NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Friday, March 24, 2017
Advocates seek more money for veteran services
benefits.
Byron
Whipple,
a
veterans’ services officer in
Union County, told legis-
lators last month that in his
area of northeastern Oregon,
veterans face problems
accessing travel to
get medical care.
In
February,
community
members housed a
75-year-old veteran
with dementia for
five days because
local
agencies
could not arrange
services for him
sooner, Whipple wrote
in testimony to the Ways
and Means Subcommittee
on
Transportation
and
Economic Development.
“We do not have local
missions and shelters that
certain cities and counties
have,” Whipple wrote. “We
do not have the extra tax
dollars to fund these emer-
gencies. Last November, we
did have hope.”
In December, Gov. Kate
Brown released a budget
that decreased the amount
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon
veterans’ groups have been
up in arms since the gover-
nor’s budget reduced alloca-
tions to the Oregon
Department
of
Veterans’ Affairs
from the state’s
general fund and
backfilled it with
most of the lottery
fund dollars set
aside for veterans’
services
by
a
v o t e r- a p p r o v e d
ballot measure.
Now they’ve brought
their concerns to a Legisla-
ture busy trying to fill a $1.6
billion shortfall.
Ballot
Measure
96
amended the state’s constitu-
tion to allocate 1.5 percent of
state lottery net proceeds to
direct services for veterans.
Advocates have been
vocal about what they say is
a need for more support —
such as for veterans’ services
officers, who help returned
veterans sign up for federal
of general fund dollars for
veterans’ services from
$10 million to $2 million,
provoking the ire of veterans’
advocates, who said that the
ballot measure was intended
to supplement, not supplant,
current state funding for
veterans.
The Governor’s Office
said in a statement this week
that at $19.8 million, the
governor’s budget reflected
the intent of Measure 96 by
increasing the overall budget
for the Oregon Department
of Veterans’ Affairs.
Although $19.8 million
would be a near doubling
of funding for veterans’
services in the next budget
cycle, veterans groups’ say
it’s not enough, and that the
governor’s plan may meet
the letter, but not the spirit,
of Measure 96.
The co-chairs of the Joint
Ways and Means Committee,
the
legislative
budget-
writing committee, proposed
$23.5 million in combined
lottery and general funds for
veterans’ services as part of
their preliminary spending
framework in January.
Some legislators have
called for boosting the
amount higher still.
State Rep. Paul Evans,
D-Monmouth, is one of
them.
Evans acknowledged in
a statement Thursday that
state legislators were facing
an “extraordinarily difficult
budget environment.”
“Now we have to find
a way to increase funding
to a level where we can do
some real good for the men
and women we’ve sent
into harm’s way, while also
strengthening our schools,
providing quality health care
and investing in other critical
services,” Evans said.
Freshman Rep. Ron
Noble,
R-McMinnville,
wants to bump the amount of
money the veterans’ services
program gets by amending
the agency’s funding bill,
bringing the total to about
$30 million for veterans’
services.
Noble says he wants to
obey the will of the voters.
According to the Oregon
Secretary of State’s Office,
83 percent of Oregon voters
voted in favor of Measure
96.
However, according to
the nonpartisan Legislative
Fiscal Office, the measure
did not require that the
amount of money allocated
to veterans’ services in the
general fund be maintained.
“There’s nothing in the
bill that says you cannot
supplant the dollars,” Noble
said. “But I think that’s, I’m
going to be blunt, I think
that’s just a chicken way
out.”
Noble did not have
specific proposals Thursday
as to where he’d cut back
elsewhere in the state’s
general fund to increase
veterans’ services.
He said the state could
be more efficient, and that he
is preparing to provide more
details at future meetings
of the Ways and Means
Subcommittee reviewing the
ODVA budget, of which he
is a member.
Supporters of more
funding, such as Noble and
State Rep. Julie Parrish,
R-Tualatin/West Linn, argue
that an up-front investment
in direct services will bring
more revenue to the state
down the line by increasing
the amount of federal
benefits Oregon’s veterans
receive. They claim it will
also lessen the burden on
other areas of the state
budget, such as health care
and housing.
Parrish was behind the
legislative proposal that was
referred to voters, and said in
a phone interview Thursday
that it was not her intention
to backfill a lower general
fund budget with the lottery
funds.
Furthermore, she believes
the state has the resources to
pay for the veterans’ services
that advocates want.
She said she was
working on a bill to curtail
the costs of healthcare
for
public
employees.
