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Page 4A NORTHWEST East Oregonian Saturday, October 10, 2015 BRIEFLY VWXGHQWNLOOHGZRXQGHGDW 8S aEanGons Pentagon¶s IaileG $UL]RQDFDPSXVGXULQJ¿JKW reEelEuilGing Oregon marijuana stores sell more than $11 million in ¿ rst ¿ Ye Ga\s AP Photo/Ryan Kang Dulcie Bagley, holds a welcome sign, as she walks by demon- strators outside of Roseburg Regional Airport, Friday. AP Photo/Ryan Kang Demonstrators supporting President Barack Obama wait out- side of Roseburg Regional Airport for his arrival Friday. Strong emotions as OEama Yisits RoseEurg By GOSIA WOZNIACKA Associated Press ROSEBURG — Gun-rights activists and others gave voice to strong emotions on Friday when President Barack Obama came to meet privately with grieving fam- ilies whose loved ones were killed on a college campus in Roseburg, Oregon. Many residents were angry over the call for more gun restric- tions the president made soon af- ter last week’s shooting. However, there were also Obama supporters among the people waiting behind a security fence near the airport to catch a glimpse of the president. They included two men on bi- cycles — Phil Benedetti and John Poole. “I want to support our presi- dent,” said Benedetti, a Roseburg physician. “This isn’t about gun control, it’s about caring about the welfare of the small town and every small town when tragedy happens.” He said he owns several guns for hunting and chasing deer from his garden but believes assault weapons shouldn’t be available to the general public. More than 200 gun-rights ac- tivists also gathered outside Rose- burg airport — some carrying hol- stered handguns. “I’m here to tell Obama he is not welcome in our county. He is exploiting the local tragedy with his gun control agenda,” said Bruce Rester, a retired truck driv- er who was wearing a handgun in a holster over his chest. “Everybody should carry a gun. An armed society is a polite society,” he added. As Roseburg buries its dead, it’s also trying to heal. The com- plexities of residents’ emotions ZHUHUHÀHFWHGLQWKHVLJQVWKDWDUH everywhere around the communi- ty — at fast-food places, cafes and churches. Some have messages like “Pray for UCC” and “UCC Strong.” The signs refer to Umpqua Michael Sullivan/The News-Review via AP “This isn’t about gun control, it’s about car- ing about the welfare of the small town and every small town when tragedy happens.” — Phil Benedetti, Roseburg physician Community College, where Christopher Harper-Mercer killed eight students and a teacher be- fore turning the gun on himself after a shootout with police. Billie McMillian, a business owner from Eagle Point who at- tended the protest with her hus- band, said they came to support the families of the victims and because they didn’t agree with the president. “We support the Second Amendment. It’s our God-given right to protect ourselves,” she said. Protesters also carried signs voicing support for Sheriff John Hanlin, who has been highly visible during press conferences about the college shooting. Three years ago, after 20 chil- dren and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Hanlin sent a letter to Vice Pres- ident Joe Biden saying he would not enforce any new gun legisla- tion he deemed to be unconstitu- tional. Poole, a retired property de- veloper from Klamath Falls, said he too believes in the Second Amendment right to carry arms but also supports “rational, com- mon sense gun laws.” Funerals for the nine victims of Harper-Mercer have been held throughout the week, and more were scheduled in the days ahead. The college reopened Mon- day and counselors have been on campus to help students, faculty and staff deal with the trauma that all of Roseburg is feeling. Grief counselors are also available at QRQSUR¿WV During his visit to Roseburg, the president met with leaders of the community college to express his thanks and condolences. Obama made no public ap- pearances during his visit to the city. It is not known what Obama told the families of those killed in the campus killings. Just before leaving Roseburg, he told a small group of reporters: “We’re going to have to come to- gether as a country, but today is about the families.” ETuiSment malIunFtion Fauses Gam e[Slosion By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — An