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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2016)
Page 10A NATION/WORLD East Oregonian Saturday, August 13, 2016 OUegon FUoSV Bill Clinton: email server ‘a mistake’ toS % Ln YaOXe Eeef OeadV Za\ By MICHELLE RINDELS Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) — For the second year in a row, beef is Oregon’s No. 1 agricultural commodity. The state Department of Agriculture this week released the list of Oregon’s top 10 crop and livestock values for 2015. The commodities on the list are the same as the year before, except onions replaced hazelnuts. Cattle and calves brought in $914 million, down from $922 million in 2014, edging greenhouse and nursery products for the top spot. Agriculture Department spokesman Bruce Pokarney said in a news release that the cattle industry is cyclical and prices have weakened in 2016: “Nonetheless, cattle and calves is expected to be a mainstay at or near the top all commodities in the foreseeable future.” Rounding out the top 10 for 2015 were hay, milk, grass seed, wheat, potatoes, pears, wine grapes and onions. Hay and milk retained their positions despite seeing their values drop by $100 million and $180 million, respectively. Though ninth of the list, the wine grape sector has been the greatest gainer over the past decade. Pokarney said the production value for 2015 was $147 million, an increase of more than 300 percent since 2005. Outside the top 10, three commodities that have shown tremendous growth in the last decade are blueberries, eggs and apples. Oregon harvested a record 97 million pounds of blueberries last year, satisfying demand for the berry that has a reputation as a superfood. The Oregon crop value is up about 250 percent since 2005. As for apples, Pokarney said the growing popularity of ciders is perhaps why the value of production has spiked 131 percent since 2005. The state produces more than 220 agricultural commodities and the overall crop value for 2015 was $5.4 billion, similar to 2014. Only one of Oregon’s top 20 commodities, Christmas trees, has declined in production value over the past decade, and it’s only down 2 percent. NORTHWEST BRIEFLY Standoff defendant ¿OeV OaZVXLt agaLnVt MXdge PORTLAND (AP) — An Oregon standoff defendant who has had multiple clashes in court with the presiding judge has now ¿led a lawsuit against her. The Oregonian/ OregonLive reports that in a lawsuit ¿led :ednesday against U.S. District Judge Anna Brown and prosecuting attorneys in his case, Kenneth Medenbach takes accuses Brown of failing to take an oath of of¿ce. Medenbach, who is representing himself, has raised multiple questions about Brown’s oath of of¿ce during his criminal proceedings. He is one of 26 people being charged in connection to the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National :ildlife Refuge. In his complaint pro se, Medenbach calls for all plaintiffs to be released and that all pending criminal charges against standoff defendants be dismissed. He is also seeking $150,000 in damages for each plaintiff. Brown declined to comment citing the ongoing criminal case InaXgXUaO FannaELV faLU EeLng Vet XS SALEM (AP) — In a sign of how mainstream the once-illicit marijuana industry is becoming in Oregon — one of four states to have legalized it — exhibitors are heading to the state capital to set up for the inaugural Oregon Cannabis Grower’s Fair. :inners of the pot-plant competition at the Oregon Cannabis Grower’s Fair in Salem this weekend will showcase their products at the Oregon State Fair, along more traditional items like tomatoes, hogs and horses. Don Morse, executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Business Council, says “Oregon is at the forefront in recognizing cannabis as a real agricultural product.” Mary Lou Burton, who is producing the cannabis fair, says there will be more than 80 exhibitors. Attendees will be able to see non-Àowering plants, meet growers and learn about the industry. &oOXPELa VaOPon VeaVon oSenV ASTORIA (AP) — The fall salmon season has begun on the Columbia River bringing hundreds of boats seeking Chinook. The Daily Astorian reports that of¿cials predict a high Chinook return this season, but sample ¿gures show ¿shing at the mouth of the river has started slow this year. Oregon Department of Fish and :ildlife Columbia River Manager John North says the catch rate for the opening week was about .1, meaning only one in 10 anglers brought home a salmon. Last year had a catch rate of .7. Despite the slow start, wildlife of¿cials predict this year will have about 960,000 salmon. PoOLFe FoUSoUaO FLted Ln doXgKnXt VKoS FUaVK BEND (AP) — Court records show a police corporal in central Oregon was cited after crashing his patrol car into a doughnut shop. The Bulletin reports that records show Bend Cpl. Robert Emerson was ¿ned $260 for the March incident. Oregon State Police say Emerson collided with a pickup truck, slid across an intersection, hit a pedestrian and smashed into the Dough Nut. According to Bulletin archives, no shop employees or customers were