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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2017)
Page 4A NORTHWEST East Oregonian Army Corps may privatize hatcheries MEDFORD (AP) — A change in how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interprets its acquisition regulations could mean operations at the Cole Rivers Hatchery on the Rogue River and six other Or- egon hatcheries become pri- vatized. The agency is considering contracting the Cole Rivers Hatchery out to the lowest bidder on a one-year contract as early as this spring, report- ed the Mail Tribune. The Cole Rivers Hatch- ery grows nearly 2.8 million fish for release in the Rogue River Basin. The Oregon De- partment of Fish and Wild- life has operated the hatchery under a cooperative agree- ment with the Corps since it opened in 1974. The Or- egon agency also runs six other hatcheries associated with Corps dams. Corps spokeswoman Mi- chelle Helms said a recent review of the Federal Acqui- sitions Regulations has led officials to believe a contract approach would be more ap- propriate than the current co- operative agreement. “The understanding of the law has developed over the years, and that’s what’s driv- ing this,” Helms said. “The change will allow us to better meet the requirements of the FAR.” Cole Rivers is the first of the Corps’ hatcheries to move forward with the new contract approach. The agency could start soliciting bids as early as late February. The other hatcheries like- ly to face contract bids down the line are Bonneville Hatch- ery on the Columbia River, Jamie Lusch/The Medford Mail Tribune via AP In this photo taken Feb. 3, Jim Grieve, hatchery foreman with Cole Rivers Hatchery, works with Coquille River Fall Chinook in Shady Cove, Ore. A change in how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interprets its acquisition regulations could mean operations at the hatchery on the Rogue River and six other Oregon hatcheries become privatized. “As an angler, I’d be concerned. There’s a lot of uncertainty on whether we’ll see the same level of fish production and quality.” — Russ Stauff, ODFW’s Rogue Watershed manager Marion Forks Hatchery on the North Santiam River, the South Santiam Hatchery on the South Santiam River and the Willamette, McKenzie and Lieberg hatcheries in the Wil- lamette Valley. Russ Stauff, ODFW’s Rogue Watershed manager, said the hatchery’s produc- tion might not be enough for anglers if a private contrac- tor takes over. He said some contractors might not be as accountable to Rogue Basin anglers. “As an angler, I’d be con- cerned,” Stauff said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty on whether we’ll see the same level of fish production and quality.” Cole Rivers is a mitiga- tion hatchery built to raise fish annually to make up for wild salmon and steelhead lost when the Corps built Lost Creek and Applegate dams. It raises about 2.58 million salmon and steelhead for re- lease in the Rogue and Apple- gate rivers. SALEM — Legislative leaders remained tight-lipped Monday about a closed-door meeting concerning budget and tax issues they facilitated last week between business and la- bor groups. The two politically power- ful groups are generally at odds over the cost of state govern- ment and the mechanisms used to fund it. They clashed last fall over Measure 97, and un- successful ballot measure that would have created a tax on the Oregon sales of certain corpo- rations in excess of $25 million. The measure would have raised $6 billion per two-year budget cycle. But both sides attended a meeting Feb. 1 hosted by Or- egon Senate President Peter Courtney and Speaker of the Oregon House Tina Kotek. As the legislative session en- ters its first full week, Democrat- ic lawmakers are sounding the alarm about potential cuts to ser- vices because of the nearly $1.8 billion gap between the state’s resources and what it would take to pay for existing services in the next budget cycle. The meeting’s occurrence was announced Friday, but it’s not clear what was specifically was discussed. In a joint state- ment Friday, Courtney and Kotek called the meeting “pro- ductive” and said “everyone agrees that the current budget environment is not acceptable.” Perennial political flash- points include the cost of the state’s pension system for pub- lic employees and the state’s tax structure, including its reliance on income taxes for its general fund revenues. In a meeting with reporters Monday, Kotek said it is now up to business and labor groups to continue talks independently. “What I saw in that room was Oregonians who care about their state, who just came off a very difficult election where they might have been on the opposite sides, but understand- ing that we have a bigger issue that we all have to come togeth- er to solve,” Kotek said. “And so right now we’re stepping back and letting them continue to talk and we’ll see how that goes. We just felt it was our job to get it going, and we’re glad that it’s going, and we’ll see how it ends up.” She said she and the senate president wanted to “provide a space” for business and labor groups to have a “confidential, honest conversation.” Asked about why the meet- ing was private, she said if the conversations continue to prog- ress, potential legislation will be vetted in a public setting. “We’re trying to bring peo- ple together to say, OK, let’s talk about it one more time, this isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation,” Kotek said. “And hopefully we’ll get some guidance on how best to put some legislation together and that then you will have very public conversations about it.” Courtney’s office declined Monday to comment further on the meeting. NATION Tuesday, February 7, 2017 Three refuge defendants plead guilty to trespassing East Oregonian Page 5A Trump: Allow those who ‘want to love our country’ By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — President Don- ald Trump vowed Monday to allow only people who “want to love our country” into the United States, defending his immigration and refugee re- strictions as he made his first visit to the headquarters for U.S. Central Command. Trump reaffirmed his sup- port for NATO before military leaders and troops and laced his speech with