electrical equipment malfunction caused an explosion at a hydro- electric dam on Washington’s Columbia River that injured six ZRUNHUVXWLOLW\RI¿FLDOVVDLG)UL day. The explosion occurred Thurs- day afternoon at one of 10 elec- tricity generating units at the Priest Rapids Dam near the cen- tral Washington city of Mattawa, Grant County Public Utility Dis- trict spokesman Chuck Allen said. “There was no structural dam- age to the facility and no resulting threats to public safety related to this incident,” he said. “The dam is being operated safely at this time.” Five workers were being treat- ed at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Two men, both in their 40s, are in critical condition and in the intensive care unit, while three men are in satisfactory con- dition, spokesman Susan Gregg said Friday. All were being treat- ed for burns. The sixth worker has been re- leased from a hospital, the utility said in a press release. The utility declined to release the identities or other informa- tion about the injured employees, saying it wanted to protect their privacy. ³7KLVLVDGLI¿FXOWGD\IRUHY eryone here at Grant PUD,” said acting general manager Kevin Nordt. “We are all concerned for our co-workers who were injured yesterday and are doing every- D e s i g n Winner of the ONPA 2015 General Excellence Award P r i n t Q u a l i t y d v e r t i s i n g t i n g W r i t o s o P h SALEM (AP) — The Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association estimates that marijuana stores sold more than $11 million of marijuana GXULQJWKHVWDWH¶V¿UVWZHHNRIOHJDO recreational sales. The Statesman Journal in Salem reports that Oregon sales outpaced WKH¿UVWZHHNRIUHFUHDWLRQDOVDOHVLQ Colorado and Washington. Colorado’s ¿UVWZHHNRIVDOHVUHDFKHGPLOOLRQ,Q :DVKLQJWRQVWDWHVDOHVGXULQJWKH¿UVW month hit $2 million. Retailers of Cannabis Association Executive Director Casey Houlihan VD\VWKH¿UVWGD\DORQHEURXJKWLQ million in Oregon. Marijuana stores opened their doors to recreational users on Oct. 1. 0an Zho SulleG gun on hitanGrun GriYer to IaFe no Fharges BEND (AP) — The Deschutes County District Attorney says a 6SULQJ¿HOGPDQZKRSXOOHGDKDQGJXQ on a driver involved in an alleged- hit-and-run in Redmond will not face criminal charges. The Bend Bulletin reports that District Attorney John Hummel said Thursday that it was not legally MXVWL¿DEOHIRU-RVKXD'RUQRQWRSRLQWWKH weapon at another person, but that the district attorney will not press charges in light of Dornon’s “good Samaritan” deeds, such as pulling injured passengers out of the wrecked vehicle. 2I¿FLDOVWKHGULYHURID)RUG) struck and parked car, causing his truck WRÀLSDQGODQGRQLWVWRS'RUQRQ pulled a passenger and driver out of the truck before the driver took off on foot. Dornon chased after, pointing his gun at the driver and stopping his escape. HunGreGs testiI\ on oil terminals SroSoseG Ior *ra\s HarEor President Obama meets Oregon Gov. Kate Brown after disembarking from Marine One at Rose- burg Regional Airport, Friday in Roseburg. A thing we can to show them our VXSSRUWLQWKLVGLI¿FXOWWLPH´ The generating unit where the explosion occurred will be shut GRZQ XQWLO RI¿FLDOV GHWHUPLQH what happened and how to pre- vent it, Allen said. The utility is investigating, along with state workplace regu- lators. They don’t know yet what caused the equipment to fail, Al- len said. Kyle Foreman, a spokesman with the Grant County Sheriff’s 2I¿FHVDLGKLVDJHQF\ZRQ¶WEH investigating because “there’s no indication of criminal wrongdo- ing or terrorism.” The people injured in the explosion are power plant elec- tricians and operators whose primary duties are to work on equipment at the dam, Allen said. The Priest Rapids Dam was built in the 1950s and is one of two operated by the Grant PUD along the Columbia River to pro- vide some of the nation’s cheap- est electricity to residents. The publicly owned utility serves about 46,000 customers in Grant County, which is about 150 miles east of Seattle. The concrete dam is 178 feet high and more than 10,000 feet long Last year, power production from the utility’s other dam was re- duced for a time after a crack was discovered in one spillway. The reservoir behind the Wanapum Dam was drawn down by more than two dozen feet to reduce pres- sure on the structure