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East Oregonian
Trump says U.S. will deal with N. Korea ‘very strongly’
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— President Donald Trump
on Monday vowed to “deal
with” North Korea, calling it
“a big, big problem” without
mentioning the ballistic
missile it test-fired over the
weekend or any planned
American response.
The Pentagon was more
pointed in its assessment of the
problem. A spokesman said
technical advancements in
North Korea’s ballistic missile
programs, demonstrated in
the latest test-launch from a
mobile launcher, pose a “clear,
grave threat” to U.S. security.
That assessment reflected
concern as well as frustration
among U.S. officials, who
see North Korea pushing
ahead, in defiance of U.N.
Security Council resolutions,
with development of missiles
capable of striking U.S. terri-
tory with nuclear weapons.
“North Korea’s unlawful
weapons programs represent
a clear, grave threat to our
national security,” a Pentagon
spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff
Davis, said Monday. “North
Korea openly states that its
ballistic missiles are intended
to deliver nuclear weapons
to strike cities in the United
States, the Republic of Korea,
and Japan.”
Trump has said he puts
high priority on developing
better defenses against such
missiles, but his administra-
tion has not said how it will
respond to Saturday’s missile
launch, short of condemning
it as a dangerous provocation.
At a joint news conference
Monday at the White House
with Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, Trump was
not asked about the missile
test, but he brought up North
Korea when a reporter asked
what are the “most important
national security problems”
facing the U.S.
“Obviously, North Korea
is a big, big problem and
we will deal with that very
strongly,” Trump said. He did
not elaborate.
Trump indicated during the
transition period after he won
the November election that he
would make missile defense a
high priority, citing the threat
posed by North Korea. But
he has not has yet defined a
strategy for dealing with that.
In a brief statement Saturday
night prompted by North
Korea’s missile test he said the
U.S. will stand by Japan “100
percent.”
Davis, the spokesman,
said the U.S. tracked the flight
of the missile launched on
Saturday evening, U.S. time,
and assessed that it traveled
about 310 miles, before
landing in the Sea of Japan.
He said the missile appeared
to be a land variant of a
submarine-launched ballistic
missile known outside of
Korea as the KN-11.
Davis said the missile
appeared to be powered by
solid fuel, which represents
a technological advancement
from liquid-fuel missiles. The
mobile launcher from which
the missile was fired had
not previously been seen in
public, he said.
AMBULANCE: Stayed around 40 mph through the slush
Continued from 1A
Penninger said, would allow
the ambulance to travel
because it was an emergency
vehicle.
Griffin and Williamson
stepped up to handle the
transport, loaded up the
patient and left around 3:30
p.m., ready to take on the
storm. Griffin is completing a
bachelor’s degree in commu-
nity health at Eastern Oregon
University, La Grande. She
oversaw the care of the
patient during the ride.
“There was foresight and
there was planning,” Griffin
said.
A doctor instructed her to
administer pain medication
to the patient, who slept most
of the way, and fire Capt.
Mark Easley and Penninger,
as well as Ciraulo, were in
constant contact. Griffin also
credited Umatilla County
dispatchers for helping to
relay messages and checking
in to make sure they were
doing OK on the road.
Williamson, a corrections
officer at Eastern Oregon
Correctional
Institution,
Pendleton, took the wheel.
He said he has made similar
runs in the past.
Similar, but nothing quite
like this one.
“I definitely went through
everything on this trip,” he
said.
Ice covered the freeway,
and at times the ambulance’s
windshield. He said he
stayed around 40 mph on
the ambulance’s studded
tires through snow, rain and
deep slush. He also gritted
his teeth recalling speedsters
in passenger vehicles and
semitrailers flying by at 60
and even 70 mph.
The pair and the patient
made it to Hood River, where
Oregon State Police forced
them off the interstate. The
black ice and two crashes
down the road made passage
on the freeway impossible.
Griffin said she asked state
police if would be possible
to take the eastbound lanes.
PERS: Approximate
savings should the bills
pass would be $5-6 billion
Continued from 1A
that cutting back on PERS
benefits is the only option in
order to prevent layoffs and
further financial strain on
local governments.
Others, such as Paul
Kyllo, the vice-chair of the
Salem-Keizer school board,
said that the cuts proposed
in Senate Bills 559 and 560
would worsen districts’
ability to recruit and retain
talented people for posi-
tions that are already hard
to hire for — such as math
and science teachers.
Over the years, PERS
has been divided into three
generations, based on date
of hire — Tier 1, Tier 2, and
the Oregon Public Service
Retirement Plan.
