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East Oregonian
Friday, January 13, 2017
SHELTER: Pendleton station max capacity is 20 RALLY: ‘There are
about 15,000 in Oregon
crowd,” Rossell said, adding
whose lives are at stake’
that they don’t always see the
Continued from 1A
same people at the station.
While they do have a few
regulars who are chronically
homeless, Rossell said they
also see a lot of people who
are temporarily displaced —
whether through unemploy-
ment, health issues, divorce
or domestic violence.
Rossell said the center
is not a soup kitchen, and
focuses solely on providing
shelter.
“We’re very focused on
our mission of giving people
a safe, warm place to sleep,”
she said. “Everything else,
we refer to outside agencies.”
Rossell said while they
appreciate supplies, the most
useful donations are mone-
tary.
“When we put out a call
for a certain supply, we
often get inundated with that
product, or it’s the wrong
kind,” she said. “We’re not
ungrateful (for the donations)
but we have our preferences.”
The station has a pool of
100 volunteers, and it takes 45
volunteers to keep the station
operational each week.
The Neighbor 2 Neighbor
warming station in Pendleton
has been busy as well, seeing
an increase in attendance
throughout the past couple
of months. Chris Clemons, a
volunteer for the station, said
the weather has driven a lot of
people to use the facility that
wouldn’t ordinarily come.
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Volunteer Tammy Richter, left, hands out food to guests Thursday at the Neighbor 2
Neighbor warming station in Pendleton.
“I’d say we’ve experienced more
people this year than in the past.”
Dwight Johnson, volunteer at Neighbor 2 Neighbor
“We’re blessed to have
gotten into our new building
a couple nights prior to when
the weather hit,” he said. “We
haven’t seen a winter like this
in quite a while.”
“I’d say we’ve expe-
rienced more people this
year than in the past,” said
Dwight Johnson, a volunteer
for the station, which is
located at 715 S.E. Court
Ave., Pendleton. He said on
Christmas the station had
20 visitors, about three more
than their highest attendance
in previous years.
The current maximum
capacity for the center is
around 20, Clemons said.
The station is open from
6:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., and on
abnormally cold days tries to
stay open until 9 a.m. Along
with shelter, they also provide
a basic meal in the evenings.
Johnson said the station
welcomes donations and has
their needs listed on their
website at n2npendleton.org.
Other organizations are
keeping up with the cold,
too. Dave Hughes of Herm-
iston’s Agape House, which
provides food and warm
clothing to people in the area,
said they haven’t seen a sharp
increase in people using their
services.
“I think the weather is
keeping some people in,” he
said. “We’re going through
coats and blankets very
quickly, but our supply has
been meeting our needs.”
He added that their food
supply was keeping up with
needs as well.
PREGNANCY: Center open Monday through Thursday
Continued from 1A
into about one per day.
Pregnancy Care Services
offers pregnancy tests and
immediate counseling for
women who come in scared
that they might be pregnant.
Cissna and the volunteers
who make up the rest of
the staff provide emotional
support but also information
about
pregnancy-related
topics such as adoption,
abortion, prenatal care and
resources for new parents.
Cissna said they hope
the women they see make a
“life-affirming decision,” and
they do not make referrals
to abortion clinics. But even
if a woman chooses to have
an abortion after considering
all of her options, the center
will be there for her with
post-abortion counseling to
help deal with the compli-
cated feelings that come
along with terminating a
pregnancy.
“We let her know regard-
less of her choice we’re there
for her,” Cissna said. “No
judgment, no condemnation,
we just want to love on her.”
The state recorded 16
abortions by Umatilla County
residents in 2015; however,
the department only counted
abortions that took place in
Oregon. For Umatilla County
residents the nearest abortion
options are clinics in Kenne-
wick and Walla Walla.
For women who choose
to keep their baby, Pregnancy
Care Services provides
continued counseling, peer
mentoring and parenting
classes. They also provide
classes and peer mentoring
with male volunteers for
involved fathers-to-be.
The Earn While You
Learn program gives women
points for attending coun-
seling sessions and classes,
and those points can be
redeemed at Pregnancy Care
Services for baby clothes,
diapers, bottles, blankets and
car seats. All of the items are
donated by the community.
During
Thursday’s
ribbon-cutting celebration,
volunteer Lois Cram showed
off the boutique where women
can shop with their points.
On one shelf was a stack of
care packages that included a
handmade receiving blanket
and hand-crocheted hats and
booties. The nonprofit Linus
Project also donates baby
quilts made by members of
the community.
“If we have a lady that
needs something but we don’t
have it, we just ask around,”
Cram said. “We have a very
generous community.”
Right now the center
is open Monday through
Thursday, 12:30 p.m. to 5
p.m., but Cissna said there
was a volunteer who said
they would be willing to work
Saturdays so they might be
expanding their hours soon.
Larry Ables volunteered
to help get the new space
— formerly occupied by
a trucking company —
cleaned up and remodeled,
and Cissna said she hopes to
eventually expand into the
space next door too.
Pregnancy Care Services
is holding a “Celebrate a
Vision for Life” banquet
Jan. 22 from 5-7 p.m. at
the Hermiston Conference
Center to collect donations
and hear from keynote
speaker John Ensor. Umatilla
County Commissioner Bill
Elfering is also raising money
for the center on Saturday at
the Dancing with Your Herm-
iston Stars event at Hermiston
High School at 7 p.m.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at
jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
“National Day of Action
Events Against Trump Poli-
cies,” according to a news
release by the One Oregon
coalition.
Trump has said that he
will seek to deport millions
of undocumented immi-
grants from the country,
end executive orders by
President Obama that shield
certain illegal immigrants
from deportation, and start
a Muslim registry.
