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REGION/3A
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FBI director:
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claims bogus
NATION/7A
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
141st Year, No. 111
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
One dollar
Upgrades
to roads,
bridges
estimated
as high as
$312M
Committee estimate lower than
ODOT’s recommendation
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Traffi c passes a construction zone Monday on Westgate in Pendleton. The construction zone is blocking one lane as crews dig
a trench to replace a section of the water main.
Westgate rehab project underway
East Oregonian
Westgate will be the hub of
plenty of construction activity for
the duration of spring.
The city of Pendleton has
already closed one lane of traffi c
as contractors replace a water
main under the road.
The city aims to have the
$510,819 water line project
completed by the end of April, in
time for the Oregon Department
of Transportation to start a street
project.
ODOT spokesman Tom
Strandberg said drivers should
expect more street closures and
construction delays as workers
apply a new overlay to Westgate
from Airport Road to Southwest
18th Street. Strandberg’s ballpark
estimate for the project’s duration
is six to eight weeks.
In a minor snafu Monday,
public works director Bob
Patterson said contractors clipped
the overhead line that supplied
internet to the nearby Umatilla
County public works offi ce. The
connection was expected to be
restored Tuesday morning.
BOARDMAN
Students take their projects to the wind
KidWind Challenge
teaches mechanics
of wind energy
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Duct tape saved the day.
Three teams of Boardman
students participated in
the KidWind Challenge, a
national program to teach
the benefi ts and mechanics
of wind energy. The students
designed and built miniature
wind turbines, and Saturday
they gathered at Riverside
Junior-Senior High School,
Boardman, to test their
creations in a wind tunnel
and fi nd out what kind of
power they could generate.
The four large fans in
the tunnel sucked a few
turbines completely off the
ground. The strong bonds of
duct tape, though, allowed
students another — and
better — go of it.
Loli Jacquez and Rodrigo
Guzman, sixth graders at
Windy River Elementary,
Boardman, built their turbine
sturdy enough to withstand
the force of the tunnel. Their
teacher, Katrina Bretsch, said
the pair used a carpet dryer to
try out the turbine.
Bretsch said her whole
class took part in the
hands-on learning about
wind power through kits she
supplied, but the two boys
joined up as Team Voltage
to enter the competition.
They were the youngest
team there, and Bretsch said
the pair committed plenty
See WIND/8A
SALEM — A subgroup of the legis-
lative committee crafting a statewide
transportation package has recommended
an increase of $255.6 million to $312.4
million in annual spending to upgrade
roads and bridges.
That would require raising revenues
equivalent to a 9- to 11-cent increase in the
state’s 30-cent gas tax. The money would
likely come from a combination of sources,
which could include a hike in the gas tax,
registration fees, tolling or other options.
“Even the equivalent of 11 cents is yet to
be determined,” said Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose. “This is all highly fl uid.”
The state now spends about $1.3 billion
a year on transportation maintenance and
upgrades. The Oregon Transportation
Commission has recommended spending
an additional $574 million a year to
upgrade roads and bridges to ease conges-
tion, particularly in the Portland metro
area.
But the legislative subgroup could not
reach a consensus on an amount, said Rep.
Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, who led the group.
“We didn’t reach consensus on much of
anything, but I think we all agreed we need
to do something,” Bentz said.
The recommendation comes from the
fi rst of fi ve subgroups from the legislative
Committee on Transportation Preserva-
See UPGRADES/2A
PENDLETON
Old bridge
wanted for
new project
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Fabian Meza and Donovon Carmack, students at Riverside Junior/
Senior High School, Boardman, work on the blades for their team’s
wind turbine Saturday during the KidWind Challenge at their school.
They were one of three teams seeking to earn the opportunity to
compete at the national level.
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Civil rights activ-
ists, defense lawyers and journalists
voiced concern Monday over legis-
lation that would give pseudonyms
to sex crime victims and witnesses
in grand jury indictments and keep
their names out of public court
records.
District attorneys and victim
advocates say the legislation is
designed to protect victims and
their families who might otherwise
the defendant. They said
that is especially true in
the case of accused sex
traffi ckers who may have
multiple victims.
“The fear of victims
testifying against their
traffi ckers cannot be over
exaggerated,” said Nita Belles,
executive director of In Our Back-
yard, a Bend-based anti-human
traffi cking nonprofi t organization.
“They and (their families) have
been threatened, and the traffi ckers
have carried out enough threats
against them in the past to make
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
believers out of them.”
However, opponents
argued during a hearing in
front of the Senate Judi-
ciary Committee that the
proposal would violate
the public’s constitutional
rights to open courts and
an open press.
Journalists
are
“sympathetic to those
victims of sex crimes who are often
required to relive their experiences
multiple times throughout the trial
process,” said Keith Shipman of
the Oregon Association of Broad-
casters. “However, our member
A community organization wants the
city of Pendleton’s blessing to re-use the
Eighth Street Bridge, and is asking for
some money to help do it.
The Pendleton City Council will
meet Tuesday to discuss supporting the
Pendleton Enhancement Project’s goal
of re-using components of the original
Eighth Street Bridge and reconstructing
them in the downtown area.
By the time the council decides on
moving the bridge, its members will
have already met as the Pendleton
Development Commission and consid-
ered a Pendleton Enhancement Project
request for $20,000 to cover some of the
costs of re-constructing the bridge. The
Pendleton Enhancement Project started
its life as Project Exploration, a group
of nonprofi ts and government offi cials
interested in creating and supporting new
civic endeavors.
Although the name has changed, the
Pendleton Enhancement Project objective
remains the same, with much of its focus
directed toward the 500 block of South
Main Street.
See BILL/8A
See BRIDGE/8A
Proposed bill would seal names
of sex crime victims, witnesses
refuse to testify in front
Opponents argue it would
of a grand jury out of
violate rights to open courts fear of retribution from
Group asks for $20K to help
move Eighth Street Bridge