Detractors
say
the
proposed changes dispro-
portionately affect current
employees — many of
whom are on the Oregon
Public Service Retirement
Plan — and disincentivize
new
employees
from
entering public service
professions.
Knopp
said
that
according to an actuary, the
approximate savings should
Senate Bills 559 and 560 be
implemented, would be $5
billion to $6 billion.
But Bob Livingston,
a Salem firefighter and
president of the Oregon
State Fire Fighters Council,
said Monday the actuary
did not take into account a
significant precedent: that
more state workers than
expected retire in years
when the Legislature vows
to take up reforms to the
system. When that happens,
more employees draw on
retirement benefits.
Some witnesses testi-
fying against the reforms
also advocated for revenue
increases.
The state faces two,
somewhat interconnected
financial problems: The
nearly $1.8 billion short-
fall in the budget that
lawmakers must address
by midnight July 9; and the
unfunded liability of PERS.
Personnel costs make up
a significant chunk of the
state’s costs every two-year
budget cycle.
Business
taxes
are
another subject legislative
committees are taking up
this week, three months
after the failure of Measure
97, a ballot measure that
would have raised approx-
imately $3 billion per year
by creating a gross sales
receipts tax on certain
corporations with more than
$25 million in annual sales
in Oregon. Union groups
publicly advocated in favor
of the measure.
According to legisla-
tive leadership, unions
and the state’s business
groups, which by and large
have advocated in favor
of cutting PERS, have
started discussing possible
common ground behind
closed doors.
The Senate Workforce
Committee convenes again
Wednesday to discuss what
Chair Sen. Kathleen Taylor,
D-Portland, calls a contro-
versial topic — refinancing
PERS. The committee will
also discuss several “ideas”
Knopp is working on, none
of which were yet publicly
available Monday evening
as legislative concepts or
bills.
The trooper who responded
told her his car wasn’t going
anywhere, and it had chains
on the tires.
By this point in the slow
trip, the oxygen supply
and pain medication were
running low. Griffin and
Williamson took the patient
to Providence Hood River
Memorial Hospital, where
she spent about an hour-
and-a-half in a hospital bed
with Williamson by her
side. Griffin during the time
drove to the Hood River Fire
Department, which provided
another oxygen bottle. The
hospital and fire department
also gave them food and
water.
With I-84 out of the ques-
tion, Griffin and Williamson
found another way — skirt
the eastern slope of Mount
Hood on Highway 35,
cross Government Pass and
descend on Highway 26 to
Gresham.
Williamson said he felt the
ambulance start to slip a time
or three, but he did not have
CRASH: Traffic began to
flow again around 9:40 p.m.
Continued from 1A
available at press time.
Several transmissions
also reported fog and heavy
smoke from fires at the
GreenWood
Resources
tree farm a few miles east
of Boardman limited visi-
bility between Boardman
and Hermiston. Some
responders at the scene
described the scene as a
“white out” on the emer-
gency scanner.
And the fires, according
to transmissions, would
burn for at least a day.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation closed
both directions of I-84
between mileposts 171 and
177.
George
Murdock,
211 SE Byers, Pendleton
or e-mail resume and
cover letter to
hr@eomediagroup.com
Umatilla County commis-
sioner, said he was stuck
in traffic for about an hour
on the eastbound side near
milepost 175 and saw an
ambulance, police car and
a fire engine roar by. He
estimated he was about a
hundred yards from the
scene, but the thick smoke
obliterated any clear view.
He also said breathing
the smoke felt “toxic.”
Traffic began to flow
around 9:40 p.m., Murdock
said, and he saw one car
mangled under a semi. He
also said he heard ambu-
lances took six injured from
the scene.
The East Oregonian
will follow this story and
provide more information
Wednesday.
KOVACH: Only three
people held the position in
the 25 years before Kovach
Continued from 1A
from Willamette University.
During the hiring process
to replace the retiring Jon
Peterson as superintendent,
Kovach was one of three
finalists for the position,
which also featured Herm-
iston deputy superintendent
Wade Smith and Pendleton
assistant
superintendent
Tricia Mooney. Smith and
Mooney have since taken
positions as the Walla Walla
Public Schools superin-
tendent and Hermiston
assistant
superintendent,
respectively.
Kovach’s departure is
a shake-up for a position
that has long been a source
of stability. In the 25 years
before Kovach was hired,
only three people held the
superintendent position.
