NORTHWEST
GOP chairman candidate on food stamps in 2014
East Oregonian
Page 2A
The Register-Guard
EUGENE — Since 2009, Mark
Callahan has waged an endless series
of political campaigns.
He’s run, unsuccessfully, for the
U.S. Senate (twice), Eugene-area seats
in the state Legislature (three times), the
Lane County Board of Commissioners,
the Eugene School Board, the Mount
Hood Community College Board and,
in 2012, for president.
Now, on the back of a shock victory
in the Oregon Republican primary for
U.S. Senate last year, the 39-year-old
wants to be chairman of the Oregon
GOP. Callahan, who lived in Eugene
for years before more recently moving
to Portland, announced in a Dec. 20
Facebook post that he will challenge
current leader Bill Currier.
If Callahan wins that internal party
vote later this month, it would put a
decidedly unconventional Republican
at the helm.
Callahan describes himself as a
fiscal and constitutional conservative,
and he has previously said he’s a
member of the tea party movement.
But court records from a custody
dispute between Callahan and his
ex-wife, Sherri, in 2014 contain a
surprising admission: That in June,
shortly after his first U.S. Senate
campaign, Callahan was receiving
food stamps.
That federally funded benefit,
formally called the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program, is
designed for low-income residents.
Many Republicans, including Pres-
ident-elect Donald Trump, paint the
program as wasteful and ripe for fraud.
In the filings, Callahan didn’t say
when he started claiming the benefit,
but the court filing in Marion County
was made only a month after the 2014
primary election for U.S. Senate, where
Callahan finished a distant third.
During that campaign, Callahan
poured $9,090 of his own money into
his candidacy and loaned his campaign
another $6,500, according to federal
campaign finance records. That made
him — easily — the top contributor to
his campaign.
Receiving
public
assistance
while, or shortly after, funding one’s
political campaign is highly unusual
and compromising for a candidate,
some political observers and experts
say. That’s particularly the case for a
GOP hopeful, given many Republi-
cans’ virulent criticism of safety-net
programs.
Reached by phone Thursday,
Callahan declined to be interviewed.
Via email, he acknowledged being on
SNAP in 2014 “to provide food for my
2 young daughters and myself.”
“The amount of SNAP benefits I
received after the primary election was
very meager in comparison to others,”
he wrote.
Callahan declined to answer ques-
tions about when he started receiving
public assistance and if he is still on
food stamps.
Data about individual food stamp
recipients is not a public record, so it’s
impossible to independently answer
those questions.
Eligibility for food stamps is
based primarily on someone’s current
income — provided they have less than
$25,000 in “liquid assets,” usually cash
savings. Given that Callahan shared
joint custody of his two daughters with
his ex-wife at the time, he would have
been eligible for food stamps if he was
making less than $26,000 a year.
In June 2014, Callahan was unem-
ployed.
In the court filing, he wrote that he
was claiming unemployment benefits
as well. That spring, Callahan requested
to go part-time at his network admin-
istrator job at a Portland technology
company “to allow time for me to be
active in my campaign for the U.S.
Senate,” he wrote.
Callahan claimed that he was laid
off on March 21, 2014 — two months
before the primary — because “my
employer stated that they needed a full-
time person.”
According to his LinkedIn page,
Callahan hasn’t had a full-time job
since. “Looking for my next opportu-
nity,” Callahan’s page currently states.
But Callahan said in an email that
he has had part-time information tech-
nology jobs since March 2014, most of
it “contractual and consulting work.”
“Income from this type of work is
inconsistent,” he wrote. “I look for any
work, and jobs, so I can provide for
my family the best way I can. With the
economy being on the skids the last 8
years, times have been tough in terms
of finding and keeping employed long
term.”
A SNAP recipient with children can
continue to claim the benefit indefi-
nitely if their income stays below the
eligibility threshold.
The Oregon Republican Party’s new
chairman will be elected by local party
officials from around the state.
BRIEFLY
Standoff at Seaside
home stretches
into 3rd day
Idaho man indicted
for abducting wife
before deadly crash
SEASIDE (AP) —
Seaside police continue
to monitor a house where
gunshots were fired.
City spokesman Jon
Rahl says the man inside the
house spoke with officers at
least twice Friday, but won’t
come outside.
Officers have been at
the house since Wednesday
afternoon, when they
responded to a report of a
shooter inside. The man’s
mother left the place when
police arrived. She was not
hurt.
Shots were fired early
Wednesday evening. The
gunfire was contained to
the house, and none of it
was directed at police or
neighbors.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) —
An Idaho man accused of
abducting and stabbing his
ex-wife and then causing
a fatal crash in Eastern
Oregon has been indicted
by an Oregon grand jury.
