43/32
JEWISH
GRAVES
VANDALIZED
NIXYAAWII
ADVANCES TO
FINAL BRACKET
NATION/8A
SPORTS/1B
Trump wants
$54B surge
for military
NATION/8A
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017
141st Year, No. 96
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
MISSION
HERMISTON
Tovey
City council discusses replacing
resigns as EOTEC board down home stretch
CTUIR
With less than six months until fair, councilors air grievances “There’s a lot of
over-discussion
and over-planning
executive
and not a lot of
action. (It’s) literal-
director
ly and fi guratively
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Dave Tovey’s latest stint as
executive director of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation has come to an end.
The tribes announced Monday
that Tovey has
resigned, but
did not give
a reason for
the departure.
Tovey
could
not be reached
for comment.
T r i b a l
spokesman
Chuck Sams
said the CTUIR Tovey
Board
of
Trustees will meet Monday, March
6 to discuss hiring Tovey’s replace-
ment. In the meantime, Debra Cros-
well — the tribes’ deputy director
— will serve as acting executive
director.
Tovey is a tribal member with a
long history working for the CTUIR
government. He started in 1986
after graduating from college, even-
tually rising to executive director
before leaving in 2002. From there,
he landed similar roles with the
Coquille Indian Tribe, Confederated
Tribes of Siletz Indians and Affi l-
iated Tribes of Northwest Indians
Economic Development Corpora-
tion.
The CTUIR brought Tovey back
in 2011, where he has stayed the last
six years.
“It has been my honor to serve
my people in this capacity,” Tovey
said in a brief statement.
CTUIR Chairman Gary Burke
said the tribes experienced “tremen-
dous growth” under Tovey’s leader-
ship.
“We look forward to his future
accomplishments in his new
endeavors,” Burke said.
This will not be the fi rst time
Croswell has served as acting
director for the tribes. She also fi lled
the interim role in 2010 prior to
Tovey’s second hiring.
The decision was made when
Tovey was hired in 2011 to split
duties between Tovey and Croswell,
and have them both report to the
CTUIR Board of Trustees. The
board now directly supervises both
positions.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0825.
Frustration with progress on the
Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center has the Hermiston city
council discussing a takeover of the
project.
Councilor John Kirwan proposed
during Monday’s meeting that the
council ask the Umatilla County
commission — the project’s other
partner — for permission to become
EOTEC’s acting board until after
construction is complete and the
2017 fair and rodeo are over. The
rest of the council was less sure of
the idea but agreed that they should
discuss it in a special meeting with
the county commissioners as soon
as possible.
Kirwan pointed out that it had
been more than a month since
the county and city had asked the
EOTEC board to come back with an
operations plan for who will run the
center. The EOTEC board discussed
a plan on Friday but did not approve
it.
“There’s a lot of over-discussion
and over-planning and not a lot of
action,” he said, calling EOTEC
“literally and fi guratively bogged
down in the mud.”
City manager Byron Smith, who
also serves as the EOTEC board
chair, has estimated he spends 20 to
25 percent of his time on EOTEC.
Kirwan said Smith’s time, along
with “untold hours” from other staff
members, donation of the 90 acres
the project sits on and other in-kind
donations means the city is “already
See EOTEC/10A
TOP DAWG
bogged down in
the mud.”
— John Kirwan,
Hermiston City Council
member
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Valen Wyse throws his hands in the air
after defeating Milwaukie’s Mikel Bremmer in the
class 5A 170-pound match Saturday in Portland. The
region had four local wrestlers claim state champion-
ships this weekend. For more see Sports/1B.
Lawmakers consider Miranda-like warning for searches
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Law enforcement
agencies are speaking out against
legislation that would require
offi cers to advise people of their
right to refuse a search during a
traffi c stop.
Proponents of the bill say the
requirement would be similar to a
Miranda warning, when arrestees
are told they have the right to
remain silent and to access to an
attorney.
“The consent search issue is
something that is probably going
to be controversial because it is
used as major part of law enforce-
ment in some places, and we’ve
got to fi gure out how to deal with
that in a way that seems fair to the
community, not just arbitrary,”
said Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Port-
land, who sponsored the bill.
Police offi cers may search a
person or their vehicle with the
person’s consent. Some jurisdic-
tions, but not all, require written
consent.
Consent searches are “a
common tool in a police offi -
cer’s repertoire,” said Michael
Selvaggio, a lobbyist for the
Oregon Coalition of Police and
Sheriffs. “As such they have,
in fact, resulted in a number of
harmful or dangerous individuals,
substances and weapons being
taken off the street.”
Selvaggio said the requirement
would result in criminal cases
See SEARCHES/10A
Pressure on GOP to revamp health law grows, along with rifts
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Offi ce made things complicated recently
by giving House Republicans an informal
analysis that their emerging plan would
WASHINGTON — President Donald be more expensive than they hoped and
Trump declared Monday that “Nobody cover fewer people than former President
knew that health care could be so compli- Barack Obama’s statute. The analysis
cated.” Yet the opposite has
was described by lobbyists
long been painfully obvious “Nobody knew speaking on condition of
for
top
congressional
anonymity to discuss private
Republicans, who face that health care conversations with congres-
mounting pressure to scrap
aides.
could be so sional
the law even as problems
In a fresh blow, a leading
grow longer and knottier.
complicated.” House conservative said
With the GOP-controlled
late Monday that he was
— Donald Trump opposing a preliminary
Congress starting its third
month of work on one of its
version of GOP legislation
marquee priorities, unresolved diffi culties that emerged last week. Rep. Mark
include how their substitute would handle Walker, R-N.C., objected that the draft
Medicaid, whether millions of voters would not immediately end the expansion
might lose coverage, how their proposed of Medicaid under Obama’s health care
tax credits would work and how to pay for overhaul and would create new tax credits
the costly exercise.
See HEALTH/10A
By ALAN FRAM AND RICARDO
ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump, fl anked by Independence Blue Cross
CEO Daniel J. Hilferty, left, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
North Carolina CEO Brad Wilson, speaks during a meeting
with health insurance company executives in the Roosevelt
Room of the White House in Washington, Monday.