The coalition is “deeply
concerned
about
the
impact this will have on
immigrant and refugee
communities, who are inte-
gral to Oregon’s economy
and future,” said Diane
Goodwin, a spokeswoman
for Basic Rights Oregon, a
member of One Oregon.
One of Obama’s exec-
utive orders, known as
Deferred Action for Child-
hood Arrivals, or DACA,
protects from deportation
undocumented immigrants
who were brought to the
United States as children.
Young people who are
eligible must apply for the
program every two years,
receive a work permit and
may attend college.
“There are more than
700,000 individuals nation-
ally and about 15,000 in
Oregon whose lives are
at stake, whose ability to
continue their education and
their career is at stake based
on what President-elect
Trump does,” said Andrea
Williams,
executive
director of Causa. “A lot of
times, they have never been
to their home country, don’t
know the language or have
not been there for a very
long time.”
The One Oregon coali-
tion of 60 organizations
opposes
anti-immigrant
policies. Immigrant rights
organizations
Causa,
APANO and Unite Oregon
lead the group.
The coalition plans to
support state legislation
in 2017 aimed at reducing
racial profiling during
police stops, expanding
Medicaid to more children
and increasing affordable
housing funding.
There are no known
counter protests to the
event. Oregonians For
Immigration
Reform,
which frequently clashes
with Causa on policy
proposals, had no plans
for a counter demonstra-
tion Saturday, said OFIR
President Cynthia Kendoll.
OFIR has scheduled a
meeting the same day as the
demonstration to discuss
the results of the election
and 2017 legislation.
Trump’s immigration
proposals have begun to
address many of the frus-
trations some Americans
have had with immigration
policy
and
practices,
Kendoll said.
“I think the Trump
administration has nailed
it when he said we need
to reassess what we are
doing and why and how
is it benefiting the United
States,” Kendoll said.
She said she supports
Trump’s plan to end the
DACA program.
“Those parents made
the choice for their children
to pick them up and bring
them to this country,”
Kendoll said. “I didn’t
make that choice for them.”
OFIR attempted to
advance ballot initiatives
last year that would have
made English the official
language
of
Oregon,
required businesses to use
a federal program to verify
citizenship of employees
and required proof of
citizenship to vote. The
initiatives ultimately were
tied up in court after immi-
grant rights organizations
and the ACLU challenged
the ballot titles.
OFIR plans to offer at
least four pieces of legis-
lation next session, though
Kendoll declined to disclose
specifics Wednesday, Jan.
11. None are expected to
gain momentum in the
Democratic-controlled
Legislature.
WORLD BRIEFLY
Watchdog to probe Comey’s,
FBI’s actions before election
WASHINGTON (AP) — In yet another
aftershock from the chaotic presidential
campaign, the Justice Department inspector
general opened an investigation Thursday
into department and FBI actions before the
election, including whether FBI Director
James Comey followed established policies in
the email investigation of Hillary Clinton.
Democrats have blamed Comey’s handling
of the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private
email server, and his late-October public
letter about the case, in part for her loss to
Republican Donald Trump.
Workers are now putting final touches on
preparations for next week’s Inauguration
Day festivities, and the new probe will not
change the election results. But it revives
questions of whether the FBI took actions that
might have influenced the outcome.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the
department’s internal watchdog, will direct
the investigation, which comes in response to
requests from members of Congress and the
public.
Comey said he was pleased about the
review and the FBI would cooperate fully
with the inspector general.
“I hope very much he is able to share his
conclusions and observations with the public
because everyone will benefit from thoughtful
evaluation and transparency regarding this
matter,” he said in a statement.
Officials: More than 40%
of California out of drought
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than 40
percent of California is out of drought, federal
drought-watchers said Thursday at the tail
end of powerful storms that sent thousands
of people fleeing from flooding rivers in
the north, unleashed burbling waterfalls
in southern deserts, and doubled the vital
snowpack in the Sierra Nevada in little more
than a week.
Declaring California as a whole to be past
its official three-year drought emergency will
be up to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will probably
wait until the end of the winter rain and snow
season to make that decision.
But for people in northern cities such as
Sacramento, where state workers opened
flood gates to ease pressure on levees for
the first time in a dozen years, releasing a
two-mile-wide torrent of excess water from
the surging Sacramento River, the call on
declaring the dry spell over in Northern
California looked much clearer.
The weekly drought report by federal and
academic water experts showed 42 percent of
the state had emerged from drought. This time
last year, only 3 percent of California was out
of drought.
Mass murderer says prison
isolation ‘damaged’ him
SKIEN, Norway (AP) — Norwegian
mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik told
a panel of judges Thursday that his solitary
confinement in prison had deeply damaged
him and made him even more radical in his
neo-Nazi beliefs.
Dressed in a black suit, the right-wing
extremist who killed 77 people in a 2011
bomb attack and shooting spoke coherently
and without emotion as he addressed the
panel considering if his isolation is inhumane.
Breivik, 37, spoke during a hearing at
the high-security prison in southern Norway
where he is serving a 21-year sentence and
has been in solitary confinement since 2012.
The government is appealing a lower court
ruling that held his constant segregation was
degrading and violated European human
rights standards.
Saying he felt locked in a bubble, Breivik
complained about his lack of personal
contacts. He is allowed to receive visits from
family and friends, but hasn’t had any except
one from his mother before she died.
The self-proclaimed neo-Nazi also told the
three-judge panel he agreed with government
attorneys’ evaluation that he had become
more radicalized in prison.
Attorney General Fredrik Sejersted,
representing the government, said that before
Breivik carried out the 2011 massacre, he had
envisioned continuing to be a fascist, right-
wing extremist leader if he ended up in prison
instead of killed by police during the attacks.
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