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East Oregonian
Marking Roe v. Wade
anniversary, abortion
foes pin hopes on Trump
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)
— Abortion opponents
expressed
optimism
Monday that President
Donald Trump’s early
months in office would
advance their cause as
hundreds converged on the
Kansas Statehouse to mark
the 1973 Supreme Court
decision that legalized
abortion nationwide.
Trump,
inaugurated
Friday, has promised to fill
a vacancy on the Supreme
Court with what he has
called a “pro-life” justice
and has said he would sign
anti-abortion
measures
approved by the Republi-
can-controlled Congress.
Even as GOP governors
and legislatures enacted a
raft of new anti-abortion
laws over the past decade,
the movement faced a big
obstacle from Democrat
Barack Obama’s eight years
as president.
“I have high expecta-
tions,” said Karin Capron, a
69-year-old retired chemist
from the Kansas City suburb
of Mission who has been
active in the anti-abortion
movement for more than
four decades. “The more
hear about him (Trump),
the more I think he can be
very helpful to the pro-life
movement.”
Longtime anti-abortion
activists mixed with private
school students and joined
prominent state officials at
the annual Rally for Life,
one day after the 44th anni-
versary of the Roe vs. Wade
ruling.
The rally, which is
regularly
the
largest
annual political event at
the Capitol in Topeka, was
accompanied by worship
services and workshops —
a prelude to the movement’s
paramount
event,
the
annual March for Life on
Friday in Washington. The
rally included prayers for
Trump and seeking an end
to abortion.
Trump on Monday rein-
stated a ban on providing
federal money to interna-
tional groups that perform
abortions or provide infor-
mation on the option. The
policy has been instituted by
Republican administrations
and rescinded by Demo-
cratic ones since 1984.
The anti-abortion rally
has drawn several thousand
people to the Statehouse in
the past; the crowd Monday
had as many as 1,000 people.
But a women’s march and
rally Saturday drew more
than 3,000 people — many
of them concerned about
abortion rights.
Marilyn Ault, of Topeka,
now 78, became an abortion
rights supporter in the early
1960s after watching a friend
recover from an illegal
abortion. Ault, who ran the
local Battered Women’s
Task Force, said she recalls
fellow abortion-rights activ-
ists thinking after the Roe
decision, “That was it, and
we wouldn’t have to worry
about it,” she said.
Capron, a lifelong Cath-
olic, said she became active
in the anti-abortion move-
ment in 1973, following
the decision, after seeing
a slide show at a church
that featured pictures of
aborted fetuses. She’d just
had a baby, and recalls, “I
said, God, I’ve got to do
something.”
TPP: Even without TPP,
the wheat industry has
traded with other countries
Continued from 1A
also supported the TPP,
saying it would have
provided a level playing
field and reduced tariffs
imposed on U.S. wheat.
The National Associ-
ation of Wheat Growers
and U.S. Wheat Associates
issued a joint statement
calling Trump’s decision
“inevitable.”
“It is disappointing,
however, that until an
alternative trade policy is
established, export oppor-
tunities in the promising
Pacific Rim markets that
could help U.S. wheat
farmers at a time when they
need it most are very much
at risk,” the statement says.
Wheat prices have been
low the past year, and
many wheat growers were
looking for trade help from
the administration.
“Without TPP or alter-
native agreements, U.S.
farmers will be forced
to the sidelines of trade
while losing market share
to competitors, including
Australia, Canada, Russia
and the European Union,
which have current agree-
ments or are negotiating
new ones with countries
outside the network of
existing U.S. trade agree-
ments,” stated NAWG
president Gordon Stoner,
an Outlook, Mont., wheat
farmer.
“Obviously,
we’re
supportive of trade,” said
Glen Squires, CEO of
the Washington Grain
Commission.
Roughly
85 to 90 percent of wheat
produced in Washington
is exported. “Moving
forward, we’re still going
to be supportive of trade.”
Even without TPP, the
wheat industry has traded
with
other
countries,
Squires said.
“If it’s not there, we still
have to try to compete the
best we can in all markets,”
he said.
Others in agriculture
welcomed the news.
National Farmers Union
president Roger Johnson
said in a statement that he
was pleased by Trump’s
decision.
“For too long, our
nation’s trade negotiators
have prioritized a free trade
over fair trade agenda,
leading to a massive $531
billion trade deficit, lost
jobs and lowered wages in
rural communities across
America,” Johnson said.
