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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2016)
OFF PAGE ONE IRRIGON: Elected to four-year terms Page 8A East Oregonian Continued from 1A mentorship program. After Tuesday’s election, her next challenge will be representing her peers on the Irrigon City Council. “I can’t believe it. It’s like my body’s numb,” said Avila Serratos, reacting to the news between classes at IHS. Avila Serratos is still a senior at the high school and is planning to become a registered nurse. Winning a seat on the city council came as a surprise, she said, but is something where she feels she can make a positive difference. “I want (Irrigon) to be a place where people said it grew so fast, and became a place where people could bring their kids,” Avila Serratos said. Out of four city council seats up for election, four candidates — including Avila Serratos — ran on the ballot, meaning she was essentially unopposed. Incumbent Mayor Sam Heath, councilor Daren Strong and councilor Ken Matlack were also re-elected. Avila Serratos will fill the position vacant since Christine Sorenson died in January. Councilors are elected to four-year terms. Avila Serratos will be sworn in at her first meeting on Jan. 17. “To me, it’s going to be scary,” she said with a nervous smile. Avila Serratos said she openly wondered whether she would be able to with- stand the pressure of the job. But her father encouraged her to use her voice as a young Hispanic woman to speak for those in the community who can’t speak for themselves. According to the 2010 census, nearly a third of Irri- gon’s population is Hispanic or Latino. The town currently has 1,826 residents. Don Eppenbach, who served as Irrigon’s mayor for 18 years during the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s, said he can’t recall another Hispanic councilor having served the city. Barb Huwe, longtime community volunteer and businesswoman, said she was glad to hear Avila Serratos will be joining the council. “We need the Hispanic culture to get involved here in Irrigon,” Huwe said. “We need to get them out to help our city grow.” Avila Serratos said she became interested in applying for the position earlier this year, while helping her dad move their mobile home from one property to another. They made numerous trips together to city hall, where she met and became friends with city manager Aaron Palmquist. It was Palmquist who introduced her to the concept of city government. “I thought, maybe it’s time for a change,” Avila Serratos said. “I’ve been told, ‘Maybe you were meant to do this.’” Palmquist said he is looking forward to working with Avila Serratos, and believes she will bring new ideas to the council. “From my perspective, she’s going to bring some freshness coming from a younger generation,” he said. “She also has connections to the Hispanic community. We look forward to that.” Avila Serratos isn’t the only young newcomer to city government in Morrow County. Cody High, 31, was also elected mayor of Heppner on Tuesday, defeating incum- bent Skip Matthews. High, who works as the assistant manager at Heppner’s only bar, Buck- num’s, said he hopes to turn the city into a more suitable place for young people to work and live. “If we want younger people to stay in our towns, they have to have a personal stake in it,” High told the East Oregonian. Avila Serratos said Irrigon could appeal to more families if they focus on improving their schools and creating more community events that get young people active and engaged. The job will not be easy. But Avila Serratos, who still visits her mother and sisters in Mexico, said she has received some sound advice. “Nothing is impossible. You can do it. Don’t let anything hold you back,” she said. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. HEPPNER: Councilor Bedortha earned 76 percent of vote to beat challenger Continued from 1A suitable for young people to live and work. “We have a lack of young workers staying in the area,” he said. “I want to bring something new to the table.” Among his ideas are providing municipal Wi-Fi to attract small businesses to the rural town and getting better coverage from the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, which the city contacts with for service. High first moved to Heppner in 2003 and has lived there full-time since 2007. He is married with two children. The mayor-elect congrat- ulated another young winner in Morrow County — Marina Avila Serratos, 18, who was elected to the Irrigon City Council in a four-way race for four open seats. “If we want younger people to stay in our towns, they have to have a personal stake in it,” High said. She won the seat alongside Sue (Sam) Heath, Darren Strong and Ken Matlack, who is also the Morrow County sheriff. The Election Day suspense isn’t quite over for the Boardman City Council. With a handful of ballots still to verify, the race for the third seat is separated by just eight votes. Incumbent Art Kegler received 320 votes to Logan Mayfield’s 312, leaving the race highly favoring Kegler though officially undecided. Incumbent David Jones and newcomer Toni Connell also secured seats in the four-way race. Bobbi Childers, the Morrow County clerk, said ballots dropped off in other counties must still be counted and confirmed before a winner could be determined. At least 15 ballots remain, though the number from the Boardman precincts is unknown. In the county’s only other contested council race, Heppner councilor Teresa Bedortha earned 76 percent of the vote to beat challenger Thomas Gonty. Voters county-wide easily renewed a four-year levy to fund the mosquito control district. Lexington voted to renew a five-year local option to fund street operations, while Irrigon voted down a $2.1 million fire district bond to pay for a new fire station. MARIJUANA: State has collected more than $40M in recreational pot tax revenue since Jan. Continued from 1A General James Cole allows states to operate the programs without federal interference provided that the states maintain a robust regulatory system to keep pot out the hands of minors and the illicit market. If the Trump administra- tion were to withdraw the memorandum, recreational marijuana businesses and customers could be subject to federal prosecution. Federal legislation has barred the federal govern- ment from spending money to shut down or hamper state medical marijuana programs, and a U.S. Appeals Court in August ruled that federal agencies may not prosecute people for growing or distrib- uting medical marijuana if they are following state laws. Withdrawing the Cole memo would still have a chilling effect on Oregon’s recreational marijuana industry and the investment and jobs created by legaliza- tion, Margolis said. Prosecuting recreational marijuana businesses also could impact the state’s revenue stream. The state has collected more than $40 million in recreational marijuana tax revenue since January, according to the Oregon Department of Revenue. That represents an industry making more than $160.8 million in sales between January and September. But Margolis said she thinks it’s unlikely that