Page 8A
NATION
East Oregonian
HOMELESS: HUD’s de¿nition doesn’t encompass couch surfers
Continued from 1A
the Salvation Army. Flyers
hung around town had urged
anyone who was homeless
to come to the Salvation
Army in Pendleton for lunch
and an anonymous survey.
When Richards and Bowman
arrived, they ¿nally got to asN
their questions. One-by-one,
men and women sat down
for short interviews, then
looNed through a selection of
giveaways such as lip balm,
socNs, water bottles, granola
bars, hats and other items.
0ichelle +ensley shucNed
off a heavy coat, gloves and
hat before sitting down with
Bowman.
“Are you currently home-
less"´ Bowman asNed.
The 47-year-old nodded.
“Where are you staying
tonight?”
“I live in a tent by the
Columbia River,” Hensley
said.
She told Bowman she
was laid off from her job and
camps near Umatilla with her
dog — a Rottweiler/Shar Pei
cross. Before the layoff, she
said, “I always had a really
nice house.”
Down the table a ways,
Richards interviewed a couple
who answered her questions
with sad and serious expres-
sions on their young faces.
Richards, who helped
organize the count and is a
case manager for CAPECO’s
Moving Forward Program,
said HUD’s de¿nition of
homeless is narrow.
“People
considered
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Owen McLaughlin, who has struggled with homeless-
ness for years, stuffs a new pair of socks into his back-
pack he was given Wednesday after he participated in
the annual Point In Time Homeless Count conducted
by the Community Action Program of East Central Or-
egon and other agencies.
homeless live in emergency
shelters. They camp or sleep
outside,” she said. “They
sleep in vehicles or motels.
They stay in places not meant
for human habitation such as
garages and sheds.”
The de¿nition doesn’t
encompass couch surfers
or others who temporarily
bunN with others. CAPECO,
however, collects that infor-
mation for its own purposes.
“There are people who
are truly homeless who don’t
meet the HUD de¿nition,”
Richards said.
For all this data collection,
Richards said they are really
only getting a glimpse of
the problem. This Nind of
surveying obviously is not
an exact science. Past counts
revealed a Àuctuating number
of homeless in the county —
235 in 2011, 195 in 2012, 171
in 2013, 239 in 2014 and 86
in 2015.
The drop in 2015 had more
to do with HUD clarifying its
de¿nition, she said, and the
fact that the count occurred on
a day that was unseasonably
warm. The county’s warming
stations were closed. This
year, both warming stations
opened despite warmer
temperatures to attract more
homeless for the count with
the promise of a dinner.
At the Salvation Army,
Sally Susser said she’s not
homeless now, but was
without a home for eight
years. Susser said she’s seen
more homeless this year.
“Some of them are sitting
at the library, some are in
restaurants and some are
walNing the streets,” Susser
said. “They sleep by the river.
They sleep curled up behind
buildings and in the woods.”
Warren May said he
currently lives in someone’s
garage. He said many home-
less just stay off the radar.
“They hunNer down,” he
said. “They are lonely.”
Some have mental illness.
A man who said he had PTSD
is angry about his life. When
a Salvation Army worNer
advised him where he could
get a shower voucher, he
spoNe in frustrated tones
saying he has already used his
quota. When she offered to
pray with him, he lashed out.
“If there was a god, would
I be freezing every night?” he
snapped. “Would my feet be
blacN?”
Those Ninds of sentiments
are dif¿cult for Richards
and Bowman to hear since
CAPECO’s programs help
some, but not all. Accurate
data could help maNe the
picture clearer.
“We’re not just looNing for
information,” she said. “We
really do care.”
Richards said she will have
preliminary numbers from
this count in mid-February.
The state will release formal
numbers later in the year.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
BRIEFLY
U.S. declares 22
Hilary Clinton
emails ‘top secret’
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Obama administration
con¿rmed for the ¿rst time
Friday that Hillary Clinton’s
home server contained
closely guarded government
secrets, censoring 22 emails
that contained material
requiring one of the highest
levels of classi¿cation. The
revelation comes three days
before Clinton competes
in the Iowa presidential
caucuses.
