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East Oregonian
Border agency fields pitches
for Trump’s wall with Mexico
SAN DIEGO (AP) —
One bidder wants to cover
President Donald Trump’s
border wall with solar panels.
Another suggests building
a wall large enough for a
deck that would offer tourists
scenic views of the desert.
In the competition to build
the wall, traditional bids
are interspersed with more
whimsical ideas.
As Tuesday’s deadline for
bids passed, U.S. Customs
and
Border
Protection
declined to identify bidders
or say how many there were,
which is standard practice in
government contracting. The
federal government expects
to announce around June 1
which companies will be
hired to build prototypes.
Designs must be able to
repel pickaxes and sledge-
hammers for at least an hour
and be aesthetically pleasing
from the north side.
Trump’s
multibil-
lion-dollar plan promises
potentially big profits but
also risks inviting a backlash
from people who oppose the
project.
The Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Mexico
said last week that Mexican
companies expressing interest
were betraying their country.
“This isn’t the kind of
project that you’d want to
put in your portfolio, said
Gene Grabowski, a partner
in kglobal, a Washington
public-relations firm. “Unlike
a dam or bridge, this is one
where the risk of being
associated with the political
philosophy of the adminis-
tration can be damaging to
current and future business.”
That did not stop some
companies from releasing
their plans — some tradi-
tional, some more imagina-
Gleason Partners via AP
This undated rendering provided by Gleason Partners
LLC shows sections South Side (Mexico) connected
like a snake along the border. Solar panels would cov-
er sections of the wall proposed by Las Vegas-based
Gleason Partners LLC so it could generate power. The
wall’s solar panel system would generate 2.0 mega-
watts of electricity per hour, according to the compa-
ny’s proposal.
tive.
Concrete
Contractors
Interstate proposed a polished
concrete wall augmented with
stones and artifacts that are
tailored to different sections
of the 2,000-mile border.
“The idea is to make the
wall a piece of art,” said Russ
Baumgartner, chief executive
officer of the San Diego-
based company.
Gleason Partners LLC of
Las Vegas said its solar panels
would generate 2 megawatts
of electricity an hour. Both
proposals were first reported
by The San Diego Union-Tri-
bune.
“For the younger gener-
ation, they say if there is
going to be a wall, let’s have
it be green,” said Gleason
Managing Partner Thomas
Gleason.
The other specifications,
like preventing people from
digging tunnels beneath
the wall, will eliminate
some designs immediately.
Winners must also have done
border security or similar
projects worth $25 million or
more in the past five years.
A U.S. official with knowl-
edge of the plans who spoke
on condition of anonymity
because the details have not
been made public said four to
10 bidders are expected to be
chosen to build prototypes for
$200,000 to $500,000 each.
The prototypes will be
constructed on a quarter-mile
strip of federally owned land
in San Diego within 120
feet of the border, though a
final decision has not been
made on the precise spot, the
official said.
The Border Patrol and
local police would establish
a buffer zone around the
construction site if necessary,
the U.S. official said. The San
Diego police and sheriff’s
departments said they will
respect constitutional rights
to free speech and assembly
for law-abiding protesters.
Bidders are also asked
to submit security plans
and demonstrate experience
“executing
high-profile,
high-visibility and politically
contentious” projects.
SCHOOL: 100 fewer students this year
Continued from 1A
be ambiguous,” said superin-
tendent Andy Kovach. “The
state Legislature is wrestling
with a gap between revenue
and needed services that will
certainly impact funding for
schools as well as funding
through Measure 98.”
Bleak state budget projec-
tions worry both McBee and
Kovach as the district has
already done some painful
belt tightening. Director of
business services Michelle
Jones has run scenarios
for different levels of state
funding; the results range
from unpleasant to grim.
“With this lack of clarity,
I have asked the PSD admin-
istrative team to prepare the
district’s budget with contin-
gencies that allow us to adjust
for a range of revenue levels,”
Kovach said. “Additionally, I
have asked that as a district
with declining enrollment we
need to examine and adjust
how our organization meets
this reality.”