references to homeland security amid a court battle over his trav- el ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries. He did not directly mention the case now before a feder- al appeals court after a lower court temporarily suspended the ban. “We need strong pro- grams” so that “people that love us and want to love our country and will end up lov- ing our country are allowed in” and those who “want to destroy us and destroy our country” are kept out, Trump said. “Freedom, security and justice will prevail,” Trump added. “We will defeat radi- cal Islamic terrorism and we will not allow it to take root in our country. We’re not going to allow it.” Trump touched upon var- ious alliances in his remarks, noting, “we strongly support NATO.” He spoke Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two “discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commit- ments,” and also talked about the crisis in Ukraine and secu- rity challenges facing NATO countries. Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as “obsolete,” and said he would decide wheth- er to protect NATO countries against Russian aggression By STEVEN DUBOIS Associated Press Leaders remain mum about labor-business meeting By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau Tuesday, February 7, 2017 PORTLAND — Three of the final seven de- fendants charged in the Ammon Bundy-led take- over of a national wildlife refuge last year took plea deals Monday instead of heading to trial next week. Sean and Sandy Ander- son, a couple from Riggins, Idaho, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to misdemeanor trespassing in exchange for the dismiss- al of felony conspiracy and weapons charges. Also tak- ing that step was Dylan An- derson of Provo, Utah, who is not related to the Idaho Sean Anderson couple. U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown sentenced the three to one year of proba- tion each and required each one to pay $1,000 restitution to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They must also ask their probation officers for per- mission to camp on public Sandra Anderson lands. All are required to avoid the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, located in southeastern Oregon’s high desert. “The Malheur refuge is not on my bucket list,” Sean Anderson told Brown. Ammon Bundy, joined by his brother Ryan and a band of followers, seized Dylan Anderson the refuge on Jan. 2, 2016, to protest the federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires. The Bundys were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop that included the fatal shooting by police of occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Fin- icum. Four holdouts, including Sean and Sandy Anderson, refused to leave the refuge until Feb. 11. A federal grand jury indicted 26 people on conspiracy and weapons charges. Eleven defendants pleaded guilty last year and charges were dropped against one man. In a high-profile trial last fall, jurors found the Bundy brothers and five others not guilty of fel- ony charges. Prosecutors decided after their loss in the tri- al to go ahead with a February trial for the re- maining seven defendants. They changed their prosecutorial strategy by adding misdemeanor charges such as trespassing to the mix. Another one of the final defendants, Darryl Thorn, of Marysville, Washington, was sched- uled to join the Andersons in changing his plea Monday, but his hearing was canceled. He was similarly on the cusp of accepting a plea agree- ment last June before changing his mind. Thorn’s decision leaves him headed to trial next week with co-defendants Duane Ehmer, Ja- son Patrick and Jake Ryan. The jurors will determine whether the four are guilty of felony conspiracy and weapons charges. The misdemeanor charges will be heard in a non-jury trial after the felony trial ends. AP Photo/Susan Walsh President Donald Trump gesture from the top of the steps of Air Force One at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Monday before returning to Washington. Oregon files brief supporting lawsuit against travel ban By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon is seeking to join a federal law- suit by Washington to chal- lenge the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immi- gration. The executive orders sought to temporarily ban refugees and visa holders from seven predominant- ly Muslim countries. En- forcement of the order was halted when a Washington based on whether those coun- tries “have fulfilled their obli- gations to us.” Speaking as commander in chief, Trump repeated his promises to defeat “radical Islamic terrorists” but provid- ed no specifics on any policy changes he wants in the fight against the Islamic State. He complained about media coverage of terrorist attacks, suggesting there were many attacks going intentionally state federal judge several days on the granted that state’s Trump administra- request for a tem- tion’s appeal of the porary restraining restraining order order last week. “If the appellate Attorney Gen- court upholds the eral Ellen Rosen- TRO (temporary blum has signed restraining order), and filed an amicus which we hope it brief with the U.S. will, it is likely to 9th Circuit Court Rosenblum send it back to the of Appeals in sup- trial court in Wash- port of Washington’s case. ington state for further pro- Another 15 states have filed ceedings,” Attorney General similar briefs supporting the Rosenblum said in a state- challenge. The court is ex- ment Monday. “We want pected to decide in the next to be ready to help in any unreported by the media. In response to requests for evidence to support that claim, the White House re- leased a list of 78 attacks it described as “executed or in- spired by” the Islamic State group since September 2014. Most on the list did not get sufficient media attention, the White House said. The list included incidents like a truck massacre in Nice, France, that killed dozens and received widespread atten- tion, as well as less high-pro- file incidents in which no- body was killed. The AP could not verify that each of the incidents had connections to the Islamic State group. Earlier, Trump sat down for lunch with a room full of troops in fatigues