Anthony Montwheeler,
49, was indicted Thursday
by a Malheur County
jury on felony charges
of aggravated murder,
kidnapping and assault.
Montwheeler is currently
hospitalized in Boise,
The Idaho Statesman
reported. Information on
Montwheeler’s injuries
and condition has not been
released.
He is accused of
kidnapping and killing
Annita Harmon, who
divorced him in 2015,
killing David Bates,
the driver of an SUV
Montwheeler’s truck struck
on an Oregon highway
on Monday and seriously
injuring a passenger in that
SUV.
The passenger in
the SUV is listed as in
good condition at Saint
Alphonsus Regional
Medical Center in Boise.
Police in Ontario were
chasing Montwheeler’s
pickup after being alerted
that a woman was being
held against her will and
had been stabbed. It is not
yet clear if Harmon died
from stab wounds or the
Single copy price:
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Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
MONDAY
SUNDAY
Mostly cloudy with
freezing fog
Mostly cloudy with
freezing fog
TUESDAY
Frigid with clouds
and sun
Not as cold with a
wintry mix
WEDNESDAY
Periods of rain
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
15°
19°
7°
8°
18°
9°
39° 36°
48° 40°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
17°
20° 10°
9°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
8°
41°
70° (1923)
-8°
27°
-8° (2017)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
1.06"
0.72"
1.06"
0.39"
0.72"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
10°
-12°
41°
28°
60° (1945) -12° (2017)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.61"
0.53"
0.61"
0.22"
0.53"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
Jan 19
Jan 27
First
Feb 3
33° 30°
44° 38°
Seattle
41/29
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
18° 11°
7:33 a.m.
4:36 p.m.
7:38 p.m.
8:54 a.m.
Full
Feb 10
Today
Spokane
Wenatchee
21/8
19/12
Tacoma
Moses
41/22
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 21/9
23/10
44/27
41/22
23/6
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
35/23
Lewiston
14/6
16/8
Astoria
25/16
45/30
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
31/21
Pendleton 25/8
The Dalles 17/9
15/7
20/15
La Grande
Salem
26/11
34/21
Albany
Corvallis 35/24
34/25
John Day
34/15
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
18/4
35/26
24/8
Caldwell
Burns
20/7
17/-4
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
45
15
24
50
17
25
35
19
17
34
28
26
26
41
46
51
18
17
15
31
22
34
21
28
32
14
23
Lo
30
-1
8
38
-4
8
26
7
9
15
8
11
11
30
32
35
4
7
7
21
3
21
8
8
20
6
6
W
s
c
c
s
c
c
s
c
c
c
s
c
c
s
s
s
c
c
c
s
c
s
c
c
s
c
c
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Lo
16
60
44
33
42
26
30
33
14
71
32
W
s
c
c
pc
pc
sn
pc
s
s
sh
pc
Lo
33
1
13
38
-4
9
26
9
10
19
6
12
11
27
34
36
2
6
8
20
5
23
8
10
22
7
7
W
c
c
c
s
s
c
c
c
c
c
s
c
c
s
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
Sun.
Hi
32
64
52
49
72
32
38
45
32
79
43
Lo
19
59
40
38
45
24
33
35
16
71
35
W
pc
r
pc
r
pc
sn
r
sh
s
sh
pc
WINDS
Medford
41/30
Klamath Falls
28/8
(in mph)
Today
Sunday
Boardman
Pendleton
NNE 3-6
N 4-8
NE 4-8
NNE 4-8
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Mostly sunny today. Mainly
clear tonight; cold.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Mostly cloudy
today with areas of freezing fog.
Eastern Washington: Cloudy most of the
time today into tomorrow with areas of
freezing fog.
Cascades: Mostly sunny today. Clear to
partly cloudy tonight; cold across the north.
Western Washington: Mostly sunny today.
Mainly clear tonight. Variable cloudiness
tomorrow.
Northern California: Partly sunny today. A
passing shower at the coast this evening.
Partly sunny tomorrow.
0
1
1
0
0
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
WORLD CITIES
Hi
36
63
53
42
69
28
41
50
25
86
44
NEWS
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sun.
Hi
47
18
29
53
19
27
38
24
20
34
31
27
29
46
48
52
15
17
19
34
26
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22
graph with the passport in
Hall’s name.
“Facial
recognition
technology, clearly, was the
break in the case that we
were looking for,” Minkler
said. “It is a tremendous law
enforcement technique used
to bring people to justice.”