while repairs were made. The repairs on that GDPZKLFKRSHQHGLQFRVW more than $86 million. NATION/WORLD Saturday, October 10, 2015 ABERDEEN, Wash. (AP) — A few hundred people turned out to testify at a hearing on two oil terminals proposed at the Port of Grays Harbor in Hoquiam. KXRO-AM says protesters rallied against before Thursday’s public hearing in Aberdeen. They came from around Grays Harbor as well as others who bused in from Olympia, Vancouver and Portland, Oregon. Westway Terminal Co. and Renewable Energy Group, which acquired Imperium, want to expand existing facilities to bring crude oil by train from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana. The oil would then be transported by tankers or barges to UH¿QHULHVLQ3XJHW6RXQGDQGQRUWKHUQ California. Quinault Indian Nation President Fawn Sharp says the environment needs to be protected. Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay says it’s clear people have concerns DERXWWUDLQWUDI¿FULVNRIRLOVSLOOVDQG air quality. Hoquiam and the state Department of Ecology are getting comments on the draft environmental studies until Oct. 29. )ormer sheriII¶s GeSut\ aGmits to launGering mone\ Ior EiNini Earistas EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A former Snohomish County sheriff’s sergeant has pleaded guilty to helping launder money from a prostitution operation run out of roadside coffee stands. The Daily Herald reports 60-year-old Darrell O’Neill pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit money ODXQGHULQJDQGRI¿FLDOPLVFRQGXFWLQ Snohomish County Superior Court. He faces up to a year in jail. The case stemmed from an investigation into coffee stands where bikini-clad baristas were allegedly engaged in sex shows and prostitution to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips. Two women who played key roles in the operation have pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution. Prosecutors say the women traded sex for O’Neill’s help. O’Neill initially claimed he frequented the stands for police work. He later admitted he had traded information in exchange for sexual contact with the baristas. He resigned DIWHUKLVDUUHVWLQ-XQH By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — An overnight brawl between two groups of students escalated into violence Friday when a freshman at Northern Arizo- QD8QLYHUVLW\RSHQHG¿UHRQ four fraternity members, kill- ing one and wounding three. Steven Jones, an 18-year- old fraternity pledge, told police he shot the group of students only after they hit him in the face and chased him, according to court docu- ments. He also said he tried to DGPLQLVWHU¿UVWDLGWRRQHRI the victims. Prosecutors said the sus- pect’s account amounted to a “self-serving” statement and alleged Jones was the aggres- sor. “There is no indication of self-defense here,” Depu- ty County Attorney Ammon Barker said. “The defendant KDG UHWUHDWHG IURP WKH ¿JKW he obtained a gun and then he went back into the fray.” The shooting occurred in a parking lot just outside Moun- tain View Hall dormitory on the Flagstaff campus, which provides housing for many of the campus’ sororities and fraternities. The victims were all members of the Delta Chi fraternity while Jones was a pledge at Sigma Chi. It’s not FOHDUZK\WKH¿JKWVWDUWHG Student Colin Brough was killed, and Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicho- las Piring were wounded. The prosecutor said Brough was hit twice — in the chest and shoulder — with Jones’ .40-caliber handgun. Flag- staff Medical Center said it couldn’t release any informa- tion on conditions. “This is not going to be a normal day at NAU,” said school President Rita Cheng. “Our hearts are heavy.” Jones told investiga- tors that several people ap- proached him and two friends while they were outside a UHVLGHQFH $ ¿JKW EURNH RXW between the two groups, and Jones said he was hit in the face. He says a group chased him to his car, where he re- trieved a handgun. Two of TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked an Obama administration rule that at- tempts to clarify which small streams, wetlands and other waterways the government can shield from pollution and development. