Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2016)
Community college not free for all OREGON/2A Bucks, Bulldogs meet on court VOLLEYBALL/1B Some fall foliage hangs over the edge of the Umatilla River near the Main Street Bridge in Pendleton on the fi rst offi cial day of autumn. Staff photo by Kathy Aney FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 140th Year, No. 245 CATHY THOMPSON OF ADAMS Visit the Pendleton Round-Up Gift Shop for a free keychain WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Umatilla County considers licensing tobacco retailers Your Weekend One dollar Work group offers campus safety plan By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau • • • Farmers markets in Pendleton, Heppner and Hermiston Don Horneck memorial run, walk and banquet Bing Funch in concert at Pendleton arts center demand for space on those vessels is not keeping up with capacity,” he said. As a result, the price of freight on ocean liners has dropped so low that shipping companies aren’t able to pay off debts, which recently caused the bankruptcy of Hanjin, a company that long serviced the Port of Portland before stopping service last year, he said. Because ports are afraid of not getting paid for loading and unloading containers from Hanjin ships, that’s left a lot of cargo stranded across the globe, including Northwest farm goods, Leavitt said. Leavitt said he expects the shipping industry’s problems will be sorted out over the next several SALEM — A work group formed in the wake of last fall’s shooting at Umpqua Community College has recommended the state certi- fi cation of campus security offi cers, creating a state council on campus security and making building security upgrades. A 26-year-old student opened fi re on the campus in Roseburg Oct. 1, killing nine people and injuring nine others. Gov. Kate Brown formed the work group, charging it with fi nding ways to pool resources and to replicate best practices for responding to and preventing active shooter events and other campus dangers. She selected membership from higher education institutions and law enforcement agencies. The group delivered its draft recommendations to her Thursday. “I am committed, regard- less of our fi nancial situation, to fi ght for the resources that you all need to make sure we have the tools on campus to ensure safety for our students at every single college around the state,” Brown told the group Thursday. The cost of enhancing security at campus buildings would likely exceed $20 million, according to prelim- inary estimates by the work group. In addition to elec- tronic surveillance, an option is to give access to buildings only to students and staff with chip cards, said group Chairman Andre LeDuc, chief resilience offi cer at the University of Oregon. “It’s very expensive to put in old buildings,” LeDuc said. Another recommendation would require state certifi ca- tion for campus safety offi - cers through the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. Certifi cation gives offi cers more advanced and consistent training, said work group member Phil Zerzan, chief of campus public safety at Portland State University. Offi cers now have no certifi cation and are required to take only eight hours of probable cause training. While many receive addi- tional training, the content can vary between different See PORT/8A See SAFETY/8A For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Staff photo by Kathy Aney A pickup truck idles in the drive-through line at the Bare Bones convenience store in Pendleton. Umatilla County is considering a plan to require business that sell tobacco, such as Bare Bones, to have a license. Catch a movie FDA sting fi nds 1 in 4 stores sold to underage customers By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Sony Pictures ‘The Magnifi cent Seven’ remake brings current stars to classic fi lm For showtime, Page 5A Weekend Weather Fri Sat Sun 65/48 68/43 76/48 Watch a game vs. Summit vs. Hermiston Friday, 7 p.m., Kennison Field, Hermiston Last year, more than 25 percent of tobacco retailers in Umatilla County sold cigarettes to an undercover decoy in a federal sting. The results are from U.S. Food & Drug inspections that took place from April through October in Athena, Hermiston, Pendleton, Milton-Freewater and Weston. The agency ran 60 stings at 51 stores and found 14 did not verify the buyer’s age and sold ciga- rettes to a minor. The FDA sent each store a warning letter for the failure. The fi ndings are part of the reason Umatilla County Board of Commissioners are considering a license for retailers that sell tobacco. Cameron Larsen works for the county health More inside For a list of retailers who sold tobacco to underage customers, see Page 8A. department and deals with tobacco retailers. He told the board at its meeting Wednesday that one in three stores in the county failed inspections when you count state and federal undercover stings last year, and 90 percent of smokers start when they are under 18. “We need to stop selling to them,” he told the board. “Our retailers shouldn’t be selling to kids under 18. That’s just the law.” One retailer, he said, sold to minors three times. According to the Oregon Health Authority, the state can fi ne clerks $200-$2,000 for selling tobacco to minors, and may penalize store owners. Larsen said his fi ndings show the state and feds did nothing more than give retailers warning letters. To curb the illegal sales, he said, the county could license tobacco sellers. Oregon is one of 14 states that does not do so, Larsen said, and Oregon has the highest rate of selling tobacco to youngsters. Licensing the businesses would give some teeth to laws against selling tobacco to underage buyers. The state health authority found in 2013 that 4.4 percent of 8th graders Umatilla County smoked tobacco, a tick above the 4.3 percent state average. But by 11th grade that jumped to 17.8 percent, almost twice the state average. “We need a licensure program because they’re not following the law,” Larsen said. ”One out of three is selling to kids.” Places that use tobacco license programs see decreases in youth tobacco sales and smoking, Larsen said, and Multnomah and Lane counties already passed this policy, as has the city of Veneta. County Commissioner Larry Givens asked if the Legislature was consid- ering this kind of action. Larsen replied that was on the table. But licensing comes with fees, he said, and the county may want to set its own rather than rely on the state. The commissioners took no action. Larsen after the meeting said he planned to have a proposal ready before the end of the year. Portland container shipping faces broad challenges Labor disputes just part of the problem By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Bureau SALEM — Labor disputes are often blamed for discontinued ocean container shipping at Port of Portland’s “Terminal 6,” but the facility faces broader problems, a port executive said. Even if confl icts between the port, the terminal operator and the longshoremen’s union were resolved, turmoil in the global shipping industry would affect the facility, said Keith Leavitt, the port’s chief commercial offi cer. “There’s no one silver bullet here,” Leavitt said during a Sept. 22 hearing Capital Press fi le photo A container ship is loaded at the Port of Portland in this Capital Press fi le photo. Ocean carrier service at the “Terminal 6” facility has since stopped. before the Oregon House Interim Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Ocean carriers ordered gigantic “megaships” nearly a decade ago that can carry a huge number of containers with the idea of improving effi ciency, he said. Now that the vessels have come online, though, there’s not enough cargo to justify the investment, Leavitt said. “They are not fi lling those vessels because the