NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Oregon makes
drug possession
a misdemeanor
Clear forecast for eclipse
are hoping the worst case
scenarios will not happen, like
the Y2K computer bug that
was projected to set off chaos
at the beginning of the year
2000 but ended up causing
few problems.
“We are working together
diligently,” Brown said. “So
we are hoping that folks use
common sense as we move
forward, that people will
have a great time for the 2017
solar eclipse, particularly in
the path of totality, and that
everyone stays safe.”
The eclipse will last only
about two minutes in the
total eclipse belt that includes
Oregon, but visitors will start
arriving days earlier. Tourism
boosters hope they stick
around for a while.
August is peak fire season
in Oregon, and a forestry offi-
cial said there have been more
than 400 fires to date, including
some in the total eclipse belt.
Rains earlier this week helped
clear the smoky skies that have
limited visibility in many parts
of the state, Wild said.
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Mostly sunny
skies are expected next
Monday in Oregon. Except
for two minutes.
At a press conference
Tuesday about the eclipse that
will come to Oregon, one of
the rainier U.S. states, before
moving across the country,
perhaps the most anticipated
news came from weather
forecaster Tyree Wild of the
National Weather Service.
He predicted good weather
on eclipse day, but said patchy
clouds might appear, espe-
cially along the coast.
“We really see no major
weather systems coming our
way,” Wild said.
He added that forecasters
are keeping an eye on a
weather system due to arrive
on Aug. 22, the day after the
eclipse.
Up to 1 million people are
expected to visit Oregon to
see the eclipse, a quarter of
the state’s normal population.
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks in Salem on Tuesday
about the coming eclipse that will cross Oregon on
Monday.
Officials
have
been
preparing for worst-case
scenarios — roads jammed
with
traffic,
cell-phone
services disrupted with
people unable to call for help,
wildfires breaking out — with
law enforcement, firefighters,
ambulance services and other
first-responders beefing up
staffing.
The Oregon National
Guard is also ready to help
deal with the influx. Traffic
could be the heaviest in the
state’s history, officials said.
Authorities, who have
used response drills for a
massive earthquake as a
template for eclipse readiness,
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — A bill signed
by Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown on Tuesday makes
personal-use possession of
cocaine, heroin, metham-
phetamine and other drugs a
misdemeanor, not a felony.
Oregon joined just a
handful of other U.S. states
in defelonizing drugs under
the new law, which was
supported by law enforce-
ment groups and takes
effect immediately.
Jo Meza, owner of
Amazing Treatment, a
rehab center in Salem,
applauded the move. She
has seen the damage caused
by drug addiction in her 30
years in the field.
“There’s a huge crisis
out there, and locking
people up is not going to
work,” Meza said.
Looking to kick their
addictions,
patients
ascended a flight of stairs
into Amazing Treatment,
located above a Mexican
restaurant and a barber
shop in downtown Salem.
Inside
the
center,
someone had drawn a
syringe on a whiteboard
with the words “No more.”
Above that was a quote
by philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche: “Many are
stubborn in pursuit of the
path they have chosen, few
in pursuit of the goal.”
Meza said imprisoning
first-time offenders with
limited or non-existent treat-
ment opportunities is not a
solution. But the goal can
be achieved with treatment
for six months to a year
with support from recov-
ering addicts and training
in how to remove oneself
from the environment that
Governor Brown expands
abortion, reproductive coverage
Tribes sue state
over destruction
of sacred site
SALEM (AP) — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown on Tuesday signed into
law a bill expanding coverage on
abortions and other reproductive
services to thousands of Oregonians,
regardless of income, citizenship
status or gender identity. Proponents
called it America’s most progressive
reproductive health policy.
The Pro-Choice Coalition of
Oregon said it is the first legislation in
the United States to comprehensively
address systemic barriers to accessing
reproductive health care. Chris Pair,
Brown’s press secretary, confirmed
Brown signed the bill Tuesday.
Opponents have noted it will force
taxpayers, even those who object
morally to abortions, to assume some
of the costs.
“Brown has enshrined into state
law forced abortion funding, including
for illegal aliens, even late-term and
sex-selective abortions,” Republican
state senators Kim Thatcher and
Dennis Linthicum said in a joint state-
ment. Linthicum predicted lawsuits
will be filed over the issue.
Oregon’s legislation was intro-
duced largely in response to Repub-
lican congressional attempts to repeal
former President Barack Obama’s
GOVERNMENT CAMP (AP) — Native
American tribe elders in Oregon are suing
the state based on claims that it destroyed a
sacred site to expand a highway.
Hereditary Chiefs of the Klickitat and
Cascade Tribes of the Yakama Nation filed the
lawsuit last week in federal court alongside a
third tribal elder with the Confederated Tribes
of Grande Ronde and two nonprofit groups,
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The lawsuit says the government
destroyed the site in 2008 along a roughly
5-acre patch of land on the north side of
U.S. 26.
An attorney representing the tribal elders
said the tribes tried for years to work with
the government to avoid a lawsuit, but were
unsuccessful.
The tribes claim the government violated
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The
Federal Highway Administration declined to
comment.
