WEEKEND EDITION
DISTRICT WRESTLING
TOURNAMENT SPORTS/1B
WINTER
MISERY HITS
HISTORIC
LEVELS
BORN TO MAKE SADDLES
REGION/3A
LIFESTYLES/1C
FEBRUARY 11-12, 2017
141st Year, No. 85
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Policy prohibits
state employees
from carrying
weapons at work
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
and PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Jan. 6 marked the last day most
state employees could bring personal
guns and weapons to work.
The Oregon Department of Admin-
istrative Services that day unveiled
its new policy on “weapons in the
workplace.” Gun rights advocates
consider the policy unconstitutional
and a danger to state worker safety.
Supporters of the ban view it as a
reasonable safety measure. The state
says it brings clarity to murky waters.
Policy No. 50-010-05 “prohibits
weapons in the workplace unless an
employee is permitted to carry, handle,
operate or transport a weapon as part
of the employee’s assigned duties in
the course and scope of the employ-
ee’s employment. A permit to carry a
concealed handgun does not give an
employee the authority to use or carry
a handgun into the workplace.”
HAVE GUN,
CAN’T TRAVEL
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN and PHIL WRIGHT ♦ East Oregonian
Transportation fund
giveaway without
‘rhyme or reason’
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Cities that saw their
special transportation funds
decrease again this year are
questioning the fairness of
how that money is allocated.
Oregon’s special trans-
portation fund gives cigarette
tax money to counties, trans-
portation districts and tribes
to provide transportation for
senior and disabled residents.
In Umatilla County, that
money is then distributed
to cities and nonprofi ts by
recommendation of the
Special Transportation Advi-
sory Committee.
Hermiston assistant city
manager Mark Morgan said
during the committee’s Feb. 6
meeting, where the committee
considered applications for
$397,000 in funds for the
2017-2019 biennium, the
money was not divided based
on a formula that takes into
consideration factors such as
budget or services offered.
Instead, the committee gave
each applicant the same
percentage of their request.
Morgan said it felt like
the county’s approach to STF
funds is to “throw a sack of
money on the table” and tell
the committee to give it to
whoever it wants.
“There’s no rhyme or
reason,” he said.
Linda Carter, fi nance
director for the city of Pend-
leton, expressed the same
frustration with making cuts
based on what an agency
requested instead of the level
of service it provides.
“Those who shot for the
moon got the moon, and
those of us who asked for our
normal request got less,” she
said.
Carter said she believes
See FUNDS/12A
Firing back
Kevin Starrett is the director of
the gun-rights nonprofi t the Oregon
Firearms Federation and alerted state
lawmakers about the policy. He said it
infringes on the constitutional rights of
state workers to carry guns like other
Oregonians and in effect relegates
state workers to second-class citizens.
“Clearly, the infringements are
pretty severe,” he said. “Now those
people are being told they’re sitting
ducks. This is not crazy speculation on
my part, this has happened.”
Starrett referred to the December
2015 San Bernardino attack, in which
See GUNS/14A
Rep. Walden meets with locals
for fi rst time since election
Town halls held in
Weston, Boardman
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
For the fi rst time since
President Donald J. Trump
was elected in November,
Oregon’s lone Repub-
lican congressman, Greg
Walden, returned Friday
to meet face-to-face with
constituents in Umatilla and
Morrow counties.
Walden fi elded questions
about health care, immi-
gration, the environment,
education and Trump’s
campaign promise to build a
wall along the U.S.-Mexico
border during a pair of
town halls in Weston and
Boardman. A third meeting
was also held later in
Arlington.
About 110 people
fi lled Weston Memo-
rial Hall for Walden’s
fi rst stop, and another
75 for his second
appearance at the
SAGE Center in Boardman.
On Monday, Walden held
a teleconference from
Washington, D.C. where he
discussed many of the same
issues with about 4,000
people who listened in on
the call.
Despite
the
recent
controversy
surrounding
Trump, Walden said he had
no jitters about Friday’s
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden talks about the work he has done in Congress at a town
hall meeting Friday at the SAGE Center in Boardman.
More online
For video from the
town hall visit
eastoregonian.com
meetings in person. People
clearly have differing
opinions, he said, though
everyone remained civil and
respectful.
“This was Oregonians
at their best,” Walden said
shortly after his fi rst town
hall in Weston.
Both meetings kicked
off with questions about
how Walden and fellow
Republicans plan to repeal
“My view is that a country that
doesn’t have control of its borders
doesn’t have control of its security.”
— Greg Walden, Republican congressman
and replace the Affordable
Care Act, or Obamacare, as
they have frequently prom-
ised. Speaking to the crowd
in Boardman, Walden
said there are now 1,022
counties nationwide with
only one insurance provider
available to them on the
exchange. It is the GOP’s
mission, he said, to give
Americans more choices
and drive down costs.
However, Walden said
Congress will take its time
to make sure they get it
right.
“That’s why we haven’t
repealed, and why we
haven’t replaced,” he said.
See WALDEN/12A