injured. Emerson and pedestrian Brian Zacher of Tualatin were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Bend Police Chief Jim Porter says the corporal likely had his emergency lights and siren activated and was responding to a report of someone Àeeing in a stolen vehicle. Porter says the department is still deciding whether or not to discipline Emerson. LAS VEGAS — Bill Clinton said it was a mistake for Hillary Clinton to main- tain a personal email server even though her predecessors and her successor at the State Department did it, adding that she should’ve known a different set of rules would apply to her if she ever ran for president. Bill Clinton’s acknowl- edgement came during a question and answer period on Friday at a Las Vegas forum organized by Asian American Paci¿c Islander journalism and voter advo- cacy groups. But the former president spent much of his response defending his wife, calling the controversy “the biggest load of bull I’ve ever heard” and saying issues emerged because of different records classi¿ca- tion processes between the State Department and the intelligence community. “That is not a cause for distrust,” he told the audience in the 4,000-seat Colosseum auditorium at Caesars Palace. “If it were a cause for distrust, it’s inconceivable that all these prominent national security people ... would’ve endorsed her.” Bill Clinton took on a range of topics during his keynote address, touching on trade and immigration to make an argument that “our diversity is a blessing.” He characterized the election as a choice between building walls or building bridges, AP Photo/Richard Drew, File In this March 12, 2012, file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her mobile phone after her address to the Security Council at United Nations headquarters. saying his wife was best prepared to work with other countries and make the best of those relationships. “The truth is, we live in a world that is interdependent,” he said. “That’s just a fancy word for saying divorce is not an option.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump did not attend, but his campaign sent Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes as a surrogate. Reyes, who is of Filipino, Hawaiian and Japanese descent, joked with audience members about their shared heritage before doing damage control over comments the businessman made last week. Trump said at a rally in Maine that the U.S. needs to bar refugees from terrorist nations, and named the Philippines in a list of such countries. Reyes said he had full authority to clarify the remarks, which have prompted a backlash in the Philippines. “He welcomes law-abiding Filipinos who want to come and have a better life,” Reyes said. “But he was talking about specif- ically terrorist elements that do exist in the Philippines, and there’s no one here that is from the Philippines that can dispute that.” Other candidates who attended in person included Green Party presidential Jill Stein, who lamented climate change and emphasized its effects on low-lying islands in the Paci¿c. Her proposal for ¿xing creating jobs and ending oil-driven wars in the Middle East is what she calls the “Green New Deal” — a rapid shift to a renewable energy economy. Her address came the same day that the Nevada Secretary of State’s Of¿ce ruled that no Green Party candidates can appear on the state’s ballot. The party fell short in its attempt to petition for ballot access, of¿cials said. Asked why she couldn’t support the Democratic Party, Stein argued that they have “sabotaged” Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. She pointed to leaked emails from Democratic National Committee staffers that appeared to show favor- itism toward Hillary Clinton, citing efforts to portray Sanders as an atheist to more religious audiences. Fellow minor party candidate Gary Johnson, a Libertarian and the former governor of New Mexico, told the crowd that he thinks he has a chance at the presi- dency if he gets to participate in debates with the major party candidates. He said he’s trying to pick up votes from “the big six-lane highway between Republicans and Democrats” this cycle. “A wasted vote is voting for someone you don’t believe in,” he added. Johnson is known for his permissive stance on marijuana, noting that his most recent experience was consuming an edible product called Cheeba Chews three months ago. But he said he wasn’t currently using cannabis because he didn’t want to come to work unpre- pared. Libertarians, he explained, “always come down on the side of choice ... as long as those choices don’t adversely affect others.” After verbal missteps, Trump blames others By JOSH LEDERMAN Associated Press ERIE, Pa. — It’s the media’s fault. That’s out of context. Never said it in the ¿rst place. Donald Trump’s claim Friday that he was merely being “sarcastic” in accusing President Barack Obama of establishing a terrorist group was his latest attempt to blame others for the uproar over what he says. It’s an instinct that Trump’s opponents say a president can’t possess. Some Republicans seem to have