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East Oregonian
Thursday, June 8, 2017
North Korea fires suspected
cruise missiles after U.S. drills
SEOUL, South Korea
(AP) — North Korea fired
several suspected short-
range anti-ship missiles
off its east coast Thursday,
South Korea’s military said,
in a continuation of defiant
launches as it seeks to build
a nuclear missile capable
of reaching the continental
United States.
The missiles were fired
from the North Korean
eastern coastal town of
Wonsan and likely flew
about 125 miles with an
altitude of about 1.2 miles,
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs
of Staff said in a statement.
They landed in waters
between the Korean Penin-
sula and Japan, where U.S.
aircraft carriers USS Carl
Vinson and USS Ronald
Reagan participated in joint
exercises with the South
Korean navy that ended
earlier this week.
The North’s missile tests
present a difficult challenge
to new South Korean Presi-
dent Moon Jae-in, a liberal
elected last month who has
expressed a desire to reach
out to Pyongyang. North
Korea, which could have
a working nuclear-tipped
intercontinental
ballistic
missile in the next several
years, may also be the
most urgent foreign policy
concern for the Trump
administration, which has
been distracted by domestic
political turmoil and has
insisted China do more to
rein in the North’s weapons
activities.
Roh
Jae-cheon,
spokesman of Seoul’s
military, said the latest
launch would have intended
to show off its widening
arrange of missiles and also
its “precision strike capabil-
ities” on ships in response to
the joint drills.
North Korea’s weapons
tests are meant to build a
nuclear and missile program
that can stand up to what
it sees as U.S. and South
Korean hostility, but they are
also considered by outside
analysts as ways to make
its political demands clear
to leaders in Washington
and Seoul. Analysts say
the latest launch appeared
to be aimed at keeping up
pressures on Moon to try to
win concessions.
The launches Thursday
from Wonsan were North
Korea’s fourth missile
test in as many weeks as
the country continues to
speed up its development
of nuclear weapons and
missiles.
Kim Dong-yub, a North
Korea expert at Seoul’s
Institute for Far Eastern
Studies, said the projectiles,
which showed longer range
than North Korea’s previ-
ously known KN-01 anti-
ship cruise missiles that can
travel up to 99 miles, were
likely from a new cruise
missile system North Korea
displayed during a massive
April 15 military parade.
WOLVES: Washington Cattlemen
not yet on board to take legal action
Continued from 1A
Todd Nash, the Cattle-
men’s wolf committee
chairman, said the absence
of a completed analysis
three years after U.S. Fish
and Wildlife closed its
public comment period
regarding its environmental
policy analysis to delist gray
wolves from the endangered
species list was one reason
for the suit.
“They are legally bound
to do that within one year
and that’s the preface
pressing forward with
lawsuit,” Nash said.
The lack of manpower
Fish and Wildlife dedicates
to managing wolves was the
other frustration that led to
litigation, Nash said.
In Oregon, like Wash-
ington and Utah, managing
wolves is complicated.
Through an appropria-
tions bill Congress removed
gray wolves from the
Endangered Species List in
Montana, Idaho and parts
of Oregon, Washington
and Utah in April 2011.
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife then took over
sole management of wolves
living east of U.S. Highway
395, Oregon Highway 78
and U.S. Highway 95.
In November 2015
wolves were removed from
the state endangered species
list, but west of that line
wolves remain protected
by the federal Endangered
Species Act.
In the vastly larger
landscape of the western
portion of the state under
federal jurisdiction, Nash
said the agency is woefully
understaffed.
“This is no discredit to
John (Stephenson, wolf
biologist),” Nash said, “but
he is one guy.”
Nash said the Cattlemen
believe the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife needs to increase
its staffing to better capture,
collar and monitor wolves
and complete its effort to
delist gray wolves through
the National Environmental
Policy Act.
A vote was taken to sue
the federal government at
the Cattlemen’s November
annual meeting in Bend
as well, Nash said, but the
members were waiting
to see if the Washington
Cattlemen were interested
in taking legal action
along with them. While a
contingency of Washington
Cattlemen members were
in attendance at the Oregon
Cattlemen’s
Pendleton
last week and participated
in lengthy discussions
regarding the intent to sue,
Nash said they are not yet
on board.
“Washington is going to
take it back to their board
and discuss it and California
will likely throw in with
us,” Nash said.
SIGNS: Buses will add tribal language signs
Continued from 1A
dance for American Indian
students. The district used
its grant to focus on Wash-
ington, the Pendleton school
with the highest share of
Native American students.
In addition to purchasing
the signs, the district hired a
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
Education
Department
employee, Brent Spencer, as
a family advocate.
Tasked with creating
initiatives to boost atten-
dance, Spencer began
implementing attendance
contests between classes,
prizes for good attendance,
and after-school family
nights.