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati put the regulations on hold nationwide until the court decides whether it has juris- diction to consider lawsuits against them. More than KDOI WKH VWDWHV KDYH ¿OHG OH gal challenges, continuing a debate over federal water protection authority that two Supreme Court cases and extensive rulemaking efforts over the past 14 years have failed to resolve. The Environmental Pro- tection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued their latest regulations LQ 0D\ GUDZLQJ ¿HUFH FULWL cism from landowner groups and conservative lawmakers who described them as costly, confusing and a government power grab. Environmental- ists and other supporters said they would safeguard drink- Page 5A eIIort in S\ria Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP Braedon Day, from left, Christopher Huston and Michael Zowada pray during a vigil, Friday, outside the Northern Arizona University union, in Flagstaff, Ariz. An overnight brawl between two groups of students escalated into violence Friday when a fresh- man at the university opened fi re. the victims had stopped fol- lowing him but turned around when Jones yelled that he had a gun, court documents said. At one point, a group tried WR VXEGXH -RQHV ZKR ¿UHG a shot in the air. Jones said KH WKHQ GURSSHG KLV ¿UHDUP ZKLFK KDG D ÀDVKOLJKW DW tached to it. Jones was booked Friday IRU RQH FRXQW RI ¿UVWGHJUHH homicide and three counts of aggravated assault. Defense attorney Burges McCowan asked Flagstaff Justice Court Judge Paul Christian to allow Jones to be released to his parents in Glendale, Arizona, saying he has no prior criminal history and is a lifelong resident of Arizona. The set bond at $2 million. “He has no other place to go,” McCowan said. Brough was from Castle 5RFN &RORUDGR DERXW miles south of downtown Denver. He loved to play la- crosse and wanted to be suc- cessful so he could help other people, said his cousin, Ryan Jernegan of Woodbury, New Jersey. He also worked as a lifeguard at a Flagstaff recre- ation center. “He was the happiest per- son that you probably would ever meet,” Jernegan said. He worked as a cashier at the Puma outlet store in Cas- tle Rock during the summer after graduating high school. Manager Chauncey Musser remembered him as an out- going employee with a seem- ingly bottomless supply of energy. Alex McIntosh, a friend of Zientek, said he worked part time at the High Country Conference Center while at- tending school full time. “He’s very calm, very re- spectful, has a great manner, calm demeanor and you’d never expect him to be caught up in something like this,” McIntosh said. The shooting set off pan- ic at the Flagstaff campus as students heard gunshots and quickly took to social media WR¿JXUHRXWZKDWKDSSHQHG Student Maria Gonzalez told The Associated Press WKDWVKHDW¿UVWVXVSHFWHG¿UH crackers when the shooting happened. “I was studying for an exam, so I looked out the window and see two people running, and that’s when I re- DOL]HGWKH\ZHUHQ¶W¿UHZRUNV they were actually gunshots,” she said. The Flagstaff shooting comes on the same day that President Barack Obama visited Roseburg, Oregon, where eight students and a teacher were shot and killed last week at Umpqua Com- munity College. In Texas, a student was killed and another person was wounded in a shooting out- side a Texas Southern Uni- versity student-housing com- plex on Friday. A brief panic broke out in Kentucky hours later when there were reports RI VKRWV ¿UHG RQ D FROOHJH campus. The reports turned out to be unfounded. Northern Arizona Uni- versity is a four-year public university that has more than 25,000 total undergraduate students at the campus in Flagstaff, a city about two hours north of Phoenix that is surrounded by mountains and ponderosa pines. The city of 70,000 people has a reputa- tion for being a safe place and typically records only one murder per year. “It’s crazy. You don’t think this stuff happens. When I think of Flagstaff, I think safety,” said freshman Cam- eron Sands, who had pledged at a fraternity and was sup- posed to move into Mountain View Hall on Friday. &ourt Suts holG on regulation SroteFting ZaterZa\s By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer East Oregonian ing water for 117 million Americans while preserving ZHWODQGVWKDW¿OWHURXWSROOXW DQWVFRQWUROÀRRGVDQGSUR vide crucial wildlife habitat. The EPA and the Corps said