State Department of¿cials
also said the agency’s
Diplomatic Security and
Intelligence and Research
bureaus are investigating
if any of the information
was classi¿ed at the time of
transmission, going to the
heart of Clinton’s defense of
her email practices.
The department will
release its next batch of
emails from her time as
secretary of state later Friday.
But The Associated Press
learned seven email chains
are being withheld in full
for containing “top secret”
information. The 37 pages
include messages a Ney
intelligence of¿cial recently
said concerned “special
access programs” —highly
restricted, classi¿ed
material that could point
to con¿dential sources or
clandestine programs liNe
drone striNes.
“The documents are
being upgraded at the
request of the intelligence
community because they
contain a category of top
secret information,” State
Department spoNesman John
Kirby told the AP, calling the
withholding of documents
in full “not unusual.”
That means they won’t be
published online with others
being released, even with
blacNed-out boxes.
1 of 3 fugitive
inmates arrested
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP)
— Police arrested one of
three violent fugitive inmates
on Friday after he told a
woman in the same city
where the jailbreaN occurred
a weeN ago that he wanted
to surrender, authorities said.
The other two men remained
at large.
Bac Duong, 43, was taNen
into custody in Santa Ana,
where the trio made their
brazen escape on Jan. 22
from the maximum security
facility, Orange County
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens
said.
Lee Tran, an owner of
Auto Electric Rebuilders,
said Duong came into the
shop looNing for Tran’s
sister, Theresa, and told
her that he wanted to turn
himself in.
Tran says his sister called
911 and Duong went outside
to smoNe a cigarette and wait
for police to arrive.
He says his sister’s
boyfriend Nnows Duong
and that marshals had come
by to speaN with her earlier
this weeN because she might
have visited Duong in jail.
Facebook sets
stricter policy on
¿UHDUPVVDOHV
SAN FRANCISCO
(AP) FacebooN says it’s
cracNing down on online
gun sales, with a new policy
that bars private individuals
from advertising or selling
¿rearms on the world’s
largest social networN.
Licensed gun retailers
can still advertise their
businesses on FacebooN, but
they aren’t allowed to accept
orders or transact sales on
the site.
The new policy
announced Friday drew
praise from a gun-control
group that says it has
been urging FacebooN to
prohibit sales. Everytown
for Gun Safety, which
started with bacNing from
former New <orN Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, says
it found cases where felons
who should not have been
allowed to legally buy
guns were able to buy one
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Treasure hunter
disappears
searching for $2
million in gold
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
(AP) — An antiquities
dealer who inspired tens
of thousands to search the
RocNy Mountains for $2
million in hidden treasure
now leads an increasingly
desperate mission to ¿nd
one of his fans.
Forrest Fenn has been
Àying out in chartered
helicopters or planes,
searching remote stretches
of the upper Rio Grande for
any sign of Randy Bilyeu,
now missing in the wild
for more than three frigid
weeNs. Fellow treasure
hunters also are searching
for Bilyeu, who was last
seen on Jan. 5 while trying
to solve Fenn’s mystery.
“Every time we go out
and don’t ¿nd Randy it’s
discouraging but we’re not
going to give up,” Fenn
told The Associated Press.
“There are still places out
there that I want to looN.”
Fenn, an eccentric
85-year-old from Santa
Fe, has inspired a cult
following since his
announcement several years
ago that he stashed a small
bronze chest containing
nearly $2 million in of
gold, jewelry and artifacts
somewhere in the RocNies.
He dropped clues to its
whereabouts in a cryptic
poem in his self-published
memoir, “The Thrill of the
Chase.”
The hidden treasure
has inspired thousands
to search in vain through
remote corners of New
Mexico, Yellowstone
National ParN and
elsewhere in the mountains.
