NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Grisly day
leaves four dead
in Venezuela
unrest
WEEDS: County warned that
it would spray if the farm didn’t
CARACAS, Venezuela
(AP) — Business owners
shuttered shops, a burned
police station stood charred
black and a state officer
in western Venezuela
was under arrest Tuesday
following a spasm of
violence that resulted in at
least four deaths in anti-
government protests.
An especially grisly 24
hours of turmoil coming
after nearly two months of
political unrest had nervous
residents staying indoors
in restive cities like San
Cristobal near the border
with Colombia.
Authorities announced
Tuesday that four men
ranging in age from 17 to
33 had died from gunshot
wounds at separate protests
over the preceding day.
Diego Hernandez, 33, and
Luis Alviarez, 18, were
killed in Tachira, while
Yeison Mora Castillo, 17,
died near a protest farther
east in the state of Barinas
on Monday. Diego Arellano,
31, died during surgery
Tuesday after being shot at
a demonstration south of
Caracas.
Friends and relatives of
Arellano gathered outside
the clinic where he died and
sang the national anthem as
his body was removed from
the facility.
The nation’s chief
prosecutor said it was
charging a 27-year-old
state police officer in
Hernandez’s death, whose
final moments were
purportedly captured in a
video circulating on social
media. The footage shows
a bystander ripping open
Hernandez’s blue T-shirt
as he lay lifeless on the
pavement, his eyes open and
fixed, revealing a bloody
wound underneath. “They
killed him!” someone
screams.
The weeks of protests
Continued from 1A
Trump’s agenda
slows to a crawl
in Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Donald Trump’s
agenda has slowed to a crawl
in Congress.
Daily distractions and a
pair of major controversies
in the past week are diverting
lawmakers from their day
jobs. While the Trump
administration
delegates
many decisions on legislation
to more experienced GOP
leaders in Congress, Trump’s
low poll ratings and the
turmoil at the White House
are additional complications.
The slowing pace was
evident even before Tues-
day’s explosive story in
The New York Times that
ousted FBI Director James
Comey wrote in a memo
that Trump asked him to end
an investigation into former
national security adviser
Michael Flynn. That came 24
hours after The Washington
Post revealed that Trump
disclosed classified informa-
tion to Russian officials in a
meeting in the Oval Office
last week.
“I think it would be
helpful to have less drama
emanating from the White
House,” said Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky.
What GOP senators and
House members aren’t doing
right now is passing major
legislation, and it’s not just
the marquee items like health
care and a tax overhaul that
are dragging.
The Senate has no legis-
lation on its agenda this
week — business is instead
limited to three low-profile
nominations. The House —
fresh off an 11-day recess
— is devoting the week to
mostly symbolic, feel-good
legislation designed to show
support for law enforcement.
Another 11-day recess, for
Memorial Day this time, is
just around the corner.
Separately, a small group
of Senate Republicans is
meeting in hopes of finding
a way forward on keeping
Trump’s promise to repeal
and replace the Affordable
Care Act. But that effort
appears likely to take several
weeks — with no guarantee
of success.
AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
A demonstrator holds a sign that doubles a shield that
reads in Spanish “It’s for you,” during a national sit-in
against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezu-
ela on Monday. Opposition leaders are demanding im-
mediate presidential elections.
were set off by the socialist
government’s move to
nullify the opposition-
controlled congress in late
March, but demonstrations
have escalated into a
vehicle for airing grievances
against the government
for triple-digit inflation,
food shortages and a rise in
crime.
The flare-up of violence
outside Venezuela’s capital
this week added to a
grim and growing list of
casualties from unrest. More
than three dozen people
have died, most of them
young men shot at protests
or killed during looting.
Hundreds more have
been injured in near-daily
demonstrations by the
opposition that frequently
end with state security
unleashing tear gas, water
cannon and rubber bullets at
protesters.
Rash of murders
show deadly
threats in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A
journalist is shot dead as she
pulls out of her garage in the
morning with her young son.
Gunmen ambush another
journalist while he lazes in
a car wash hammock. An
award-winning reporter is
hauled out of his vehicle and
gunned down a block from
his office.
On Monday, Javier
Valdez became the sixth
journalist slain in Mexico
since early March, a deadly
spree unusual even in a
country that ranks behind
only Syria and Afghanistan
for such murders. There’s
no evidence directly linking
the killings to each other,
but collectively they are a
grim signal that lawlessness
and impunity continue to
threaten the lives and work
of journalists across much of
the country.
The killings come at a
time when overall homicides
rose 29 percent in the first
three months of the year
from the same period in
2016; high-stakes state
elections and a presidential
vote next year have been
bitterly contested; corruption
scandals are regular news;
and a decade-old militarized
offensive against brutal drug
cartels shows no sign of
being won.
