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East Oregonian
Thursday, September 10, 2015
([SDQGHGµYLFWLP¶GH¿QLWLRQZLOONHHSFULPLQDOVORFNHGXS
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to hear from other victims
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
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dangerous criminals behind
bars will be easier in Oregon
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of “victim” under the state’s
parole rules, a victims’ rights
advocate says.
Danielle Tudor is one of
several victims of Richard
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ODQGDUHD ³MRJJHU UDSLVW´
who was convicted of rape,
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However,
because
Gillmore’s rape conviction
was not based on the crime
committed against Tudor,
she had trouble testifying
during his parole hearing in
2012.
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DQG 3RVW3ULVRQ 6XSHUYLVLRQ
initially refused to let Tudor
speak at the hearing but
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lawsuit, she said.
“That parole hearing for
me was traumatic but it was
also empowering,” she said.
Tudor describes it as
a pivotal moment that
convinced her to change the
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so that other people affected
SPILL: SDJH*53
‘too large to be effective’
Continued from 1A
in the water.
The data gets highly tech-
nical, involving the angle
of booms compared to the
river’s velocity, width and
depth carrying oil. Yet this
is the level of detail needed
to make sure the response
happens quickly to save
money and resources, Hogue
said.
“Spill plans tend to lack
that detail, and consequently
things don’t go as well as
they could,” he said.
Hogue said he’s been in
the oil spill business for 20
years now, and Elemental
Services’ clients include
VHYHUDO SLSHOLQHV DQG UH¿Q-
eries. He only submitted
comments to try and help
protect the area, which
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deserving of protection.”
In general, he said the
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to be effective, makes no
reference to the training and
preparedness of responders
and leaves crews to make
assumptions about how far
oil will travel before they
can start containment.
³:KHQLWFRPHVWRH[HFX-
tion, you have to know what
you’re doing,” Hogue said.
Chichester responded to
comments in a document
since posted to the Mid-Co-
OXPELD *53 ZHEVLWH +H
said auditing contractors for
readiness falls outside the
scope of the plan, but the
1RUWKZHVW $UHD &RPPLWWHH
vets the plan through
contractors likely to be hired
in case of a spill.
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the plan is split up into four
parts marked by the areas
downstream of Bonneville,
The Dalles, John Day and
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SRRO WKH SODQ LGHQWL¿HV
locations where personnel
can stage and what resources
they need to protect.
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includes
a
two-page
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recommended equipment,
maps
and
instructions
for deploying oil booms.
However, Chichester said
it is also important to allow
some room for responders
to make their own determi-
nations based on conditions
that could change.
³:H ZDQW WR JLYH GLUHF-
tions in the two-pagers, but
we also want responders to
use their brains, common
VHQVHDQGMXGJPHQW´&KLFK-
ester said.
In addition, the Columbia
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by the dams, and because
of that Chichester said the
water acts more like a lake
or reservoir, which alters the
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&KLFKHVWHU LV FRQ¿GHQW
the math worked out in the
XSGDWHG*53LVDFFXUDWHIRU
placing booms to protect
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ture.
“Each one of the strate-
gies are in place because we
think they have a chance of
working on the day some-
thing bad happens,” he said.
The
entire
updated
0LG&ROXPELD *53 FDQ EH
found online at www.ecy.
wa.gov.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
BRIEFLY
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theater pretzels and even milkshakes and salads will soon
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new ground in a national push for healthier eating habits.
The city Board of Health voted unanimously to require
chain eateries to put salt-shaker emblems on menus to
denote dishes with more than the recommended daily limit
of 2,300 milligrams of sodium. That’s about a teaspoon.
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misguided by salt producers and restaurateurs, the plan is
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efforts in the biggest city.
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usable information for our community to make better
health decisions,” health board member Dr. Deepthiman
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spread to other locales and spur eateries to cut down on
salt.
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each day, most of it from processed and restaurant food,
studies show. Overconsumption of sodium raises the risk
of high blood pressure and heart disease, the leading cause
of death in the U.S.