Spencer said American
Indian attendance at Wash-
ington was 93 percent last
year and they hoped to
increase it to 95 percent by
the end of this year, but those
statistics barely budged.
Still, Spencer said the
early impact of the program
went beyond statistics. He
said the school is building
relationships with parents
and students through its
family nights and continual
follow-up contact, even
going as far as personally
pick up kids for school when
they let him know they can’t
make it.
While the statistics
haven’t caught up yet,
there is one number school
officials are noticing. Matt
Yoshioka, Pendleton interim
superintendent, noted that
attendance at family nights
grew from 17 students and
parents at the first event to
40 at the final one.
While Spencer thinks it
will take a few years before
the program can make a
dent in attendance rates, it
may not be around that long.
The
district
didn’t
include the family advocate
position in its 2017-2018
budget and its set to expire
with the grant at the end of
June. Yoshioka said the pilot
project grant is included in
Gov. Kate Brown’s budget
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Translations of Den 2 in both Umatilla and Weyiilet-
puu adorn a wall in Washington Elementary School
in Pendleton.
proposal, but that won’t be
finalized until the Legisla-
ture votes on it.
In
the
meantime,
Yoshioka said the district
will focus on sustaining
its current tribal education
programs to address a
persistent achievement gap
between American Indian
students and their peers.
A different state grant
allowed the district to
develop a tribal curriculum
for students in kindergarten,
fourth grade and sixth grade
in 2015. Yoshioka said that
curriculum could be further
bolstered by Senate Bill
13, which would direct
the Oregon Department
of Education to develop
curriculum relating to
Native American experience
in Oregon and to provide
related professional devel-
opment tools.
Although a Native
American teacher recruit-
ment grant only resulted in
the hiring of one teacher,
Yoshioka said Pendleton
High School continues to
maintain its Oregon Teacher
Pathways program for
aspiring teachers.
While the goal is to
develop more local teachers
affiliated with the tribes,
Yoshioka said the district
will face stiff competition
from the tribes themselves,
which offer many profes-
sional-level jobs to enrolled
members with college
degrees.
Yoshioka said the district
is also looking into other
investments that will have
a longterm impact like book
purchases, tribal drumming
classes and an elementary
lacrosse team.
If the pilot program grant
is re-authorized, Yoshioka
said there could be some
changes in store.
Yoshioka said district
officials recently attended
a conference with other
recipients of the tribal atten-
dance grant, where they
noticed that other district
employed a part-time staff
member who specialized in
training teachers in cultur-
ally inclusive professional
development in addition to a
full-time position similar to
the family advocate.
While taking note of
other district’s ideas, Yosh-
ioka noticed that Pendle-
ton’s trilingual signs were an
aspect unique to Pendleton.
Now that Washington’s
signs are fully installed,
Yoshioka
said
Mid
Columbia Bus Co. has
agreed to add tribal language
signs on their buses that go
on routes on the reservation.
The new Washington façade
will be officially unveiled at
a ceremony on June 14 at 5
p.m.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Staff photo by Phil Wright
The derelict Rodeo City Inn about five miles west of Pendleton could see new life.
Umatilla County counsel Doug Olson reported the defunct hotel’s owner has plans
to renovate the building.
MOTEL: County commissioners
adopted the 2017-18 budget of $73.7M
Continued from 1A
hazard, and could be a hazard
for a variety of other reasons.”
Olson said he would draft
something for the board to
consider at a future meeting.
County commissioners at
the top of the meeting adopted
the 2017-18 budget of $73.7
million. Jerry Baker, county
budget committee chair,
told the board balancing the
budget required using some
of the reserve for the Public
Employees
Retirement
System the county built
up through funds from the
federal Payments in Lieu of
Taxes.
“If we can continue to
do this in the future, I don’t
know,” Baker said. “... with
PERS continuing the way
it is, it’s going to be tough,
really tough, to have a
balanced budget.”
The county cannot raise
its permanent tax rate of
Staff photo by Phil Wright
The Rodeo City Inn was declared a crime property in
2013 and has been shut down since early 2014.
2.8487 percent. Murdock said
economic growth will be the
answer to providing addi-
tional tax revenues for county
services. Umatilla County is
one of the fastest growing in
Oregon, he said, and several
projects are in the works that
would expand the tax base.
Murdock after the meeting
noted “like every other entity
in Oregon, the rising costs
of PERS continue to assault
our budget, and we remain
hopeful the Legislature will
take on this issue.”
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
VIDEO: ‘They listen and find common ground’
Continued from 1A
earlier version raised the
eyebrows of Preus and White
back in March.
“It was concerning to us
because the bill would have
expanded the definition of
lobbyist,”
White-Zollman
said. “The new definition
included
most
public
employees or anyone else
who wanted to go and advo-
cate for or oppose a bill in
Salem.”