“We have the money,”
Parrish said, “We’re just
not holding state agencies
accountable for how we’re
spending it.”
Braves, warriors, chieftains: State takes on tribal mascots
battles over mascots such as
the Washington Redskins.
Minnesota and Wisconsin
have banned Native Amer-
ican mascots at school
districts for decades, but
elsewhere communities have
wrestled with the issue for
years, said Jennifer Guiliano,
a history professor at Indiana
University-Purdue Univer-
sity Indianapolis.
Oregon’s
statewide
approach is unique, and
its willingness to allow
an exception for districts
that collaborate with tribes
calls to mind the NCAA’s
longstanding ban on Native
American mascots that don’t
have tribal buy-in, she said.
But even with collabora-
tion, agreements at the high
school and college levels
can raise questions about
the nature of the long-term
relationship once a deal is
inked, she said.
State education officials
initially did not want to
allow any exceptions to the
mascot ban but eventually
bowed to pressure from
lawmakers last year. At
GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
BANKS — This fall,
the football team in the
tiny Oregon logging town
of Banks will once again
take the field as the Braves.
But this time, they have the
approval of the tribe that
originally inhabited the area.
It’s one of many changes
in the works this spring across
Oregon prompted by the
nation’s long-running uproar
over Native American sports
mascots. School districts in
the state with tribal mascots
must do away with them by
July 1 or risk punishment
that could include the with-
holding of state funds.
However, the state will
make exceptions for districts
that get the approval of
one of Oregon’s nine tribes
— and the Banks School
District is one of more than
a half-dozen tiny districts
trying to take advantage of
that provision.
The state Board of Educa-
tion voted unanimously
on Thursday to approve
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
The Banks High School mascot is visible on track hur-
dles at the school in Banks on Thursday. In Oregon,
school districts with Native American mascots must
abandon them by July or risk punishment that could
include the withholding of state funds.
an agreement between
the Banks district and the
Confederated Tribes of the
Grand Ronde, the first such
deal to reach the board.
The current deal, nearly
two years in the making,
allows the district to keep the
name Braves. In exchange,
it gives up the “Indian head”
image — a Native American
man with a partially shaved
head, face paint, ear hoop and
feathers — and implements a
curriculum developed by the
Grand Ronde that teaches the
history of its people from a
tribal perspective.
The process highlights the
dilemma facing small schools
across the U.S. as attention
has focused on high-profile
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REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
SATURDAY
Mostly cloudy,
showers around
Variable clouds, a
shower or two
51° 40°
53° 35°
SUNDAY
MONDAY
A few afternoon
showers
Clouds and sun,
showers around
TUESDAY
Mostly cloudy with
a shower
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
57° 42°
50° 39°
56° 42°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 35°
56° 40°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
54°
57°
74° (1960)
32°
37°
20° (1904)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.03"
1.52"
1.02"
5.44"
3.84"
3.53"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
56°
60°
79° (1940)
34°
36°
19° (2013)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.86"
0.69"
4.32"
2.70"
2.93"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
First
Mar 27
Apr 3
Full
Apr 10
56° 40°
60° 42°
Seattle
54/42
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
59° 43°
6:50 a.m.
7:13 p.m.
5:07 a.m.
3:34 p.m.
Last
Apr 19
Today
Spokane
Wenatchee
44/36
48/34
Tacoma
Moses
54/40
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 52/37
46/37
51/41
52/40
57/35
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
55/43
53/43 Lewiston
57/41
Astoria
51/37
52/41
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
54/42
Pendleton 46/33
The Dalles 56/40
51/40
57/40
La Grande
Salem
50/37
54/42
Albany
Corvallis 56/42
55/41
John Day
51/37
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
52/35
54/43
50/34
Caldwell
Burns
55/38
47/29
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
52
47
50
53
47
46
54
51
56
51
48
50
46
55
52
56
52
57
51
54
53
54
44
47
54
53
57
Lo
41
30
34
44
29
33
43
36
40
37
31
37
36
41
42
45
35
41
40
42
34
42
36
34
42
43
35
W
r
r
sh
r
r
r
r
sh
sh
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
sh
sh
r
sh
r
r
sh
r
sh
c
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sat.