“Our schools have been
inadequately funded in
Oregon for years, especially
with the addition of mandated
programs such as all-day
kindergarten that come with
no state funding attached,”
McBee said. “On top of that,
we have upcoming cuts in
federal funding such as the
Title IIA program, PERS
increases and declining
enrollment in Pendleton
School District.”
Pendleton has 100 fewer
students this year and the
drop means a corresponding
loss of $750,000.
The board previously
authorized the use up to $1
million of the district’s $1.75
million contingency fund as a
way to minimize the impact
of budget shortfalls.
“There is no other spare
pot of money for us to go to,”
McBee said. “Unfortunately
that will not be enough, so
our admin team will continue
this process now to determine
what else we need to do to
have a balanced budget.”
Monday night, the board
approved a strategy that
potentially could include
all or any of the following:
reduction in force, reduction
by attrition, program changes
and the use of contingency
funds.
“The administrative team
will first be looking at all
programs and other areas of
the budget that can be tight-
ened or eliminated,” Kovach
said.
“We truly do not want to
lose any staff on any level,
nor do we want a mass exodus
because of a budget situation
that is affecting our district
and almost all other districts,”
she said. “We ask our staff to
be patient in this process, to
know that we are being as
responsible and thoughtful as
we can be and we understand
the stress that this decision
brings to everyone.”
She urged people to
contact Oregon legislators
to push for more education
dollars.
“These cuts are painful
and the state needs to step
up with adequate funding,”
McBee said. “Well-educated
students mean a better citi-
zenship and economy.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
STREETS: Public works can afford to dedicate
only two employees to pot hole patching
Continued from 1A
Before the city instituted
a $5 street utility fee at the
end of 2015, officials esti-
mated that Pendleton had a
$16 million backlog in road
repairs.
But even with $481,000
in additional revenue, staff
said it would merely slow the
decline of Pendleton’s street
system rather than reverse the
trend, and now the backlog
grows a little bigger because
of the winter damage.
Patterson said the city
is currently addressing the
potholes, but due to the
extent of the damage it may
take a while.
“Potholes are numerous,
with the worst appearing on
Emigrant and Frazer avenues,
both ODOT facilities,” he
wrote. “Street crew has been
working on pothole patching
and will continue until we
get them addressed. This ...
will take more resources and
longer than our usual time
frame to address.”
Patterson told the council
that the public works depart-
ment can afford to dedicate
only two employees to
pothole patching and is still
waiting for the hot asphalt
plant to re-open to provide
the patching material.
In the meantime, city staff
has run through most of the
special “cold patch” material
to fill the holes, having
ordered 4.5 tons instead of
the usual half-ton needed in
the asphalt off-season.
City crews are also still
cleaning the gravel, a process
that will take longer than the
usual six to eight weeks to
complete. The city laid down
1,600 tons of gravel this
winter to provide traction for
local motorists, significantly
more than the 400 tons it uses
in an average winter and the
100 tons it used last winter.
Although gravel pick-up
started March 6, Patterson
said the clean-up effort has
been complicated by the fact
that the mechanical sweeper
the city rented is still being
used by the city of Portland.
The city has been able
to borrow a sweeper from
Pioneer Construction in
the meantime, but it’s been
occasionally plagued with
mechanical issues, further
slowing the efforts.
The water system was
also hit hard by the winter
conditions, with city crews
responding to 160 customer
repair calls and 10 water
main breaks.
Patterson said his staff is
working on providing better
extreme weather notifica-
tions to customers so they
can leave water dripping
through their pipes, which
prevents them from freezing
over.
Although the council took
no action after Patterson’s
report, they did take an
action on providing a grant
and local match for street
improvements near Hill Meat
Co.
Partnering with the state
Immediate
Opportunity
Fund, the city budgeted
$250,000 for the project but
expects to spend no more
than $118,425.
The council unanimously
approved the agreement,
which was created to accom-
modate an expansion at Hill
Meat’s processing plant.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
FARMLAND: Two-thirds of Oregon’s farmland
expected to change ownership in the next decade
Continued from 1A
amount of state dollars to it.