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authorities investigated a string of highway shootings
that have rattled nerves and heightened fears of a possible
serial shooter.
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hurt, agency spokesman Bart Graves said.
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of vehicles over the past two weeks. Four cars were hit last
week along the city’s main freeway. One bullet shattered a
windshield and the broken glass cut a 13-year-old girl. The
other rounds hit a headlight and the sides of vehicles.
Then on Tuesday, police announced that they were
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shattered the window of an off-duty police sergeant’s
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raced to a gas station after the driver of a white truck
pulled off Interstate 10 with a shattered window.
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called the incidents “domestic terrorism crimes.”
by crime could not be shut
out of similar parole hearings.
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back, but I can win,” she
said.
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documented
victim
of
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his sentencing, prosecutors
could not prosecute him
based on those facts because
the statute of limitations had
run out, she said.
Tudor was initially shut
out of the parole hearing
because she wasn’t the
“victim of incarceration”
under the board’s rules at the
time.
8QGHUWKHH[SDQGHGGH¿-
nition, however, the board
can consider testimony from
other people who have been
determined by the board,
the court or the prosecutor
to have suffered from the
convict’s crime or related
crimes.
Tudor said she worries
that Gillmore would be
released unless the parole
board can consider her story
and the stories of his other
victims.
“You wouldn’t hear about
how real it’s been in my life.
That would be lost,” she said.
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victim will affect other
criminals who are under
consideration for parole,
and provide the board with
a more accurate picture of
these convicts, she said.
“The parole board needs
to hear those voices,” Tudor
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into an inmate’s life like
they’re not going to get
otherwise.”
Not everybody is a fan
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though.
The Oregon Criminal
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ation is concerned the new
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inclusive and impede the
fairness of the parole process,
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“I don’t see why it
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frankly,” he said.
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is now “nebulous” and could
allow anyone with a tangen-
tial connection to the inmate
to testify at parole hearings.
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incident could potentially
speak at his parole hearing for
a murder conviction, even if
it was unrelated, he said.
“The person with the
broken leg can come in too
and say he shouldn’t get
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In another scenario,
an inmate may have been
convicted of assaulting
one victim but acquitted of
assaulting another person, he
said.
The victim of the
unproven assault could none-
theless testify at the parole
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Such a possibility would
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verdict, he said. “It’s stuff
like that that really concerns
us.”
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Continued from 1A
“Those who understand
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certainly concerned,” he
said. “The county wants to
stay close to this issue.”
Much of the damaged
area are steep slopes now
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in the lack of vegetation
and the potential for cata-
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In
the
worst-case
scenario, Ferguson said,
“the silt and ash and debris
that could come down that
creek could be devastating.
Everybody is still pretty
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But I am worried about the
possibility of imminent
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don’t have anything left to
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The county has asked
Ferguson to get ahead of
the issue and work with
the various agencies to
coordinate the restoration
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that will take place.
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cials from the U.S. Forest
Service, Natural Resources
Conservation Service and
other agencies Sept. 2
and the different entities
began hashing out a plan to
address the issue.
Malheur National Forest
Supervisor Steve Beverlin
told people attending the
Grant County Court’s
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that restoration efforts
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including soil stabilization
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ects, will be conducted as
quickly as possible.
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as we can,” he said. “My
directions to my team are:
Let’s have those invest-
ments down before the
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to Grant County Court,
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condition of the Canyon
Creek drainage is a poten-
tially catastrophic situation.
Given a good rain, the
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may come down Canyon
Creek is hard to predict or
imagine at this point.”
In the report, Ferguson
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mitigation focus was on
Canyon Creek “but as the
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in size, other areas and
watersheds will probably
also need attention.”
Ferguson has already
touched base with multiple
agencies that will be
involved in the restoration
effort and said one of
his tasks will be to try to
ensure there are no gaps or
overlap.
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is coordinate the efforts
of all the agencies so we
get the most bang for our
buck,” he said.
Britton said the county
is hoping to cut through
the red tape that will be
involved with such large
restoration efforts and get
the work done quickly.
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ahead of this,” he said.
“Let’s be proactive to keep
this thing from being worse
than it already is.”