the Trump administration would withdraw the memo because of increasing support for legalization. Voters in New York, Maine, Massachusetts and California approved recre- ational marijuana Nov. 8. and several other states, including Florida, approved medical marijuana. Marijuana legalization has broad and bipartisan support, said Mark Pettinger, spokesman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which regulates recreational marijuana. But because the Obama administration did not lift marijuana’s classification as a Schedule 1 drug, there still is potential for enforcement, Margolis said. If the Trump adminis- tration were to prosecute the marijuana industry, states could attempt to sue the federal government to allow them to operate state programs, Margolis said. The liquor control commission plans to continue to follow the Cole memo until further notice, Pettinger said. “There is not much we can react to when we don’t know what position the Trump administration will take,” Pettinger said. Financial markets rally as Trump fears ease HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares rallied Thursday, extending a surprising global recovery as Donald Trump’s conciliatory acceptance speech comments helped soothe world financial markets spooked by his unexpected U.S. election victory. The rebound in Asia took its lead from Wall Street, where stocks initially wavered before advancing the rest of the day. Major U.S. bench- marks all finished more than 1 percent higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average near a record high close. Japan’s share benchmark, the Nikkei 225 index, which was among the biggest losers on Wednesday, jumped 6 percent at the open. By midday it was up 5.7 percent at 17,178.87. The dollar also recovered in currency trading. It was at 105.33 yen after dropping to near 101 yen the day before. In other Asian trading, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.9 percent to 1,996.31 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2 percent to 22,865.45. The Shanghai Composite index in mainland China rose 1 percent to 3,158.34 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 2.7 percent to 5,297.10. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand also advanced. Trump pledged in his speech Wednesday to unify a deeply divided nation, helping to calm jitters in global finan- cial markets. Investors had worried because his campaign promises carried few policy details, making him an unknown quantity compared with his rival, Hillary Clinton, seen as a safe choice. Thursday, November 10, 2016 AP Photo/Evan Vucci President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands during an election night rally on Wednesday in New York. TRUMP: Support skewed older, male and overwhelmingly white Continued from 1A that will take power in just over two months. He also met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence and took calls from supporters, family and friends, according to spokes- woman Hope Hicks. In Washington, Trump’s scant transition team sprang into action, culling through personnel lists for top jobs and working through handover plans for govern- ment agencies. A person familiar with the transition operations said the personnel process was still in its early stages, but Trump’s team was putting a premium on quickly filling key national security posts. According to an organiza- tional chart for the transition obtained by The Associated Press, Trump was relying on experienced hands to help form his administration. National security planning was being led by former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who previously worked for the FBI. Domestic issues were being handled by Ken Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor and Ohio secretary of state. Trump was expected to consider several loyal supporters for top jobs, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for attorney general or national security adviser and campaign finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker were also expected to be under consideration for foreign policy posts. After struggling for months with Trump’s take- over of their party, Repub- lican leaders embraced the businessman in victory. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was lukewarm in his support throughout the campaign, praised him for pulling off “the most incred- ible political feat I have seen in my lifetime.” “He just earned a mandate,” Ryan declared. Indeed, Trump will take office in January with Congress fully in his party’s AP Photo/Seth Wenig Police officers help install concrete barriers around Trump Tower, the home of President-elect Donald Trump, in New York, Wednesday. control, giving him strength to try to pass his agenda and turn the Supreme Court in a conservative direction. Even Republicans were stunned by the scope of their electoral success, including many who had been privately predicting Trump’s defeat. Clinton’s emotions were raw as she addressed a crowd of supporters, eyes wet with tears, who gathered in a New York ballroom. She said the crushing loss was “painful and it will be for a long time” and acknowledged that the nation was “more divided than we thought.” Still, Clinton was gracious in defeat, declaring that “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” With several million votes still to be counted, Clinton held a narrow lead in the nationwide popular vote. Most of the outstanding votes appeared to be in Democratic-leaning states, with the biggest chunk in California, a state Clinton overwhelmingly won. With almost 125 million votes counted, The Associated Press tally had Clinton with 47.7 percent and Trump with 47.5 percent. Trump’s sweep of the battleground states that decided the election was commanding. He carried Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, three of the elec- tion’s biggest prizes, and snatched reliably Democratic Pennsylvania and Wisconsin away from Clinton. Trump’s support skewed older, male and overwhelm- ingly white. His supporters said they were deeply dissatisfied with the federal government and eager for change, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associ- ated Press and television networks. If Trump makes good on his campaign promises, the nation stands on the brink of sweeping change in domestic and foreign policy. He’s pledged to repeal Obama’s signature health care law and pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran. He’s vowed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and temporarily ban immigration from nations with terror ties. It’s unclear whether Trump, a highly unusual candidate, will embrace many of the traditions of the presidency. He’ll enter the White House owning his own private jet as well as a hotel just blocks away on Pennsylvania Avenue. He never allowed journalists to fly on his plane during the campaign, as is customary for White House nominees. Issues of transparency bubbled up right from the start. On Wednesday evening, Trump aides said they would not bring the press corps to Washington with the president-elect for his meeting with Obama, breaking long-standing protocol.
