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East Oregonian
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Pope presses environment message in Ecuador EOTEC: Legislature
urged Latin Americans to
also approved $4M for
channel the same urgency that
brought them independence
from Spain two centuries ago
QUITO, Ecuador — Pope
improvements to I-84
into spreading the faith on a
Francis pressed his case for a
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
new economic and environ-
mental world order Tuesday
during his South American
tour, saying the goods of the
Earth are meant for everyone
and must not be exploited by
the wealthy few for short-
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the poor.
Francis’ call, delivered on
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is particularly relevant for
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is home to one of the world’s
most species-diverse ecosys-
tems but is also an OPEC
country heavily dependent on
oil extraction.
He delivered the challenge
in back-to-back speeches at
Catholic University and then
in a meeting with business
leaders and indigenous
groups, the latter of which
have championed his recent
encyclical denouncing what
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cost mentality of wealthy
nations exploiting the poor
and destroying the planet in
the process.
“The goods of the Earth
are meant for everyone, and
however much someone may
parade his property, it has
a social mortgage,” Francis
said. “The tapping of natural
resources, which are so abun-
dant in Ecuador, must not be
concerned with short-term
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Ecuadorean
President
Rafael Correa has been
harshly criticized by envi-
ronmentalists and indigenous
groups for pushing mining
AP Photo/Ana Buitron
Pope Francis blesses the faithful as he arrives to San
Francisco Square aboard the popemobile in Quito, Ec-
uador, Tuesday.
and oil drilling in the
Amazon, which together with
the Galapagos Islands give
Ecuador an unrivaled desig-
nation as one of the Earth’s
environmental
priorities.
That push, coupled with high
crude prices, allowed Correa
to lift 1.3 million people out
of poverty in his eight years
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Francis has called for
environmentally responsible
development, one that is
aimed at helping the poor
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The oil industry, and its
supporters particularly in the
U.S., has criticized the pope’s
anti-fossil fuel campaign
as irresponsible and unin-
formed.
“As stewards of these
riches which we have
received, we have an obliga-
tion toward society as a whole
and toward future genera-
tions,” Francis said. “We
cannot bequeath this heritage
to them without proper care
for the environment, without
a sense of gratuitousness born
of our contemplation of the
created world.”
It’s a message he is likely
to repeat later this week in
Bolivia, the next stop on his
three-nation South American
tour, where he will meet with
grass-roots groups, environ-
mentalists and indigenous
representatives.
Bolivian
President Evo Morales has
been hailed as an environ-
mental hero to many for
demanding rich nations do
more to halt global warming,
but he has been assailed by
conservationists at home
who say he puts oil and gas
extraction ahead of clean
water and forests.
Francis began his last
full day in Ecuador with
an open-air Mass that drew
more than 1 million people
and featured readings in
Quichua, the native language
mostly spoken in Ecuador,
and Ecuadorean vestments
for the pope.
In his homily, Francis
continent where Catholicism
is losing souls to evangelical
movements.
The Mass location, at
Quito’s Bicentennial Park,
was appropriate given that
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cries of independence against
Spanish rule arose in Latin
America in 1809.
“There was no shortage
of conviction or strength in
that cry for freedom which
arose a little more than 200
years ago,” Francis said. “But
history tells us that it only
made headway once personal
differences were set aside.”
Latin America counts 40
percent of the world’s Catho-
lics, but the church is losing
out to Protestant evangelical
ministries that have focused
on the continent’s poorest
communities with real-life
guidance on employment and
education.
While the drop-off in
Spanish-speaking
South
America hasn’t been as sharp
as it has been in Brazil, it is
notable: Some 95 percent of
Ecuador’s population was
Catholic in 1970, and now
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percent, according to the Pew
Research Center.
In a bid to counter the
trend and return the Catholic
Church to its evangelizing
origins, Francis has called
for the church to return to
being a missionary church
that looks out particularly for
society’s poorest and most
marginalized.
TAX: Proposed gas tax would sunset in 10 years
Continued from 1A
She pointed out that there
were only a few months
between Tuesday’s council
meeting and when ballots
would go out to voters. In
addition, due to an extended
vacation, the city would be
unable to utilize Public Works
Director Bob Patterson for
part of that time.
Hill drew opposition
from councilors who said the
infrastructure needs of the
city were too great to wait
any longer.
“If we lose, so what?”
Councilman Al Plute said.