Hi
50
51
49
52
47
45
56
51
59
51
50
50
47
56
50
54
58
61
53
54
53
54
48
46
53
55
59
Lo
39
26
33
44
26
25
38
32
35
32
32
30
28
42
41
43
34
35
35
41
30
41
32
27
40
38
33
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
pc
c
sh
c
pc
sh
pc
sh
sh
sh
pc
sh
sh
pc
pc
sh
c
pc
sh
pc
pc
pc
sh
sh
pc
sh
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney Airport
Tokyo
Hi
43
75
60
56
82
46
60
67
56
75
53
Lo
32
67
44
41
53
25
44
48
37
66
40
W
r
pc
t
s
pc
sh
c
pc
c
pc
pc
Sat.
Hi
57
71
62
58
79
39
62
67
54
76
52
Lo
39
57
45
42
54
25
43
48
34
66
45
W
pc
c
s
pc
pc
s
s
pc
pc
sh
pc
WINDS
Medford
55/41
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
48/31
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Mostly cloudy today with
a little rain.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Rather cloudy
today. A little rain; arriving during the
afternoon in the south.
Western Washington: Rain at times today.
Spotty showers tonight. A shower in places
tomorrow.
Eastern Washington: Rain today; icy mix
in the morning, then rain and sleet in the
mountains.
Cascades: Rain today; however, a bit of
snow and rain in the south.
Northern California: Rain today, except
a snow shower in the interior mountains;
colder in central parts.
Today
Saturday
SW 6-12
SW 7-14
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
0
1
2
2
1
input. Other opponents have
threatened lawsuits over racial
discrimination in schools.
In Banks, nearly all the
residents made it clear they
didn’t want to give up the
name Braves — and the tribe
was willing to listen.
“It’s been the nickname
or the mascot for 70-plus
years or so and it’s a symbol
of pride and respect for our
community,” said district
Superintendent Jeff Leo,
who oversees 1,000 students
in the K-12 district 25 miles
west of Portland.
“We just didn’t say, ‘Oh,
we’re going to keep the
name. We looked into it, we
read things. We didn’t take it
lightly at all.”
the time, some tribal rights
groups were angry at the
weakening of the policy that
had been one of the toughest
in the nation.
“You can have curriculum
without exploiting and dehu-
manizing Native American
people,” said Sam Sachs,
founder of No Hate Zone,
a racial rights advocacy
website. “I think it’s great
they’re having these conver-
sations, but we only got here
because there was a threat of
taking away their discrimina-
tory, race-based mascots.”
The
exemption
has
prompted a state lawmaker
to introduce a bill that would
ban all Native American
mascots, with or without tribal
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: A wintry mix will fall on the Northeast today while snow blankets part
of Colorado. Rain will soak areas from western New York to Nebraska and Central California
to Washington as severe storms hit the Plains.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 98° in Presidio, Texas
Low -20° in Saranac Lake, N.Y.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
67
71
50
62
61
74
55
43
73
71
72
68
82
52
67
76
18
44
85
81
66
75
70
78
77
70
Lo
40
56
47
51
43
61
39
40
53
50
48
54
54
32
48
47
-9
26
72
64
55
55
47
60
57
54
W
s
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
sh
sh
pc
c
c
c
t
sf
c
s
s
pc
pc
t
c
pc
t
pc
pc
pc
Sat.
Hi
72
73
58
73
51
72
56
48
75
73
58
64
77
62
54
83
19
50
84
81
65
77
59
72
71
67
Lo
43
59
47
49
36
60
36
35
57
54
52
53
56
35
44
53
-6
32
73
58
54
57
42
54
50
51
Today
W
s
pc
c
pc
r
t
c
r
pc
pc
r
r
s
pc
r
s
s
pc
s
pc
r
pc
sh
pc
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pc
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
73
77
78
62
46
74
80
52
77
67
57
79
40
46
70
59
59
56
78
60
67
62
54
75
65
74
Lo
58
62
69
39
31
59
68
48
47
42
51
56
33
41
51
31
41
45
58
45
58
51
42
48
53
45
W
pc
sh
sh
c
r
pc
sh
c
pc
t
pc
s
sn
sh
pc
pc
r
r
pc
pc
pc
r
r
s
pc
t
Sat.
Hi
71
71
80
45
48
73
78
61
69
53
72
82
46
53
74
67
58
65
69
51
66
63
52
83
75
63
Lo
58
53
68
40
35
57
67
42
46
39
48
56
25
36
55
37
33
45
51
35
56
50
40
50
56
41
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
c
t
pc
r
c
t
t
sh
pc
c
pc
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r
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pc
pc
t
r
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s
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pc