White-Zollman and Preus
often travel to the Capitol to
visit with lawmakers about
legislation relating to commu-
nity colleges. This bill, as then
written, required anyone who
spent more than an aggregate
amount of $100 during the
calendar year or stayed more
than 24 hours in Salem during
any quarter while lobbying to
register as a lobbyist with the
Oregon Government Ethics
Commission.
That didn’t sit right with
White-Zollman.
“That definition includes
almost anybody on the east
side of the state who drives
to Salem to testify,” she said.
“When you drive from this
side of the state, it’s usually
not a day trip. One night in
a Salem motel usually costs
more than $100.”
She brought her concerns
to Hansell and Barreto during
a video conference. Later
that morning, Hansell asked
his staff to review the Senate
bill to determine whether
the objection had merit. He
thought it did. He learned
a hearing on the bill was
scheduled for that very after-
noon, and worked up some
testimony on the fly.
“He used the example
of a couple who drove from
Imnaha to testify a couple of
weeks prior,” White-Zollman
said.
“The trip from Imnaha,
in my district, to Salem is
over 800 miles round trip,”
Hansell told members of
the Senate Committee on
Rules. “If reimbursed at the
state rate, the traveler would
receive $427.18 — well
above the $100 threshold.
Requiring local officials and
common citizens to register
may chill their inclination to
come testify on legislation
that directly impacts them.”
He proposed an amend-
ment saying that no local
public official or common
citizen would have to register
as a lobbyist in order to testify.
The most recent version of the
bill includes the amendment.
The Pendleton Chamber
of Commerce sponsors the
video chats, and Gail Nelson
attends most sessions. She
recalled when a 2015 bill
ended up on the scrap heap
after Pendleton participants
expressed their opinion.
House Bill 3034 would have
charged rural hospitals prop-
erty taxes if they didn’t give
away a minimum amount
of charity care. The law
addressed the increasingly
common practice of hospi-
tals (considered nonprofit)
purchasing for-profit clinics
and removing them from the
tax rolls. Nelson believed the
bill would hurt rural hospitals.
When Barreto heard
similar objections echoed by
St. Anthony Hospital CEO
Harry Geller and adminis-
trators at two other Eastern
Oregon hospitals, he decided
to visit to the House Revenue
Committee Chairman, Rep.
Phil Barnhart (D-Central
Lane and Linn Counties).
“I told him I’d heard from
hospitals that this was a bad
bill,” Barreto recalled.
Barreto pushed, but
Barnhart didn’t budge, citing
the need for more revenue.
Finally, Barreto said he
instructed his staff to call
hospitals in Barnhart’s district
to inform them about the bill.
Barnhart got a rash of calls
from disgruntled hospital
administrators. The bill was
killed.
Hansell, along with Rep.
Greg Smith, R-Heppner,
also participates in a monthly
teleconference
sponsored
by the Hermiston Chamber
of Commerce. He said he
benefits as much as the locals
from the sessions.
“I find them very valu-
able,” Hansell said. “Legis-
lation has come out of these
meetings and we’ve also had
the opportunity to amend
or stop legislation we were
alerted to.”
A lot can come from a
simple, earnest conversation,
White-Zollman said.
“They listen and find
common ground,” she said.
“They rely on us to bring
them issues. It’s a two-way
street here.”
Check
the
chamber
calendar of events at pend-
letonchamber.com for the
upcoming legislative video
conference.
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Born Twice
What did Jesus mean when He said, “You must be born
again”? (John 3:7). Nicodemus, the religious leader whom
Jesus was speaking, asked if that meant becoming a baby
a second time (v.4). Jesus explained that He was talking
about spiritual rebirth (vv.5-8).
We need to be reborn because we are spiritually dead.
Our sin has separated us from a life-giving relationship
with God. We all have sinned by violating His perfect moral
standards (Romans 3:23), and so we all are guilty and de-
serving of God’s judgment (John 3:18-21).
What every person needs is the forgiveness and eternal
life that Jesus made possible through His sinless life, His
sacrifi cial death on the cross, and His resurrection. Spiritu-
al rebirth occurs when a person exercises genuine trust in
Christ as Savior and Lord (vv.14-18). At that point a believer
experiences God’s forgiveness and a radical transforma-
tion at the very core of his being (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Christianity was never intended to be merely a “fi re es-
cape” from hell. Being born again is the beginning of a
whole new life. We are to grow up into mature men and
women of faith. This process is often diffi cult, costly, and
unrewarding by the world’s standards.
Above all else, we must realize that it’s impossible to
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cepting the gift of salvation (Ephisians 2:8-9), and trusting
in Jesus as our only hope of being right with God now and
living with Him forever (Romans 6:2-3).
Have you been born twice?