from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, as well as senior members of his White House way we can to establish the permanent illegality of the Executive Order.” Oregon also is coordinating with the Washington attorney genearl and will ask the Washington judge to allow Oregon to be added to the lawsuit, as soon as Tuesday, according to Rosenblum’s office. The Washington com- plaint alleges that President Donald Trump’s immigra- tion order is unconstitutional on multiple grounds, includ- ing religious and national or- igin discrimination. staff. Trump made small talk with some of the soldiers, dis- cussing everything from foot- ball to military careers. “Gonna make it a career?” Trump asked one person. “C’mon, you have to stay,” he urged another. Trump also hailed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, saying he “ce- mented his place” in football history after his fifth Super Bowl win Sunday. Trump stopped at the base on the way back to Washing- ton after his first weekend away from the White House. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, with first lady Mela- nia Trump, who had not ap- peared in public since shortly after her husband took office. At MacDill, the president was briefed by CENTCOM and SOCOM leaders. A num- ber of his advisers, including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security ad- viser, also attended. Trump met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott before de- livering his remarks, telling the crowd at CENTCOM that Scott’s endorsement of his candidacy for president “makes him a better friend of mine,” adding that with those who don’t offer their endorse- ment, “it’s never quite the same.” CENTCOM oversaw a re- cent raid by U.S. special op- erations forces on an al-Qaida compound in Yemen, the first military operation authorized by Trump. A Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, of Peoria, Illinois, was killed, making him the first known U.S. combat ca- sualty under Trump. Three other U.S. service members were wounded in the operation. More than half a dozen suspected militants and more than a dozen civil- ians were also killed, includ- ing the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and U.S. citizen who was targeted and killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike. Trump made no mention of Owens or the raid in Yemen during his remarks Monday, but he paid recognition to the sacrifices of American mili- tary families and the spouses of American soldiers, vowing his support to those who risk their lives for the country. Tech firms take stand against Trump’s travel ban, risking backlash SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Through a Super Bowl ad, public statements and court filings, Silicon Val- ley’s biggest companies are taking a strong stand against President Donald Trump’s travel ban, saying high tech needs immigrants’ creativity and energy to stay compet- itive. Although the compa- nies are risking a backlash from customers who side with Trump, they say the pushback is necessary for an industry dependent on thousands of highly skilled foreign workers. About 58 percent of the engineers and other high- skill employees in Silicon Valley were born outside the U.S., according to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an industry trade group. “Immigration and inno- vation go hand in hand,” said Carl Guardino, the group’s CEO. “This cuts so deeply into the bone and marrow of what fuels the in- novation economy that very few CEOs feel the luxury of sitting on the sidelines. So people are going to stand up and speak up.” The tech industry con- tends there aren’t enough Americans with the special- ized skills these companies need. Though critics contend that companies favor immi- grants because they can pay them less, tech companies argue that the ban would pressure them to move some operations abroad. “A lot of these compa- nies will really struggle if all of a sudden we turn off the spigot,” said Greg Morri- sett, dean of computing and information sciences at Cor- nell University. In a court filing Sunday against the ban, 97 compa- nies, including such major tech players as Google, Ap- ple, Microsoft, eBay, Net- flix, Facebook and Twitter, also spoke of the entrepre- neurial spirit of “people who choose to leave everything that is familiar and journey to an unknown land to make a new life.” Google CEO Sund- ar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella both came from India. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is a Russian refugee who moved to the U.S. as a boy. The father of Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, im- migrated from Syria. Chamber Members! UPCOMING CHAMBER EVENTS We're runninb a special section in Monday Minute (the Chamber’s weekly email update) and on the Chamber's website for Valentine's Day Sales & Specials. Send us yours! Please email communications@pendletonchamber.com to be included. Deadline for Monday Minute content is Fridays at NOON! NEW N E W MEMBER M E M B E R WELCOME W E L C O M E webb w ebb property resources 1234 1 234 NW Ingram Ave, Pendleton (541) ( 541) 969-4731 • www.webbpropertyresources.com Hospitality Front Line Field Trip 7XUQ<RXU6WD௺LQWR &XVWRPHU6HUYLFH 1LQMDV March 2-4, 2017 Pendleton Convention Center The Chamber is seeking donations for the Coaches & Officials Hospitality Room! Cash, Food, & Volunteer Time are welcome! Call the Chamber at (541) 276-7411 to let us know how you can help! fe Chamber would like to thank all the members who Tour Pendleton’s Hot Spots • Sample the Best Vittles h ave renewed their membershi ip have membership Limited Seating—RSVP Required for 2017, and continue to be Convene at the Pendleton Convention Center the foundation of the Cham- Thursday, February 16, 2017 ber’s ability to help build and d DPIRU&RႇHH3DVWULHV m aintain a strong and healthy y maintain (Bus loads at 9:00 a.m. We’ll be done by 2pm) Please RSVP to (541) 276-7411 by February 13th. comm co mmun mm unit un ity y . it community. Have the right answer when a visitor asks what there is to do or where to eat in Pendleton! Tune in to 1290AM KUMA for the Chamber’s Coffee Hour on February 22nd at 8:30 am! 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