“It’s time our country
refocuses the trade agenda
to prioritize balanced trade,
U.S. sovereignty and U.S.
family farmers, ranchers
and rural communities.”
Shawna Morris, vice
president of trade policy
for the National Milk
Producers
Federation
and U.S. Dairy Export
Council, said the TPP had
valuable gains, but wasn’t a
perfect agreement for dairy
producers, particularly for
market access.
Dairy producers see
Trump’s decision as an
opportunity to directly
engage key Asian markets
and
establish
export
advances in Japan, Vietnam
and Southeast Asia, Morris
said.
“Certainly what we
can’t see is a situation
where the U.S. effectively
sits back now and lets our
competitors run the board
in Asia by sewing up all of
their own trade agreements
without us being at that
table,” Morris said.
Tracy Brunner, Presi-
dent of the National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association,
criticized the withdrawal.
“Fact is, American
cattle producers are already
losing out on $400,000 in
sales every day because we
don’t have TPP, and since
NAFTA was implemented,
exports of American-pro-
duced beef to Mexico have
grown by more than 750
percent,” Brunner said
in a prepared statement.
“Sparking a trade war with
Canada, Mexico, and Asia
will only lead to higher
prices for American-pro-
duced beef in those markets
and put our American
producers at a much steeper
competitive disadvantage.”
R-CALF USA, an inde-
pendent ranchers’ group,
applauded Trump’s order,
saying TPP would have put
U.S. livestock producers at
a disadvantage.
“It’s really a huge relief
that now the president of
the United States is saying
exactly what we’ve been
saying for 20 years,” said
Bill Bullard, CEO of the
organization.
Y
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
MARCH: 2,000 marchers reported in Walla Walla
Continued from 1A
Before the march began, organizers
told the protesters that the event was
nonpartisan and wasn’t geared toward
criticizing any specific politicians, but
the specter of Trump’s inauguration still
loomed over proceedings
On the steps of the courthouse, a series
of speakers addressed a crowd flush with
homemade signs and fluorescent pink
“pussyhats,” a reference to recorded
comments Trump made in 2005 to an
Access Hollywood host about grabbing
a woman by her genitalia.
Amanda Hull of Pilot Rock described
herself as a “pretty hardcore feminist”
and said she was marching because she
was already concerned about some of
Trump’s early actions as president.
Within hours of being sworn in,
Trump signed an executive order to
“minimize the economic burden” of
the Affordable Care Act, which allows
government agencies to stop enforcing
certain regulations associated with the
law.
Katrina Dielman of Pendleton also
said the Affordable Care Act was one of
the reasons she was protesting, adding
that she had family members that bene-
fited from the health care law.
Carrying a pink sign in the shape of
a cat’s head with the words “We Shall
Overcomb” (the cat’s hair resembled
that of the president’s), Dielman said she
was on her way west to join the Portland
Women’s March but turned around
when she heard there was a march closer
to home.
One by one, speakers recited speeches
not just addressing women’s rights, but
also covering racial justice, environ-
mental preservation, police brutality,
immigration, access to health care and
LGBT rights.
On signs and on shirts, members of
the crowd displayed their support for the
Dakota Access Pipeline protest, Black
Lives Matter and the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals immigration
program.
Despite the variety of issues the
marchers wanted to tackle, women’s
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Several hundred people participated in Saturday’s Pendleton Women’s March.
rights remained central to the reasons
many locals decided to march on Pend-
leton.
Stephanie Williams-Stregge of
Hermiston said she was marching on
behalf of her 10-year-old daughter, both
as a woman and in support of public
education.
“Everyone deserves access to public
education,” she said.
Clad in a Rosie the Riveter outfit,
Sarah Short of Pendleton said she used
the opportunity to talk about the wage
gap between men and women.
Dressed in traditional tribal garb,
Carrie Sampson said she was marching
for her three young daughters, with
special consideration for the higher
levels of domestic abuse and sexual
assault Native American women face.
As the march drew to a close in the
Heritage Station parking lot, protesters
gathered to sing “We Shall Overcome”
and “This Land is Your Land” before the
crowd dispersed back into town.
Interviewed on Monday, Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said the march was “pretty
unremarkable” from a public safety
standpoint, the only incident coming
from some young people trying to join
the march and cause trouble before being
deterred by the sight of police.