Treasure hunters share their
experiences on blogs and
brainstorm about the clues.
The mystery has been
featured by national media,
igniting even more interest.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
PUC question utilities
about renewable
power plan
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s
two
largest
utilities
presented the case for
legislation to phase out coal
energy for their customers
in the state, during a special
meeting of the Oregon
Public Utility Commission
Friday.
SNeptical commissioners
pressed utility representa-
tives to explain whether the
bill would effect the opera-
tions of their coal plants in
other states, and how the
companies would maintain
a reliable power supply
during a major transition
to variable sources such as
solar and wind.
LawmaNers plan to asN
the Public Utility Commis-
sion to weigh in on the costs
and bene¿ts of the bill,
which the Legislature will
consider during the 35-day
session that begins Monday.
The ¿rst hearing on the bill
is scheduled Tuesday.
House Bill 4036, which
resulted from negotiations
between
Paci¿Corp,
Portland General Electric
and the politically active
nonpro¿t Renew Oregon,
would require the utilities
to use renewable power
sources such as wind and
solar to serve at least 50
percent of energy demand
in Oregon by 2040. That
is double the current state
mandate of 25 percent
renewable energy by 2025.
Renew Oregon represents a
coalition of environmental
groups, renewable energy
companies and other busi-
nesses.
Under the deal negoti-
ated with Renew Oregon,
Paci¿Corp would stop
using coal power for its
Oregon customers by 2030
and Portland General Elec-
tric would do so by 2035.
The environmental groups
agreed to drop their efforts
to get voters to pass several
new renewable energy
mandates in November,
including an initiative
that would eliminate coal
power, if lawmaNers and the
governor approve House
Bill 4036.
Oregon’s largest utilities
are state-regulated monop-
olies, and the Public Utility
Commission is the entity that
enforces those regulations
and sets utility rates. On
Friday, the commissioners
aired their suspicions the
utilities might have inserted
provisions into the bill to get
around previous commis-
sion decisions with which
they disagreed.
“I guess one of our
concerns is we already
allow the utilities to maNe
proposals as to when costs
associated with the (renew-
able energy mix standard)
can come into rates,” said
Susan AcNerman, chair of
the commission. AcNerman
said part of House Bill 4036
appeared to re-state that.
“Just the fact the language
seems to say what we
already do maNes me suspi-
cious, franNly.”
The
Public
Utility
Commission already raised
concerns about the legisla-
tion privately, in emails with
staff in Gov. Kate Brown’s
of¿ce that were obtained
and reported by The Orego-
nian.
“We (at the public
utility commission) have
some deep concerns about
these negotiations because
we thinN they will not be
effective in reducing carbon
emissions, but they will be
expensive to consumers,”
AcNerman wrote in a Dec.
15 email to Gov. Kate
Brown’s chief of staff
Kristen Leonard and energy
adviser Ruchi Sadhir.
Commissioner
John
Savage
listed
similar
concerns. “It won’t alter
one bit what coal plants
run and what are shut down
regardless of what folNs
say — with or without
the bill, what plants are
shut down and when will
be determined by what
happens in other states and
for other reasons (e.g. EPA
regulation),” Savage wrote
in a Dec. 17 email to Sadhir.
When asNed by the commis-
sion on Friday whether the
bill would force Paci¿Corp
to shut down coal plants in
other states, Scott Bolton,
a vice president at the
company, said no.
AcNerman said that state
Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Spring-
¿eld, asNed the commission
to prepare an analysis of the
measure for lawmaNers. The
two utilities released anal-
yses earlier this weeN which
showed House Bill 4036
would increase the cost
of power to customers by
roughly 1 percent annually
in the lead-up to full imple-
mentation. However, the
utilities found the renewable
energy requirements in the
legislation would be $880
million to $960 million less
expensive for customers
than the ballot measure
proposal to eliminate coal,
Initiative Petition 63.