Grant County Court
Judge Scott Myers said
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legitimate.
“If we were to have a
gully washer or sudden
downpour, with all the
vegetation upstream of
Canyon City virtually gone,
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mud and debris … rushing
into Canyon City,” he said.
SWIFT: Counted over 500 birds last year above the chimney
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back, they often return to the
lot near City Hall. The trio
same roosting spots.
of birders lifted their binoc-
The tiny aerialists have
ulars and peered intently at
a regular route that includes
several tiny dots in the sky
stopovers at La Grande and
somewhere over the river.
the University of Oregon
— Jack Simons, local birder campus. Thousands of swifts
Only a few, though, not
the same swirling horde as
have roosted at Chapman
During the four nights 6FKRROLQ3RUWODQGVLQFHWKH
last year. Twenty minutes RQH RXW WKH QH[W GD\ DQG
later, Skirvin and LaSarge counted each black dot in the the swifts bunked down in V +XPDQ REVHUYHUV
detected another dozen from sky for a total of 508 birds. WKH 3HQGOHWRQ FKLPQH\ ODVW come with lawn chairs, blan-
WKH 3HQGOHWRQ 5LYHU :DON $ FRXSOH RI QLJKWV ODWHU September, tourists took kets and cameras to watch.
ÀLWWLQJRYHUWKH(ONV/RGJH Skirvin counted by tens as he notice as they walked by.
Simons hopes the swifts
The birders hope hundreds stared at the swirling mass :KHQ REVHUYHUV PLVLGHQWL- ZLOOEOHVV3HQGOHWRQWRRDQG
PRUH ZLOO DUULYH LQ WKH QH[W above the chimney and got ¿HGWKHFUHDWXUHVDVEDWVWKH is encouraged by the early
birders cheerfully set them birds that are likely choosing
520.
several week.
straight.
The
swifts
prefer
to
roost
/DVW \HDU WKH SDLU ¿UVW
smaller roosting spots in
One
night,
Simons homes, trees or commercial
spotted the cloud of swifts in hollowed-out trees found
on Sept. 12 as they walked in stands of old growth watched with trepidation as a buildings.
back to their car from the timber, but much of that helicopter giving sightseeing
³$V WKH ÀRFNV JURZ LQ
carnival on Main Street. habitat is dwindling, a loss rides headed toward the size, they need larger roosting
Skirvin called Simons, who of critical shelter. Unlike chimney.
sites and eventually will end
“The swifts saw the up at the Vert chimney, which
headed to City Hall with his PRVW ELUGV 9DX[¶V VZLIWV
FDQ¶W ÀXII WKHLU IHDWKHUV IRU helicopter and dropped from can accommodate hundreds
camera.
³$DURQFDOOPHDQGVDLGWR warmth or wrap their toes the sky, 500 black ribbons RI ELUGV´ KH VDLG 9DX[¶V
check out the Vert chimney,” around branches and wires to falling as fast as you can swifts are very gregarious
Simons said. “It was a home perch. Instead they cling to imagine,” he said.
during migration and prefer
The birds turned toward to roost together.”
run. It was a tornado of swifts the mortar in brick chimneys
going into the chimney. They and snuggle together for the river, but within minutes,
The birders will count
they were back.
were a horde, twisting and warmth.
the swifts nightly through
“They’ve adapted pretty
If the swifts show up en Round-Up.
diving in.”
³7KH\ ORRN OLNH OLWWOH MHW ZHOO´ 6LPRQV VDLG ³$OO XS masse again, the birders say,
———
and down the west coast, it could mean a new pattern
airplanes,” LaSarge said.
Contact Kathy Aney at
Simons set up his tripod WKH\¿QGWKHVHELJLQGXVWULDO KDV EHHQ HVWDEOLVKHG $V kaney@eastoregonian.com
the birds migrate to Central or call 541-966-0810.
and took photos. He printed chimneys.”
Continued from 1A
“(The Vert chimney) was a home run.
It was a tornado of swifts going into
the chimney. They were a horde,
twisting and diving in.”
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