Roberts said organizers met with
police when applying for a parade permit
for the event and created contingency
plans with them.
In his experience, Roberts said the
police have never dealt with a political
demonstration that large, but he credited
the group for sticking to the rules and
avoiding conflict.
A similar event in La Grande drew
about 250 people, according to the Blue
Mountain Eagle, and the Union-Bulletin
reported 2,000 marchers in Walla Walla.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
GRONQUIST: ‘He was fun to be around. He was caring’
Continued from 1A
people feel like their views
meant something.
“I don’t think there was a
person who met Dennis who
didn’t like him,” Shaffer
said. “He is going to be
sorely missed.”
Gronquist suffered a
stroke at his home in July
and was flown to a Portland
area hospital where he
spent a number of weeks in
intensive care, according to
his brother, Keith Gronquist,
who lives in Las Vegas.
Over the past few months,
Keith said Dennis’ health
had been improving — he
was gaining weight and
looking physically stronger.
Keith actually planned to
visit in February for Dennis’
70th birthday.
Keith and Dennis Gron-
quist grew up together in
Boardman with their sister,
Karen Clough, who now
lives in Heppner. Keith
described his brother as “just
a good guy,” highly respected
and warmly regarded within
the community.
“He was fun to be around.
He was relaxed. He was
caring,” Keith Gronquist
said. “He was pretty much
the complete package.”
Despite his health, Dennis
Gronquist, a Democrat, was
re-elected to the Gilliam
County Court in November.
It may take some time
to appoint a new county
commissioner, since candi-
dates must be nominated
by the county’s Democratic
central committee.
Gilliam County, however,
does not currently have
a
Democratic
central
committee
chairperson.
Therefore, the Democratic
Party of Oregon must
appoint a temporary chair-
person, who will assemble a
committee to come up with
three to five nominations.
Judge
Shaffer
and
commissioner
Michael
Weimar will then appoint
someone to fill Gronquist’s
seat for the full remainder
of the four-year term.
Shaffer said he hopes to
have a county Democratic
chairperson in place by the
time the Court meets on
Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Gronquist’s
daughter,
Megan Proctor, said her
father was an ethical man
who always did what he
thought was best for the
county.
“He held the office of
commissioner of Gilliam
County in the highest regard
until the day he died,”
Proctor said.
Gronquist loved the small
towns and communities of
Gilliam County, Proctor said.
He was progressive in his
thinking about the county’s
economic future, yet equally
adept at reaching across the
political aisle.
In
fact,
it
was
Oregon’s sole Republican
congressman, Greg Walden,
who issued a statement
Monday saying he was proud
to call Gronquist his friend.
“As a public servant and
a family man, Dennis Gron-
quist was one of a kind,”
Walden said. “He worked
selflessly for many decades
serving his community, and
he got things done for the
citizens of Gilliam County.
My thoughts and prayers go
out to his family during this
difficult time.”
Proctor said her father
was a man of the people,
who loved his family and
loved his friends.
“He was a great guy,” she
said.
Services will be held for
Gronquist at 1 p.m. Sunday
at Arlington Elementary
School.
HERMISTON: Also approved new parking spaces downtown
Continued from 1A
out at the recycled water
treatment plant. The city
recently spent $1.4 million
emptying the lagoons where
the solid waste goes after it is
filtered out, and Morgan said
with the new treatment plant’s
stronger filtering capabilities,
that will now need to happen
every three years.
“It’s filling the lagoon
much more quickly, and
that’s not something you
want to overflow,” he said.
The $1.5 million equip-
ment would reduce costs
down to $85,000 per year,
meaning the investment
would pay for itself in three
and a half years.
The rate adjustment the
council approved Monday
means the average water user
(at 11,220 gallons a month)
will go from $27.83 per
month currently to $29.22
in March, while the average
sewer user will go from
$23.56 per month to $24.74
in March.
City councilor Doug
Smith said that while the city
understands that raising rates
are a hardship on people, it
also has decades-old pipes
that “look like Swiss cheese”
and it needs to save up some
money to fix them before a
major incident.
“We’re trying to do as
much as we possibly can
with as little as we possibly
can,” he said.
On Monday the city
council also approved new
parking spaces downtown.
As a “pilot program” for
changes in the future, the
council agreed to change
the parking spaces on the
north side of Gladys Avenue
between Second Street and
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