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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2016)
HERMISTON GIRLS ROAD TESTED BASKETBALL/1B ORTHODOX FAITHFUL CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS Tip of the hat; kick in the pants OPINION/4A FAITH/7A FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2016 140th Year, No. 60 Your Weekend • • • Dancing with Your Hermiston Stars Daddy Daughter Dress Exchange Oldies Night at the Library 10th Anniversary For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Catch a movie Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox via AP Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy star in the gritty, frontier survival fi lm, “The Revenant.” For showtime, Page 5A Weekend Weather Fri 35/24 Sat 33/27 Sun 34/20 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Sheriff asks group to leave Ward meets with Bundy to relay residents’ wishes By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press BURNS — Three Oregon sheriffs met Thursday with an armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge in south- eastern Oregon and asked them to leave, after residents made it clear they wanted them to go home. Harney County Sheriff David Ward, accompanied by two other sheriffs, asked Ammon Bundy and his group to respect the wishes of residents and end an occupation that began last weekend to protest federal land management policies. “There are some positives that could come out of this,” Ward told Bundy during their meeting at the intersection of two remote roads. “Before this thing turns into something negative, which would ruin all of that, I think we QHHG WR ¿QG D SHDFHIXO UHVROX tion to help you guys get out of See BURNS/8A Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward meets with Ammon Bundy at a remote location outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday near Burns. Watch a game OUT OF THE VAULT vs. $UPHGSRVVHWRRNRYHU6WDQ¿HOGSRWDWRVKHGLQ By RENEE STRUTHERS East Oregonian Heppner vs. Irrigon Friday, 6 p.m., at Irrigon T Wheeler says energy loan program needs bailout By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — State Trea- surer Ted Wheeler sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown Thursday morning calling on the governor to stop the Oregon Department of Energy from issuing any new small scale loans because the loan fund has a $20 million GH¿FLW DQG ZLOO UHTXLUH D taxpayer bailout. The program was supposed to be self-sus- taining, but loan defaults and GHOLQTXHQW SD\PHQWV KDYH left it without enough money to cover its costs. The bailout will likely See BAILOUT/3A EO fi le photo ABOVE: In this EO fi le photo, Dept. Dist Atty. David Gallaher, Dist. Atty. Jack Olsen, Sheriff William McPherson and Dept. Dist. Atty. Fred Bennet confer during a standoff at a Stanfi eld area potato packing shed near Stanfi eld Aug. 27, 1976. The shed was taken over by an armed posse in a dispute over land ownership. RIGHT: In this EO fi le photo, posse leader Donald Goodwin sits in a police car following his arrest for his part in taking over a Mikami Brothers potato packing shed near Stanfi eld Aug. 27, 1976. he armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns wasn’t the ¿UVWWLPHDGLVJUXQWOHGJURXSKDV taken over property in a dispute over ownership of Eastern Oregon land. A group of seven armed gunmen, including an avowed member of the Posse Comitatus, took over Renee a potato shed near Struthers 6WDQ¿HOGRQ$XJ Out of the Vault 27, 1976, claiming the land rightfully belonged to them. Fifteen employees of the Mikami Brothers potato packing plant on Despain Gulch Road seven miles HDVWRI6WDQ¿HOGZHUHWXUQHGDZD\DW See VAULT/8A Obama tears into the NRA Clean energy By JOSH LEDERMAN and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. — President Barack Obama tore into the National 5LÀH$VVRFLDWLRQRQ7KXUVGD\DVKH sought support for his actions on gun control, accusing the powerful lobby group of peddling an ³LPDJLQDU\¿FWLRQ´WKDWKHVDLGKDV distorted the national debate about gun violence. In a prime-time, televised town hall meeting, Obama dismissed what he called a “conspiracy” alleging that the federal government — and Obama in particular — wants WRVHL]HDOO¿UHDUPVDVDSUHFXUVRUWR imposing martial law. He blamed that notion on the NRA and like- minded groups that convince its members that “somebody’s going to come grab your guns.” “Yes, that is a conspiracy,” Obama said. “I’m only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?” Obama defended his support for the constitutional right to gun AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais ownership while arguing it was consistent with his efforts to curb President Barack Obama answers questions during a See OBAMA/8A CNN televised town hall meeting at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Thursday. plan would oust coal by 2030 By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Oregon’s two largest electric utilities are taking an aggressive swing at lowering their carbon footprint. The plan still needs lawmakers’ approval, but LI SDVVHG 3DFL¿F 3RZHU DQG 3RUWODQG *HQHUDO Electric say they will stop using coal by 2030 and double their renewable energy mandate by 2040. The proposal would not affect consum- er-owned utilities like the Umatilla Electric Cooperative or Columbia Basin Electric Co-op. 7RJHWKHU 3DFL¿F 3RZHU DQG 3*( DFFRXQW IRU SHUFHQWRIHOHFWULFLW\VDOHVVWDWHZLGH3DFL¿F Power serves 17,847 customers in Umatilla County. /DUJHXWLOLWLHVLQ2UHJRQDUHDOUHDG\UHTXLUHG by the state’s renewable portfolio standard to generate 25 percent of power renewable sources — such as new wind or solar farms — by 2025. 8QGHU WKH DJUHHPHQW 3DFL¿F 3RZHU DQG 3*( say they will ramp that total up to 50 percent by 2040. Both utilities would also phase coal out See ENERGY/3A