewing and Malting, said Rob McIntyre, who spear- headed the renovation. In 1908, the town council voted to close all sa- loons. The ruling was a blow to the two breweries that had set up shop in Athena in the same block. The Jacob Betz building transformed the next year into what would be- come the Gem Theatre. “They couldn’t serve beer any- PRUH´0F,QW\UHVDLG³7KH\VWDUW HGVKRZLQJPRYLHV´ McIntyre said the conversion from saloon to cinema wasn’t ide- al. A skylight let in unwanted light. The projectionist had to climb a ladder to get to his post halfway up the back wall. Lloyd and Edith Moore, who owned a chain of theaters, bought the place in 1937. Eventual owner SALEM — Environmental lobby- ists are on a roll this year in Oregon. They notched a big win early in the session when lawmakers passed legisla- tion to make the state’s low-carbon fuel standard permanent. Now, lobbyists for a coalition of groups have turned their IRFXVWRELOOVWKDWZRXOGUHTXLUHXWLOLWLHV to stop using power from coal plants by 2025. That work isn’t cheap. In 2014, a broad spectrum of en- vironmental groups spent nearly $470,000 on lobbying in Salem, ac- cording to EO Media Group/Pamplin Media Group Capital Bureau’s analysis of state lobbying records. The organizations range from small JURXSVWKDWSURPRWHZDWHUTXDOLW\DQG wildlife issues, to industry organiza- tions that seek incentives for renewable HQHUJ\DQGHI¿FLHQF\SURMHFWV Still, spending by the environmental lobby is low compared with other in- dustries. A single energy interest group — the Western States Petroleum As- sociation, which opposed the low-car- bon fuel standard — spent just un- der $360,000 on lobbying in Oregon last year. All interest groups reported spending a total of nearly $27 million on lobbying in the state last year. ³:HGH¿QLWHO\GRQ¶WVSHQGQHDUO\DV PXFKPRQH\RQOREE\LQJ´VDLG&KULV ty Splitt, a registered lobbyist and coor- dinator for a coalition of environmental groups called the Oregon Conservation Network. “I’m not going out to din- ner with legislators, or whatever other people are able to do, spending money on lobbying. I think most of what we spend on lobbying is going to pay peo- SOH¶VVDODULHV´ See ENVIRONMENT/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris A section of black and white fi lm depicting Santa Claus was found in the projection booth when the projectors were re- moved recently. Chet Dugger, also the Athena city perfect environment for a ghostly UHFRUGHU¿QDOO\VKXWWHUHGWKHWKH ¿JXUHUXPRUHGWRWXUQGRRUNQREV ater in 1968, though he continued and wander the place. to live in an upstairs apartment. The vision for the theater, “It was an era when little movie however, is more down-to-earth, theaters were clos- providing space LQJ´0F,QW\UHVDLG for movies, plays, “It was the rise of Learn more school functions To view drawings of WHOHYLVLRQ´ and even streaming Dugger locked the future Gem and concerts and oth- the theater doors learn more, go to er performances. A and went about his www.gemtheater.org. museum inside will business. He died The group continues feature vintage Ho- in 1978. In 2004, to raise funds through daka motorcycles, the theater was do- the sale of pavers en- once designed and nated to the city by graved with up to 50 assembled in Ath- a later owner for characters for $125. ena. Hodaka bikes, renovation. Citizens both real and pho- formed the nonprof- tographs, will line it, Athena’s Gem, and planned the the walls. A multi-level apartment makeover. They found everything constructed on one end of the inside as Dugger had left it, includ- building will bring in a continu- LQJ¿OPUHHOVDQGSURMHFWLRQHTXLS LQJÀRZRIUHQWPRQH\WRSD\IRU ment in the back wall crow’s nest. maintenance and utilities. ³,WZDVDWLPHFDSVXOH´0F,Q The group has already tackled tyre said. See GEM/8A The dusty theater seemed the Religious freedom laws haven’t been used against gays By RACHEL ZOLL and DAVID CRARY AP National Writers NEW YORK — Religious freedom laws like the one causing an uproar in Indiana have never been successfully used to defend discrimination against gays — and have rarely been used at all, legal experts say. However, past may not be prologue in these cases, since gays have only re- cently won widespread legalization of same-sex marriage, and religious con- servatives are now scrambling for new legal strategies to blunt the trend. “There’s an inability to look to the past as a reliable predictor of the future RQWKLV´VDLG5REHUW7XWWOHDFKXUFK state expert at George Washington Uni- versity School of Law. “If what you’re saying is that it can be certain it won’t be used — you can’t know that because WKLVLVQRZDGLIIHUHQWVLWXDWLRQ´ See FREEDOM/8A
