Page 4A
NATION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Winter menaces camp as pipeline protesters dig in
NATION
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 5A
36 dead in Oakland warehouse fire
By PAUL ELIAS AND JANIE HAR
Associated Press
By JAMES MACPHERSON
Associated Press
CANNON BALL, N.D.
— So far, the hundreds of
protesters fighting the Da-
kota Access pipeline have
shrugged off the heavy snow,
icy winds and frigid tempera-
tures that have swirled around
their large encampment on
the North Dakota grasslands.
But as they defy govern-
ment orders to abandon the
camp and vow to stay put
even after a surprise federal
decision to further delay and
review the project, demon-
strators know the real deep
freeze comes when the full
force of the Great Plains win-
ter descends on their commu-
nity of nylon tents and tee-
pees. Life-threatening wind
chills and towering snow
drifts could mean the greatest
challenge is simple survival.
“I’m scared. I’m a Cali-
fornia girl, you know?” said
Loretta Reddog of Placer-
ville, California, a protester
who said she arrived sever-
al months ago with her two
dogs and has yet to adjust to
the harsher climate.
The government had or-
dered protesters to leave
federal land by Monday,
though authorities made no
noticeable effort to enforce
that mandate as the deadline
passed. Many demonstra-
tors insist they will stay for
as long as it takes to perma-
nently divert the $3.8 billion
pipeline, which the Standing
Rock Sioux tribe believes
threatens sacred sites and a
river that provides drinking
water for millions of people.
The pipeline is largely
complete except for a short
segment planned to pass be-
neath a Missouri River reser-
voir, and opponents scored a
victory during the weekend
when the Army said it would
not approve a permit for the
crossing while further assess-
ing potential changes. The
company doing the building
says it is unwilling to reroute
the project.
For several months, the
government permitted the
gathering, allowing its pop-
ulation to swell. The Seven
Council Fires camp began
growing in August as it took
in the overflow crowd from
smaller protest sites nearby.
It now covers a half square
mile, with living quarters
that include old school bus-
es, fancy motorhomes and
domelike yurts. Hale bales
are piled around some tee-
pees to keep out the wind.
There’s even a crude corral
for horses.
The number of inhabi-
AP Photo/David Goldman
U.S. Air Force veteran Jarrod Phillips, of St. Louis, left,
serves stew to veterans at the Oceti Sakowin camp
where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Ac-
cess oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D., Monday.
AP Photo/David Goldman
People walk along a snowy hillside in a storm at the Oceti Sakowin camp where
people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D.,
Monday.
Trump not saying what he’ll do about pipeline
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — In-
dustry leaders are urging President-elect
Donald Trump to make approval of the
disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline a “top
priority” when he takes office next month,
while opponents who have protested the
project for months are vowing to stay put
on their sprawling North Dakota encamp-
ment despite harsh winter weather and a
tribal leaders’ call to leave.
The moves come after the Army de-
clined to issue a permit for the $3.8 billion
pipeline to cross under a Missouri River
reservoir in southern North Dakota near
the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
While the Army’s decision doesn’t end the
debate over the pipeline, industry analysts
and the chairman of the Native American
tribe that’s led the protests said Monday
they don’t expect any developments for
months.
Standing Rock Chairman Dave Ar-
chambault lauded the Army’s decision as
taking “tremendous courage,” and Nation-
al Congress of American Indians President
Brian Cladoosby said it showed “respect
for tribal sovereignty.”
tants has ranged from several
hundred to several thousand.
It has been called the largest
gathering of Native American
tribes in a century.
Increasingly, more perma-
nent wooden structures are
being erected, even though
the Army Corps of Engi-
neers considers them illegal
on government property. The
Standing Rock Sioux insist
the land still belongs to their
tribe under a nearly 150-year-
old treaty.
Nate Bison, a member of
South Dakota’s Cheyenne
River Sioux, came to the
camp after quitting his job in
The Standing Rock tribe believes the
1,200-mile pipeline to transport North
Dakota oil through the Dakotas and Iowa
to a shipping point in Illinois threatens
drinking water and cultural sites. Dal-
las-based pipeline developer Energy
Transfer Partners has denied that and said
the pipeline will be safe. The segment
under Lake Oahe is the only remaining big
chunk of construction.