in a joint statement that they respected the court’s decision and looked forward to defending the rule, which they said “represents the agencies’ continuing com- mitment to protecting and restoring the nation’s water resources that are vital for our health, environment, and economy.” Rep. Greg Walden (R-Or- egon) has been a vocal oppo- nent of the rule since May, and released a statement Friday calling the court’s decision “a victory for farm- ers, ranchers, and property owners in rural Oregon and throughout the nation.” “This power grab would have expanded federal au- thority over virtually any water in the nation, includ- ing canals, irrigation ditch- es, vernal pools, and stock ponds,” he continued. “Now that the court has spoken, I call on the Administration to permanently withdraw this ÀDZHG SURSRVDO ,W¶V WLPH WR ditch this rule.” Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, chair- man of the Environment and Public Works Committee, also called the court ruling “a victory” and urged Congress to approve legislation that would force the agencies to rewrite the rule. The House has done so, while similar measure has cleared a Senate committee. The White House has threatened a veto. U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson, in Fargo, N.D., blocked the rule’s imple- PHQWDWLRQ LQ FHQWUDO DQG Western states shortly before it took effect in August. Er- ickson said judges have wide discretion to craft their orders narrowly or broadly, but he declined to extend his order to additional states. The Sixth Circuit panel took a different approach, even while acknowledging uncertainty over which court was the proper venue for the legal battle. Judges David W. McKeague and Rich- DUG $OOHQ *ULI¿Q ² ERWK appointed by Republican President George W. Bush — said delaying implemen- tation nationwide “tempo- rarily silences the whirlwind of confusion that springs from uncertainty about the requirements of the new rule and whether they will sur- vive legal testing.” The legal challenges have “a substantial possibility of success,” the judges said, adding that it was “far from clear” that the new regula- tions comply with guidelines in the Supreme Court’s latest ruling in 2006. Judge Damon Keith, ap- pointed by Democratic Pres- ident Jimmy Carter, dissent- ed, saying the court should not interfere with the rule be- fore the jurisdiction question was answered. The Obama administra- tion could challenge the 6th circuit ruling. In an immigra- tion case, the administration has appealed a nationwide order issued by a federal judge in Texas that blocks the government from imple- menting rules to spare nearly 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally from deporta- tion. At issue in the ruling Fri- day is which smaller water- ways — those not adjacent to navigable rivers or lakes — are subject to federal over- sight under the Clean Water Act. The EPA contends that Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 left 60 per- cent of the nation’s streams and millions of acres of wet- lands without clear federal protection. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administra- tion is overhauling its ap- SURDFKWR¿JKWLQJWKH,VODP ic State in Syria, abandoning a failed Pentagon effort to build a new ground force of moderate rebels and instead partnering with established UHEHO JURXSV RI¿FLDOV VDLG Friday. The shift, telegraphed weeks ago by disclosures that the effort had produced only a handful of trained rebels, is meant partly to take better advantage of U.S. airpower, which can play a bigger role now that Turkey is permitting Amer- LFDQ ¿JKWHU MHWV WR RSHUDWH from its soil. But it is not expected to immediately give new momentum to a slow-moving — some would say stalled — Amer- ican-led campaign against the Islamic State. The aim is to work with established rebel units “so that over time they can make a concerted push into territo- ry still controlled by ISIL,” said Pentagon press secre- tary Peter Cook. Others said the hope is to put much more pressure on the northern city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s declared capital. The change also re- ÀHFWV JURZLQJ FRQFHUQ LQ the Obama administration that Russia’s intervention has complicated the Syrian EDWWOH¿HOG DQG JLYHQ QHZ life to President Bashar