the same concern. This time, it followed two days of critical headlines and Democratic outrage over Trump’s claim that Obama was the “founder” of the Islamic State group. As Trump repeated the claim more than a dozen times, interviewers sought to ensure Trump wasn’t being miscon- strued. Surely, they offered, he meant Obama’s policies had enabled the extremist group’s rise. “No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do,” Trump said, using one acronym for the group. (His remark comes at 15:26 of the interview .) Then an about-face Friday. “THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” he tweeted. Or was he being sarcastic about the sarcasm? Hours later, he told a rally in Penn- sylvania he was “obviously being sarcastic — but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you.” That it took Trump two days to walk back his widely debunked remark — and then walk back the walk-back — was worrying for Republicans who see such missteps as playing to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s advantage. Equally worrying for some was the fact that he again would not take respon- sibility for his words. Ryan :illiams, a Republican strategist who advised Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, said there’s a common-sense playbook for dealing with political slip-ups: “Stop the bleeding and put it behind you by apologizing. “That’s what normal candidates do,” he went on. “However, normal candidates don’t careen from one self-inÀicted wound to another on an hourly basis.” It was only two days earlier that Trump blamed the media for making much ado about nothing after he suggested during a rally that gun rights enthusiasts might ¿nd a way to stop Clinton if elected. Clinton, whose lead over Trump has widened in recent polls of the most competitive states, has seized on those and other eyebrow-raising comments to portray the reality TV star as lacking the temperament to run the nation — Trump has his own argument for why she’s un¿t to do so. She’s hammered him for avoiding account- ability for his actions. TKaL SoOLFe OooN foU VXVSeFtV afteU EoPEV KLt toXULVt VLteV HUA HIN, Thailand (AP) — Thais and tourists headed warily into the main part of a big holiday weekend Saturday as authorities looked for suspects and a motive behind a series of blasts that struck tourist resort towns across southern Thailand in some of the worst violence since a military coup two years ago. Police said at least four people were killed and dozens wounded, including 11 foreigners. It was not clear who was behind the attacks Thursday and Friday, which followed a successful referendum held last weekend on a new constitution that critics say will bolster the military’s power for years to come. But the violence appeared aimed at undermining the country’s tourism industry, which provides vital income to the government. One small bomb exploded on a beach in Patong on the island of Phuket and four others rattled the seaside resort city of Hua Hin, prompting businesses to shut their doors, streets to empty and anxious tourists to huddle inside their hotels. Police said ¿rebombs also triggered blazes at markets and shops in six places, including Phuket, Trang, Surat Thani, Phang Nga and a souvenir shop in the tourist town of Ao Nang, Krabi, a seaside province known for its stunning lime- stone cliffs. On Saturday, Police Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen, a deputy national police chief, told reporters that “we hope we may have some suspects today or tomorrow.” He did not elaborate, but said police were gathering evidence and that international militant groups were not believed to be behind the attacks. Foreign governments, including the United States, issued warnings urging travelers to use caution and avoid affected areas. In a televised address late Friday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the attacks “struck at the hearts of all Thai people.” He said it was unclear who carried them out and that the government would do its best to investigate. Royal Thai Police Col. Krisana Patanacharoen also said Friday it was “too early to conclude” who was behind the attacks. But he said the bombings followed “a similar pattern used in the southern parts of the country” — a reference to a low-level insurgency in the country’s Islamic south that has ground on for more than a decade and killed more than 5,000 people. FIRST FOODS Festival & Race Saturday, Aug 13th FORD LEADERSHIP EUC July Grounds- 73310 July Grounds Lane, Pednleton, Or 97801 thanks the following sponsors and volunteers … RACE AND EVENT TIMES • 7:10 AM- Kanine Ridge Hike Departs July Grounds • 9:00 AM- 10k Spawn Run • 9:30 AM- 5k Smolt Run • 10:30 AM- Family Fun Walk & Cycle (Noncompetitive) RDI OutWest Catering Sherwin Williams D&B Supply Pepsi Wildhorse Resort & Casino Mission Music Productions Franz Bakery Hill Meat Party House Jumpers Pendleton Parks & Rec and the neighbors. We had a successful Day at Sherwood Park. JACKETS AND MEDALS FOR 1ST - 3RD PLACE FOR HIKE, 10K & 5K RACE EVENTS. 2ND ANNUAL CHUMASH LACROSSE TOURNAMENT: 8:00 - 2:30