“I am hopeful President-elect Trump
will reject the Obama administration’s
shameful actions to deny this vital energy
project,” American Petroleum Institute
President and CEO Jack Gerard said in
a statement late Sunday. The institute
represents the U.S. oil and natural gas
industry.
Trump supports construction of the
pipeline, spokesman Jason Miller told The
Associated Press on Monday, but Mill-
er wouldn’t say whether Trump would
reverse the Army’s decision.
“We will review the full situation when
we’re in the White House and make the
appropriate determination at that time,”
Miller said.
Las Vegas. He said last week
that he intends to stay indef-
initely, a prospect that may
cause him to lose his house in
Nevada.
“But since I’ve lived in
these conditions before, to me
it’s not all that bad,” he said.
Camp morale is high, he
added, despite the onset of
winter.
“Everybody I’ve talked to,
you hear laughter and people
just having a good time, en-
joying the camaraderie and
the support from each other,”
Bison said. “And the love.
People are taking the shirts
off their own backs for other
people. No one is left out that
I’ve seen.”
In the last week, the camp
near the confluence of the
Missouri and Cannonball
rivers has been shrouded in
snow, much of it compacted
by foot and vehicle traffic.
Temperatures hovered in the
20s. This week’s forecast
calls for single digits and sub-
zero wind chills.
Camp dwellers are get-
ting ready for the hardships
of a long stay. Mountains of
donated food and water are
being stockpiled, as is fire-
wood, much of which has
come from outside of North
AP Photo/David Goldman
A woman offers cleansing smoke during a ceremony
with military veterans and Native Americans on a closed
bridge outside the Oceti Sakowin camp in Cannon Ball,
N.D., Monday.
Dakota, the least-forested
state in the nation. A collec-
tion of Army surplus tents
with heating stoves serve as
kitchen, dining hall, med-
ical clinic and a camp-run
school. Many of the smaller
tents have become tattered
by the wind.
Thane Maxwell, a 32-year-
old Minneapolis native who
has been living at the camp
since July, said North Dako-
ta’s bitter cold will not deter
protesters committed to fight-
ing the pipeline, or “black
snake” as they call it.
Tribes from the Great
Plains states are adept at sur-
viving brutal winters, he said.
Others from warmer climes
are being taught how to en-
dure the frostbite-inducing
temperatures that are sure to
come.
“A lot of these people
have been living in this cli-
mate for hundreds of years,”
said Maxwell a member of
Minnesota-based Honor the
Earth Foundation. “It’s a skill
set that can be learned. The
danger is escalating from law
enforcement, not the weath-
er.”
Reddog said she has con-
fidence in the camp com-
munity. “Everybody’s really
stepping up and taking care
of each other,” she said.
Maxwell put out a call on
social media for more do-
nations, seeking four-wheel
drive trucks and foul-weath-
er clothing. He also asked
for gas masks and protective
baseball and hockey gear to
shield protesters from any
future skirmishes with po-
lice.
More than 525 people
from across the country have
been arrested since August. In
a recent clash between police
and protesters near the path of
the pipeline, officers used tear
gas, rubber bullets and large
water hoses in sub-freezing
temperatures. Organizers said
at least 17 protesters were
taken to the hospital, some
for hypothermia and one for
an arm injury. One officer
was hurt.
North Dakota has often
conjured images of a wind-
swept, treeless wasteland.
The perception was so great
that it led to a short-lived
proposal to change the state’s
name by dropping “North”
and leaving just “Dakota,” to
dispel the image of inhospita-
ble winter weather.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Terry
Ewing was among the anxious family
and friends who received confirma-
tion Monday of what he already knew
in his heart: His girlfriend was among
the three dozen killed in the Oakland
warehouse fire.
Authorities confirmed the death
of Ara Jo as the death toll rose to 36.