Assad. Russian airstrikes have raised questions about whether and how the U.S. would protect rebel groups it is working with if they are hit by Russian bombs. Meanwhile, the CIA has VLQFH WUDLQHG VRPH UHEHOV WR ¿JKW $V sad’s forces. Those groups KDYHPDGHVLJQL¿FDQWSURJ ress against strongholds of the Alawites, Assad’s sect, but are now under Russian bombardment. The covert CIA program is the only way the U.S. is taking on Assad militarily. The administration is under heavy criticism in &RQJUHVV IRU D ÀDZHG DS SURDFK LQ 6\ULD DPSOL¿HG by Russia’s muscular moves to launch ship-based cruise missile strikes and deploy ¿JKWHU DLUFUDIW DQG EDWWOH ¿HOG ZHDSRQU\ ² DFWLRQV that caught the U.S. by sur- prise and underscored the failure of the Pentagon’s $500 million program to train and equip rebels. “The administration has had a weak, inadequate policy in Syria and a weak, inadequate policy against ISIS,” said Rep. Mac Thorn- berry of Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “Adjusting one program, even if it were suc- cessful, will not solve the problem.” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday the new Pentagon approach is in line with the administration’s basic formula of leveraging U.S. and coalition airpower by coordinating with anti-IS Syrian rebels on the ground. The U.S. has had success working, for example, with Syrian Kurds and Sunni Arab rebel groups in north- ern Syria. The U.S. believes a capable ground force is essential for success against IS, but those troops will not be American. Divided Republicans see savior in Paul Ryan WASHINGTON (AP) — Endlessly divided, House Republicans pleaded with Rep. Paul Ryan on Friday to rescue them from their damaging leadership vac- uum. But the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee showed little appetite for the prestigious yet thankless job of speaker of the House. The Wiscon- sin Republican who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Com- mittee — his dream job, he’s repeatedly de- Ryan clared — refused comment again and again as reporters chased him around the Capitol a day after Ma- jority Leader Kevin McCa- rthy shocked his colleagues by withdrawing from the speaker’s race moments be- fore the vote. McCarthy’s abrupt de- cision came just two weeks after the current speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, an- nounced his own plans to resign at month’s end, citing opposition from the small but strident bloc of hardcore conservatives who almost immediately turned on Mc- Carthy, Boehner’s No. 2. That left Republicans in chaos, with a yawning void at the top of their leadership ladder even as they confront HQRUPRXV ¿VFDO FKDOOHQJHV and budgetary deadlines that DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor GARY WEST Hermiston Editor E.J. HARRIS Photojournalist KATHY ANEY Senior Reporter/ Photographer GEORGE PLAVEN Reporter ANTONIO SIERRA Reporter MATT ENTRUP Sports Reporter SAM BARBEE Sports Reporter TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor/Deputy Managing Editor TAMMY MALGESINI Community Editor RENEE STRUTHERS Community Records Editor PHIL WRIGHT Senior Reporter JADE MCDOWELL Reporter SEAN HART Reporter DREW LANGTON Page Designer/ Web Editor ERIC SINGER Sports Reporter could threaten a government shutdown and unprecedent- ed default in the months to come. So GOP lawmakers, from Boehner and McCa- rthy on down, turned to 5\DQWKHRQO\¿JXUHLQ the House seen as having the stature, wide appeal and intelli- gence to lead Re- publicans out of the mess they’re in. Ryan’s spokes- man, Brendan Buck, said: “Chairman Ryan appreciates the support he’s get- ting from his col- leagues but is still not run- ning for speaker.” Why not? Possible rea- sons include the presidential ambitions he may well still harbor. The speaker’s post, highly prestigious and sec- ond in line to the presidency, requires a huge commit- ment of time and effort in corralling a party’s House members. It is not on any- one’s tactical roadmap to the White House. But Republicans were determined to do what they could to get Ryan to recon- sider. Rep. Darrell Issa of California said he carried Ryan’s gym bag for him Friday morning in an effort to persuade him to run, and 5\DQ HYHQ ¿HOGHG D FDOO from his presidential run- ning mate, Mitt Romney.