“We lose. Then we still get
between now and next May
and improve on whatever
anybody said against it and
had problems with.”
Hill ended up being
the only councilor to vote
against a November gas tax
ballot question, with the
other seven members voting
for it.
The proposed tax would
sunset in 10 years, though
city council would review
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of street projects would be
updated annually.
After originally being
rebuffed at the last infra-
structure committee meeting,
Councilwoman McKennon
McDonald was able to build
support to reintroduce a
sunset provision. Initially,
city staff recommended the
tax come off the books in
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In addition, the council
unanimously
voted
to
institute a $5 transportation
utility fee to all residences
and businesses.
Both the gas tax ballot
question and the utility fee
must be approved in the
form an ordinance or reso-
lution. The ballot issue will
needed to be voted on soon
to meet the Umatilla County
Election Division’s deadline.
City Manager Robb Corbett
promised to draft a resolution
to approve the utility fee by
September.
No amount of debate
could bring the council to
a consensus on proposed
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and pay for deferred mainte-
nance for city facilities.
After two motions from
Councilman Al Plute for a
$15 million bond — $10
million for deferred main-
tenance and another $5
million for neighborhood
streets — died from lack of
a second, the council was too
divided on whether to pursue
the bond in November or at a
later date.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
KIMBER: Could be prone to pneumonia because she inhaled river water
Continued from 1A
laid her on the bank. Phillips
said she then collapsed and
screamed for help.
Tony Aguilar said he was
there with his family and
heard shrieks and yells to call
9-1-1. The 40-year-old Pilot
Rock father said a crowd
rushed to the creek, and he
followed. He said he reached
the girl and found she had
no pulse. He said he covered
her chest with his palms and
pumped, mimicking CPR he
saw in movies.
Tabetha
Koehler,
a
Umatilla County dispatcher,
also was there to celebrate
the day with friends,
including Melinda Wachter
and Gregory Denton of Pilot
Rock. Koehler said others
tried and failed to call 9-1-1
because of a lack of service,
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She said she moved away
from the bank to higher
ground, got a signal and got
through. Moments later a
quick response team from
Ukiah was en route with a
Pendleton ambulance also on
the way.
But Kimber was still not
breathing. Koehler said she
saw Denton make his way
through the crowd to the girl.
Denton, 50, is a mechanic
for Boise Cascade’s mill in
Pilot Rock. He said he knows
CPR from company training
but never thought he would
have to use it on a small
child. Denton said he does
not remember seeing Aguilar
in the commotion, and
Aguilar doesn’t remember
seeing him, either. But right
away Denton saw what could
be wrong with the girl —
blocked airways.
Green moss covered
Kimber’s nose, he said, so
he peeled it away and cleared
more river gunk from her
mouth and moved her tongue
to make a clear passage for
air. He said he put her on her
side, slapped her back, gave
her one breath and “kept
working on her” for more
than a minute.
Phillips was frantic, and
over and over wailed: “Make
her breathe.”
Denton said he focused
on her eyes, and one pupil
rolled forward, then the other.
Denton said he gave the girl
another pat on the back and
she let out a squeak. She
started to breathe.
“I hope I never have to do
it again,” he said.
Wachter said Denton, her
boyfriend, returned to their
camp by himself and sought
quiet. He is a bit macho, she
said, but later when he talked
about what happened he
teared up.
Phillips said she only
remembered glimpses of
people helping. She said she
could not even remember
how her daughter got back
to camp, where emergency
responders from Ukiah
showed within moments of
the 9-1-1 call. The team is not
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but made sure the girl was
stable.
“I stood there for 45
minutes just holding on to her
while we waited for the Pend-
leton ambulance to get there,”
Phillips said, and a crowd of
maybe 30 stood around them.
The Pendleton crew took
mother and daughter to St.
Anthony Hospital, Pend-
leton, and aside from a minor
“breathing episode” that
night, Phillips said Kimber
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back to her rambunctious
self.
Phillips said doctors told
her Kimber could be prone
to pneumonia because she
inhaled river water, but if she
shows no signs of illness or
fever by Sunday, she would
be out of the woods. Phillips
also said her son is her
“little hero,” and called her
daughter a miracle, and those
who helped were at the creek
that day for a reason.
“I’m just so grateful,” she
said.