Kelley Beamer, execu-
tive director of the Coalition
of Oregon Land Trusts, said
the new fund is needed
because roughly two-thirds
of Oregon’s farmland is
expected to change owner-
ship in the next decade,
but about 80 percent of the
landowners don’t have a
plan for the transition.
“We do see conversion
and fragmentation as a real
threat to those values we
have as a state,” she said
during an April 4 legislative
hearing.
However, critics argue
that Oregon’s projected
$1.6 billion budget deficit
in the 2017-2019 biennium
precludes a new program
aimed at helping agricul-
ture, which already receives
much government support.
Farmers already benefit
from property tax breaks,
inheritance tax exemptions
and other programs that
will add up to about $550
million in the next bien-
nium, said Gerritt Rosenthal
of Tax Fairness Oregon, a
group that seeks to preserve
government revenues from
tax breaks.
“In this time of budget
shortfall, it’s not the time
to create new programs
“While there may
be positive as-
pects to the bill,
it isn’t ready for
prime time yet.”
— Jim Myron, a natural
resources consultant testi-
fying on behalf of several
environmental groups
that may cost significant
amounts of money,” he said.
The
fund
would
primarily serve farming
interests
by
spending
public dollars, even though
Oregon’s protections for
agricultural water quality
are insufficient, said Jim
Myron, a natural resources
consultant testifying on
behalf of several environ-
mental groups.
“While there may be
positive aspects to the bill,
it isn’t ready for prime time
yet,” Myron said.
Proponents of HB 3249
claim the fund is a wise
investment because state
dollars will be matched
by contributions from
the federal government,
conservation groups and the
farmers themselves.
It’s likely that as much
private money would be
used to buy easements as
public money, said Doug
Krahmer, a farmer from
St. Paul, Ore., who helped
devise the program.
“This particular proposal
is part of a piece of a
puzzle,” he said.
Farmland would be
preserved in perpetuity
while the state would
pay for only a fraction of
its appraised value, said
Woody Wolfe, a Wallowa
County farmer and rancher
who sold an easement on
his property.
Conservation
groups
would be more willing to
invest in further restoration
efforts if they know the land
is permanently protected
from development, he said.
“I would ask what the
cost would be if those lands
become concrete or devel-
oped,” Wolfe said.
A limited amount of
funds dedicated to the
program would be awarded
to easements and other
projects after careful delib-
eration by the commission,
he said.
“You’re concentrating
your efforts on the most
valuable property,” Wolfe
said.
———
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
LYBRAND: Can not use, sell or grow marijuana
Continued from 1A
suspended and will have his
truck returned to him.
Breiling argued that
“taking his show on the
road” was a significant
part of Lybrand’s business,
Wicked Kitty Tattoo &
Piercing, which required
he travel around the state
to ink tattoos at various
events.
Before he was sentenced,
Lybrand told Lieuallen that
he was trying to keep the
Wicked Kitty’s doors open.
“The
business
has
been decimated by this,”
Lybrand said. “We’ve been
just trying to keep our head
above water.”
Law enforcement began
investigating Lybrand in
September, while he was
incarcerated for violating
a no contact order with his
wife.
While still in jail,
Lybrand asked his mother
to complete the purchase of
five pounds of marijuana.
After Lybrand’s mother
declined, the Blue Moun-
tain Enforcement Narcotics
Team obtained a search
warrant for Lybrand’s
vehicle, where law enforce-
ment found 11.7 grams of
methamphetamine and 10.3
pounds of marijuana in
addition to the steroids.
BENT arrested Lybrand
in October.
At the time of the arrest,
Pendleton police chief
Stuart Roberts said people
from the local drug scene
told investigators that
Lybrand had a reputation as
a “one stop shop” for illegal
substances.
As a part of Lybrand’s
probation, Lybrand will
be required to undertake
drug treatment, perform
80 hours of community
service, and write the letter
to his mother. Lybrand
will be prohibited from
using, selling or growing
marijuana or possessing a
firearm.