Kovach was in the midst
of a three-year contract
which paid $127,500 per
year.
With his departure
looming, Kovach planned
to stay busy between now
and July 1.
“Looking forward, I will
continue to lead Pendleton
School District through the
spring and to give my best
in serving its students,”
he said. “There is a lot of
work to be done both in
the classroom and at the
district level. This includes
completing a strategic plan
mapping out the school
district’s future.”
The board agreed to
meet Feb. 20 to declare a
superintendent
vacancy
and begin planning the
process of finding Kovach’s
replacement.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
BONDS: $1.5 million will go
toward creation of a festival street
Continued from 1A
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center. Smith said
local hoteliers had agreed to
an additional $1 per room
per night tourism promotion
assessment to be directed
toward paying off the bonds.
He said the original plan was
$1.75 million over 15 years,
but he is in talks to see if they
were willing to extend it to
20 years, which would raise
an extra $400,000.
Another $1.5 million
will go toward creation
of a festival street on NE
Second Street next to city
hall. Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said the
festival street committee
hopes to have a final design
to show the council during
an April 10 work session.
Those bonds will be paid for
through the revenue coming
into the Urban Renewal
District.
Smith said $1.7 million
will go toward “smart”
water meters that can be
read remotely and alert
ratepayers of leaks. $1.5
million will help pay for new
equipment at the recycled
water treatment plant that
will save the city the expense
of draining solid waste from
the lagoons. Bonds for both
of those projects will be paid
for by a series of three 5
percent water and sewer rate
increases starting March 1.
On Monday night the
council also approved an
updated joint management
agreement with Umatilla
County for land that is
outside city limits but inside
the urban growth boundary.
They also approved a
resolution joining other
Oregon cities in requesting
that the legislature create
a new law restoring recre-
ational immunity. The
law protects landowners
who offer up their land
for free recreational use
from lawsuits arising from
injuries, but a recent Oregon
Supreme Court ruling stated
that the injured party can still
sue employees. Since cities
are obligated to protect their
employees, cities such as
Pendleton have closed some
city parks to protect them-
selves, while Hermiston
has stopped a planned skate
park.
Mayor David Drotzmann
said he visited Salem for
Capital Day, and while he
got a wonderful reception
from local senators and
representatives, he did not
leave Salem “overly opti-
mistic” that much movement
will be made on the League
of Oregon Cities’ legislative
priorities such as recreational
immunity, property tax
reform and PERS reform.
“It’s an interesting place
we’re in as a state,” he said.
“There doesn’t seem to be a
lot of bipartisan movement
for anything.”
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Over $30,000 in auction items up for bid!
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Pendleton Convention Center
Limited to fi rst 500 tickets sold
Tickets available at Big John’s Pizza, Pendleton Athletic
and Dave’s Food Mart. Must be 21 & over to attend.
Dr. Robert Alan Pratt, DMD PC
Hill Meat Company
Wheatland Insurance • Thews Sheet Metal • Papa Murphy’s Pizza
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PART-TIME
DRIVER
Pick up an application at
to put on tire chains. They
arrived at Oregon Health &
Science University at 1:07
a.m., Jan. 18. Throughout it
all, they also said, the patient
did not complain.
The made it back to Trout-
dale, where the Pendleton
Fire Department picked up
the tab for a rest at a hotel
room. Griffin said they each
got about four hours sleep
before the drive home.
They made it back before
4 p.m., in time for Williamson
to start his shift at the prison.
Pendleton Mayor John
Turner at last week’s city
council meeting presented
Griffin and Williamson with
commendations for going
above and beyond the call of
duty. Ciraulo said Griffin and
Williamson earned it with
their display of tenacity and
the professionalism.
“I’m just so proud of
them,” he said.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Part-time driver needed
to deliver East Oregonian
publications throughout
Eastern Oregon. Must be
able to lift up to 50 pounds,
have a valid driver’s license
and a good driving record.
Shifts vary but will regularly
include Tuesday nights.
Duties may include non-
driving work if extra hours
are desired. Drug test,
driving record and criminal
background checks will be
completed before hire.
Eat Smart for Your Heart
W ednesday, February 15th
1:30 - 3:00 PM • Room #3
Topics Covered:
• Know your numbers
• Tips for reducing sodium intake
• Heart healthy fats
• Carbs are bad, right? Come and find out!
• Heart healthy foods to include in your diet
• Food samples!
FR
Join Christine Guenther, RD, LD
E E for a fun interactive class! F R
Please call 541-278-3235 to register.
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
EE