Phillips said that was her
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and it will be her last.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
between Pendleton and La
Grande
Thanks to a $1.6 million
• $11 million for the
appropriation, the college Umatilla Basin water supply
will be able to add an Early
• $900,000 for Port of
Learning Center to the $2.5 Umatilla water systems
million workforce training
• $7.5 million for an
center at the Port of Morrow Oregon Department of
that voters approved in Transportation project near
May as part of BMCC’s Meacham
bond issue. Children of the
• $130,000 for additional
students being trained at funds for wolf compensation
the center will be able to
Other funding allocated
attend preschool at the Early by the legislature could
Learning Center while their result in more money for
parents attend classes.
Eastern Oregon, including
The legislature also $300 million for seismic
earmarked $3.3 million for upgrades in public schools,
an Animal Science Educa- $45 million for Connect
tion Center for BMCC.
Oregon
infrastructure
2WKHU SURMHFWV VSHFL¿F improvement grants and
to Umatilla and Morrow $12 million to the Regional
County that will be funded if Solutions team.
Governor Kate Brown signs
———
the spending bills include:
Contact Jade McDowell
• $4 million for improve- at jmcdowell@eastorego-
ments to Interstate 84 nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Continued from 1A
JESUS: Only visible from
a small portion of the resort
Continued from 1A
religious endorsement.”
Bolton maintained that
there is, and he said the
Forest Service only granted
the permit to quell public
outcry after word spread in
2011 that the statue might
be removed.
Bolton came under
sharp questioning from
one of the judges, N.
Randy Smith, who seemed
skeptical of whether the
Wisconsin-based Freedom
From Religion Foundation
has standing in the case. He
asked Bolton which partic-
ular member of the group
has been harmed by the
Forest Service’s decision.
Bolton answered that a
Montana-based foundation
member, Pamela Morris,
would like to ski at Big
Mountain but has avoided
it for decades since encoun-
tering the Jesus statue as a
teenager.
Smith countered that the
statue is only visible from a
small portion of the resort
and it’s possible to ski all
day without seeing it.
“In other words, there’s
no reason to even avoid it,”
the judge said. “She has to
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it.”
“That’s not true, your
honor,” Bolton said.
“Well, that’s what the
evidence says,” Smith
replied.
The
Knights
of
Columbus put up the statue
to memorialize soldiers who
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World War II. The returning
veterans who built it were
inspired by the mountain
shrines and statues they saw
during their service in Italy.
U.S. Justice Department
attorney Joan Pepin said the
Forest Service acted with
neutrality and approved the
permit because the statue
KDV ORFDO KLVWRULFDO VLJQL¿-
cance. She told the judges
that the statue is primarily
a meeting place, a photo
backdrop and a “quirky
local landmark,” a reminder
RIKRZWKHFLW\RI:KLWH¿VK
used to be.
“It’s usually wearing
a ski helmet,” she said
of the statue. “There’s
nothing about its context
that suggests devotion is
encouraged.”
The judges gave no indi-
cation of when they might
rule.
M eet the Au thor!
M ary A. Johnson, Ph.
D.
- Speaking
briefly and
signing her
book,
“A Caregiver’s
Guide: Insights
into the
Later Years”
Thursday, July 9, 5:30 pm
Hosted by Raphael Hoffman
at Sundown Grill
233 SE 4th St., Pendleton
Free & Open to the Pu blic
Advance Directives, POLSTs,
& End-of-Life Forum
Savings up
Sale in Progress!
Hundres of
men's and
women's shoes
to select from
Earth
Earthies
Jambu
Born
Ahnu
Brooks
Bussola
Teva
Felmini
Worishofer
Taos
LaPlume
Fidji
Naot
Birkenstock
Jafa
Keen
Merrell
50% off
Smartwool Socks
613 N. Main Street, Milton Freewater, OR
541-938-5162 • www.saagershoeshop.com
to
50% off
Savings
up to
70%
off
on
Women's
Apparel
Have questions about End-of-Life planning
for you or your loved one?
Come get more information and have your
questions answered!
Saturday, July 11th • 9 am - 12 pm
St. Anthony Hospital
Conference Rooms 1 & 2 (by the cafeteria)
Enjoy our speakers, vendors, and refreshments!
For more information, please contact
Kodria Haddock: 541-429-5724 or
haddock@ohsu.edu
Rod Harwood: 541-278-3239 or
rodharwood@chiwest.com
2801 S T . A NTHONY W AY
P ENDLETON , OR 97801
WWW . SAHPENDLETON . ORG