Valdez wrote the “Mala
Yerba” column for Riodoce,
the publication he helped
found, in which he told
stories without using real
names. His last entry was
titled “El Licenciado,” a
possible allusion to a Sinaloa
cartel boss who used that
nickname. Valdez also
reported on organized crime,
incidents involving state
security forces and alleged
corruption during the term of
the previous governor.
is a major distributor of
organic products.
Sherman County gave the
farm until May 22 to respond
with a weed management
plan. If not, the county will
ask the Oregon Department
of Agriculture to quarantine
the farm.
The issue has blown up
on social media.
The manager of Azure
Farms, Nathan Stelzer, urged
supporters to “Overwhelm
the Sherman County repre-
sentatives with your voice.”
A video posted on the farm
website called for people to
express their outrage report-
edly has resulted in hundreds
of phone calls and thousands
of emails to county officials.
The issue may come to a
head Wednesday when the
county’s Board of Commis-
sioners takes up the issue.
Meanwhile, the Oregon
Wheat Commission and
several growers are meeting
with the state agriculture
Director Alexis Taylor,
hoping to enlist the depart-
ment’s support.
Oregon Tilth, which
certifies organic operations,
is calling for calm and
urging the county to pause
its enforcement timeline.
Executive Director Chris
Schreiner said Oregon Tilth
hopes mediation can result
in a weed management plan
that allows Azure Farms to
retain its certification while
addressing concerns of
neighboring farmers.
Wheat farmer Bryan
Cranston, who grows certi-
fied seed next to Azure Farms,
said its weed problems have
gotten progressively worse
over the years. Cranston said
he spoke to Selzer and told
him, “I don’t drift chemicals
on you, I’d appreciate it if
weeds don’t drift on me.”
Cranston estimated weed
control in his wheat is costing
him $12 per acre more than
in the past. He said some
weeds, especially skeleton
weed, produce airborne
seeds and can rapidly infect
fields.
Another area farmer,
Ryan Thompson, said the
county needs to stand its
ground on the weed issue.
“These guys are operating
by their own set of rules,”
he said. “They are not good
stewards of the land. They
are pretty much using reli-
gion and the fact that they’re
organic to say our county
laws and statutes don’t apply
to them.”
The problem has been
building for some time.
Azure Farms appears to
consist of three entities: A
parent company, Ecclesia
of Sinai at Dufur, in neigh-
boring Wasco County; Azure
Standard, in Dufur, which
distributes organic products;
and Azure Farms, the farm-
land near Moro, in Sherman
County.
In a March 2 letter to
Ecclesia of Sinai at Dufur,
weed district Supervisor
Rod Asher said the noxious
weeds “have been found
to be growing rampant and
unchecked on your proper-
ties in Sherman County” and
had to be destroyed.
Asher said Sherman
County takes weed problems
seriously. “The potential
damage and economic loss
caused by noxious weeds
to an agricultural based
community can be substan-
tial,” he wrote.
The county warned that
it would spray if the farm
didn’t, and the cost for
multiple surveys throughout
the growing season would be
billed to the farm as a lien on
its property taxes.
Asher said the county
could help identify weeds,
recommend control methods
and herbicide products, and
had a spray crew for hire if
necessary.
In the business’s first
response, a letter signed by
Alfred Stelzer said Ecclesia
of Sinai “is not subject to
your direction.” In a three-
page letter dated March 27,
Stelzer said the farm will not
allow any federal, state or
county employees to trespass
and “spray any toxic or
poisonous substances at any
time.”
Stelzer said the farm
“made a covenant” to keep
the “Common Law” of the
Bible. He cited Numbers
35:34, “which states that
the land must not be defiled
or polluted.” Stelzer, then
released the video and social
media plea to supporters,
saying the county’s plan
was “possibly to spray the
whole farm with poisonous
herbicides.”
Blake Rowe, CEO of the
Oregon Wheat Commission,
called the social media
campaign “pretty inflamma-
tory.”
The farm has since
adopted a more conciliatory
position. In a video posted
May 12, Azure Standard
CEO David Stelzer, the
brother of Nathan, acknowl-
edged the farm has “room for
improvement.” He said one
of the problems is that for
the past five years, the family
has been farming the Moro
property “long distance”
from Dufur, which is 48
miles away by vehicle.
David Stelzer said Azure
is attempting to improve its
ground through crop rotation
and “companion planting” of
various crops.
Responding to comments
he said have been made about
the farm, he said it is not affil-
iated with a religion although
they are a “family a faith.”
He said Azure properly pays
its taxes and provides a $6
million payroll. He said the
farm’s wheat yields nearly
meet the county average and
is of high quality. Eventually,
organic farming methods
will be “dominant,” he said.