Hollin was arrested at
a Wal-Mart store in Salem
where he worked and
admitted his true identity,
federal officials said. Minkler
said he didn’t know whether
Hollin had family in Oregon
and that investigators would
be checking for any similar
unsolved crimes in Minne-
sota and Oregon.
Hollin was being brought
to Indiana on Friday by
federal agents and will
be turned over to Jackson
County authorities soon to
face prosecution on felony
charges of child molestation
and confinement, Minkler
said.
Hollin is charged with
abducting the child at
knifepoint from outside a
Seymour girl’s club in 1999,
taking her to a secluded area
and molesting her before
leaving her naked along an
isolated road about 50 miles
south of Indianapolis. DNA
tests linked Hollin to the
attack, according to court
documents.
He faces up to 50 years
in prison if convicted of the
most serious of the charges.
Jackson County Prose-
cutor AmyMarie Travis said
the victim’s father told her
that his daughter was doing
well and was relieved by
Hollin’s arrest.
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East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday
and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP)
— Federal authorities say
a man charged in the 1999
abduction and sexual assault
of a southern Indiana girl
assumed the identity of a
car crash victim and lived
for years in Minnesota and
Oregon until he was arrested
this week.
Investigators
tracked
down 61-year-old Charles
Hollin to Salem, Oregon,
after he was identified
through facial recognition
software of his passport
photograph, U.S. Attorney
Josh Minkler said Friday at a
news conference.
Hollin faces federal
charges of identity theft and
fleeing prosecution, with
court documents saying
he had disappeared from
southern Indiana’s Jackson
County by the time prose-
cutors filed charges in early
2000 against him in the
abduction and assault of a
10-year-old girl.
Hollin assumed the iden-
tity of Andrew David Hall,
who was 8 years old when
he died due to a 1975 crash
in Fayette County, Kentucky,
and was buried in southern
Indiana, according to an FBI
affidavit.
Hollin
obtained
an
$80,000 home equity loan
in 1999 and a person using
Hall’s identity obtained a
Minnesota driver’s license
in 2001 before moving to
Oregon in 2011.
Minkler said FBI agents
had reviewed Hollin’s disap-
pearance frequently over the
years without success until
linking him to the photo-
Corrections
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Fugitive lived 16 years
with crash victim’s ID
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the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
www.eastoregonian.com
Aaron Piper/The Tribune via AP
Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Greg Massa
holds a FBI wanted poster at a press conference on
Friday, Jan. 13 next to U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler an-
nouncing the arrest of Charles Hollin.
crash impact.
Bates and the surviving
victim were driving north
toward Ontario when
Montwheeler’s southbound
truck crossed the center line
and hit them.
Montwheeler and
Harmon had co-owned
a scrap-metal business
based in Weiser, Idaho.
They were convicted of
first-degree theft in 2012
after underpaying an
elderly couple by more than
$10,000.
Montwheeler was
sentenced to two years in
prison and his wife was
sentenced to 16 months in
prison.
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Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
Saturday, January 14, 2017
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: An ice storm will extend from the Oklahoma Panhandle to northern
Delaware today. Rain will fall south of the ice area from southern Arizona to southern
Virginia. Spotty snow will fall north of the ice.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 87° in McAllen, Texas
Low -42° in Cotton, Minn.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
56
72
38
36
27
73
21
31
71
45
35
36
59
38
34
66
2
15
83
79
37
72
31
62
53
69
Lo
39
52
32
29
15
52
7
26
51
37
19
24
50
23
19
48
-24
2
68
61
26
53
25
44
44
50
W
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pc
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pc
c
s
pc
sh
c
c
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pc
c
pc
sn
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pc
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c
s
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Sun.
Hi
50
71
43
45
29
73
20
36
72
44
35
34
67
38
32
52
-19
23
81
79
38
72
34
60
57
64
Lo
37
53
30
27
15
54
5
21
52
39
26
24
57
26
21
41
-23
9
67
65
31
53
29
39
48
47
Today
W
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Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
46
60
78
34
20
61
72
35
39
33
35
68
26
34
49
27
34
54
37
31
66
55
41
68
38
30
Lo
35
48
68
17
1
47
57
30
32
20
31
52
16
25
43
11
18
36
31
16
53
44
29
46
33
27
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Sun.
Hi
45
62
78
32
25
54
72
42
51
31
43
61
30
39
55
33
34
55
38
27
64
56
42
56
47
39
Lo
39
53
69
23
16
48
60
28
49
26
26
49
12
19
42
12
14
34
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34
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
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