Prosecutors also said Monday that
murder charges could result from their
investigation into the fire that broke
out during an underground dance par-
ty at a building known as the “Ghost
Ship.”
Alameda County Sheriff Gregory
Ahern told The Associated Press he
didn’t believe there would be addi-
tional bodies found in what is the most
lethal building fire in the U.S. in more
than a decade.
But he cautioned that it was “im-
possible to be absolutely positive”
until the entire recovery effort is com-
plete. Authorities had gone through
about three-quarters of the building by
Monday afternoon.
The laborious job of digging with
shovels and buckets through the de-
bris was suspended overnight because
of a dangerously unstable wall. It re-
sumed in the morning, though a rain-
storm Tuesday could complicate the
effort. The cluttered warehouse had
been converted to artists’ studios and
illegal living spaces, and former den-
izens said it was a death trap of piled
wood, furniture, snaking electrical
cords and only two exits.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File
In this Aug. 25 file photo, former Republican presidential
candidate Dr. Ben Carson speaks before Republican presi-
dential candidate Donald Trump’s arrival at a campaign rally
in Manchester, N.H.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Alameda County Sheriff J.D. Nelson holds an aerial picture of a
warehouse fire near the site Monday in Oakland, Calif.
Alameda County District Attorney
Nancy O’Malley said Monday her
office has sent a team to search for
evidence of a crime in the warehouse,
but has not yet determined whether a
crime even occurred. She said poten-
tial charges could range from invol-
untary manslaughter to murder. She
declined to say who her team has in-
terviewed.
“It’s too early to speculate on any-
thing,” O’Malley said. “We just start-
ed our investigation, and we owe it to
the community and those who per-
ished in this fire, and those who sur-
vived the fire to be methodical, to be
thorough, and to take the amount of
time it takes to be able to look at every
piece of potential evidence.”
Derick Ion Almena and his partner,
Micah Allison, ran the building’s arts
colony called the Satya Yuga collec-
tive.
Almena told San Jose television
station KNTV in an interview Mon-
day that about 20 people lived there.
He said he had gone to a hotel Friday
night with his wife and children be-
cause he was exhausted.
“We’re sorry to the families and all
the friends that have lost loved ones,”
he said, with Allison by his side hold-
ing his hand. “I gladly would give my
entire life of fortune, of wealth of ex-
perience again and again and again,
and I say this to you and I say this to
the camera and to whoever is watch-
ing me that I surrender everything.”
Police: Fake news story led gunman to pizzeria
WASHINGTON (AP)
— The bizarre rumors be-
gan with a leaked email
referencing Hillary Clinton
and sinister interpretations
of references to pizza par-
ties. It morphed into fake
online news stories about
a child sex trafficking ring
run by prominent Dem-
ocrats operating out of a
Washington, D.C., pizza
joint.
On Sunday, it culminat-
ed in violence when police
say a North Carolina man
fired an assault rifle multi-
ple times inside the Comet
Ping Pong restaurant as he
attempted to “self-investi-
gate” the conspiracy theory
known in the Twitterverse
as “Pizzagate.”
No one was hurt and
the man was arrested. But
the shooting alarmed those
from neighboring busi-
nesses all the way to the
White House about the real
life dangers of fake news
on the internet. One of
those posting on the con-
spiracy theory is the son
of President-elect Donald
Trump’s proposed national
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
The front door of Comet Ping Pong pizza shop, in
Washington, Monday. A fake news story prompted
a man to fire a rifle inside a popular Washington,
D.C., pizza place as he attempted to “self-investi-
gate” a conspiracy theory police said.
security adviser.
White House Spokes-
man Josh Earnest, asked
about the shooting Mon-
day, said, “There’s no de-
nying the corrosive effect
that some of these false
reports have had on our
political debate ... It’s
deeply troubling that some
of those false reports could
lead to violence.”
Edgar Maddison Welch,
28 of Salisbury, North Car-
olina, was arrested Sunday
afternoon outside the pop-
ular eatery in an affluent
capital neighborhood, po-
lice said.
At a first appearance
Monday in D.C. Superi-
or Court, Welch appeared
handcuffed in a white
jumpsuit and was ordered
held pending a hearing
Thursday. A public defend-
er representing him didn’t
immediately respond to an
email seeking comment.
Comet’s owner, James
Alefantis, said in a state-
ment Sunday night: “Let
me state unequivocally:
These stories are com-
pletely and entirely false,
and there is no basis in fact
to any of them. What hap-
pened today demonstrates
that promoting false and
reckless conspiracy the-
ories comes with conse-
quences.”
Still, at least one person
clinging to the conspira-
cy theories is prominently
connected to Trump’s tran-
sition team. Michael Flynn
Jr. is an adviser to his fa-
ther, Michael Flynn, whom
Trump selected to serve as
national security adviser.
Flynn Jr. has sent nu-
merous posts on Twitter
about the Pizzagate con-
spiracy theories. Flynn
Jr., who has accompanied
his father to presidential
transition meetings inside
Trump Tower and lists the
presidential transition web-
site as part of his Twitter
bio, tweeted Sunday night
that, “Until #Pizzagate
proven to be false, it’ll re-
main a story.”
Trump taps Carson
for HUD secretary
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Don-
ald Trump chose retired neu-
rosurgeon Ben Carson on
Monday to be secretary of the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development, raising
fresh concerns about the lack
of experience some of Trump’s
Cabinet picks have with agen-
cies they’re now being chosen
to lead.
Carson,
who
opposed
Trump in the Republican pri-
maries, has no background in
government or running a large
bureaucracy.
In addition, South Caroli-
na Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s
choice to be ambassador to the
United Nations, has no for-
eign policy experience. Steve
Mnuchin, a former Goldman
Sachs partner and Hollywood
executive, is Trump’s man to
lead the Treasury Department
but has never worked in gov-
ernment. And retired Gen.
James Mattis, a widely praised
battlefield commander, spent
decades in the Marines but now
is tapped to run the nation’s
largest government agency,
the Defense Department, with
740,000 civilian employees in
addition to 1.3 million service
personnel.
Democrats swiftly criticized
Carson’s qualifications for his
job. House Democratic lead-
er Nancy Pelosi called him a
“disconcerting and disturbingly
unqualified choice.” And New
York Sen. Charles Schumer
said he had “serious concerns
about Dr. Carson’s lack of ex-
pertise and experience in deal-
ing with housing issues. Some-
one who is as anti-government
as him is a strange fit for hous-
ing secretary, to say the least.”
Carson would oversee a
budget of nearly $50 billion
that provides rental assistance
for more than 5 million house-
holds. Demand for that assis-
tance is high in part because
housing costs are rising faster
than incomes. HUD also pro-
motes home ownership with
the Federal Housing Adminis-
tration underwriting about 1 in
6 mortgages issued in the U.S.
The agency is charged with
enforcing federal fair housing
laws, too.
In a statement, Trump said
he was “thrilled to nominate”
Carson, describing his “bril-
liant mind” and his passion
“about strengthening commu-
nities and families within those
communities.”
Carson, who grew up poor,
quickly endorsed Trump after
ending his own presidential bid
despite Trump noting what he
called Carson’s “pathological
temper.” Carson has been coy
about joining the new admin-
istration, saying shortly after
Trump’s election victory that
he wasn’t certain he’d fit into a
Cabinet-style role in a job like
Health and Human Services
secretary.
“Ben shares my optimism
about the future of our coun-
try,” Trump said, “and is part of
ensuring that this is a presiden-
cy representing all Americans.”
Heading a Cabinet agency
is a huge bureaucratic job, with
responsibility for overseeing
massive budgets and thousands
of employees. Choosing a lead-
er without management expe-
rience could present challeng-
es, warned Ben Chang, who
worked under three different
administrations.
“People can learn the poli-
cies and the talking points, but
the transition will be dictated
by their own managerial style,”
said Chang, who remembered
incoming Secretary of State
Colin Powell walking the halls
to meet with career officers and
not just his executive staff.
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