“When it’s an endangered species,
wetlands, or even a nearby tattoo parlor, the
government finds a way to protect it,” said
Luke Goodrich, an attorney with the Becket
Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest
law firm. “But when it’s a Native American
sacred site, they unleash the bulldozers and
chain saws.”
health care law, which includes
minimum coverage requirements for
reproductive services.
The law allocates almost $500,000
from Oregon’s general fund over
the next two years to expand cost-
free reproductive health coverage,
including abortions, to immigrants
who are otherwise ineligible under
the state’s Medicaid program, which
currently spends nearly $2 million a
year to pay for roughly 3,500 abortions
statewide.
The bill passed in July by the
Legislature requires insurance compa-
nies to cover abortions at no cost to
the patient. The voting was generally
along party lines, with Democrats in
favor and Republicans opposed.
Two other states, California and
New York, require all private health
insurance plans to cover abortion.
The Pro-Choice Coalition of
Oregon said the state is also the first
to codify no-cost abortion coverage in
state statute, the coalition said.
Laurel Swerdlow, Advocacy
Director for Planned Parenthood
Advocates of Oregon, which belongs
to the coalition, said “Oregonians
don’t want reproductive health care
attacked.”
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REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
THURSDAY
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Sunny and
pleasant
88° 57°
86° 55°
FRIDAY
Plenty of sun
SATURDAY
Partly sunny and
beautiful
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
90° 59°
84° 56°
86° 57°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
88° 56°
91° 58°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
81°
87°
109° (1901)
47°
58°
38° (1910)
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"
0.07"
0.19"
11.37"
7.34"
8.14"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
Yesterday
Normals
Records
HIGH
LOW
83°
88°
104° (1933)
48°
58°
40° (1937)
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"
0.06"
0.10"
6.65"
4.99"
6.02"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
First
Aug 21
Aug 29
5:57 a.m.
8:01 p.m.
12:41 a.m.
3:46 p.m.
Full
Last
Sep 5
87° 54°
89° 52°
Seattle
77/58
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
93° 60°
Sep 12
Today
SUNDAY
Partly sunny and
nice
Spokane
Wenatchee
83/55
87/60
Tacoma
Moses
77/54
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 89/55
82/52
70/55
76/52
92/54
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
74/56
89/62 Lewiston
91/58
Astoria
89/60
69/55
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
80/57
Pendleton 82/48
The Dalles 91/58
88/57
88/61
La Grande
Salem
84/50
85/57
Albany
Corvallis 85/55
84/54
John Day
85/51
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
90/58
84/54
85/50
Caldwell
Burns
88/57
84/43
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
69
85
85
75
84
82
84
86
91
85
86
84
82
94
66
69
90
90
88
80
87
85
83
82
79
89
92
Lo
55
45
50
58
43
48
54
55
58
51
49
50
48
60
53
55
58
56
57
57
46
57
55
45
56
62
54
W
pc
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Thu.
Hi
67
84
86
73
85
82
83
84
88
86
88
84
81
96
65
68
90
89
86
77
88
82
83
80
77
88
90
Lo
55
41
49
56
41
47
51
54
56
52
48
46
44
59
50
54
56
54
55
56
43
55
56
43
54
62
56
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
c
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
s
pc
s
pc
s
s
pc
s
s
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
82
91
85
71
75
74
78
89
80
73
78
Lo
66
84
67
61
58
56
61
69
71
55
73
W
t
t
s
c
t
s
pc
pc
r
s
r
Thu.
Hi
83
92
86
75
72
75
79
88
80
74
83
Lo
67
83
68
58
57
60
64
69
73
56
75
W
s
t
s
pc
pc
s
c
s
r
s
c
WINDS
Medford
94/60
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
86/49
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Partly sunny today; areas
of fog early in the day.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Pleasant
today with plenty of sunshine. Clear tonight.
Eastern Washington: Abundant sunshine
today; smoky in the north. Mainly clear
tonight.
Cascades: Plenty of sunshine today; pleas-
ant. Clear tonight.
Western Washington: Sunny to partly
cloudy today; however, areas of low clouds
and fog at the coast.
Northern California: Low clouds followed
by sunshine at the coast today; mostly
sunny elsewhere.
Today
Thursday
WSW 6-12
W 6-12
SW 4-8
W 4-8
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
2
led to the drug abuse, like a
circle of addicted friends or
relatives, she said.
“Jailing is not helping
the problem,” Meza said.
“All you’re doing is putting
a Band-Aid on it and
ripping it off when they get
out of jail.”
Among
the
bill’s
supporters were the Oregon
Association Chiefs of Police
and the Oregon State Sher-
iffs’ Association, which said
felony convictions include
unintended consequences,
including barriers to housing
and employment. But the
two groups, in a letter to a
state senator who backed the
bill, said the new law “will
only produce positive results
if additional drug treatment
resources accompany this
change in policy.”
“Reducing
penalties
without
aggressively
addressing
underlying
addiction is unlikely to help
those who need it most,”
the groups warned. Another
measure appropriated $7
million that can be used to
pay for drug treatment.
Linn County District
Attorney Doug Marteeny
had tried to convince
lawmakers to dump the
defelonization of dangerous
drugs from the bill, which
also targets police profiling.
“To change the classifi-
cation of this behavior from
a felony to a misdemeanor
is tantamount to telling our
schoolchildren that tomorrow
it will be less dangerous to
use methamphetamine than it
is today,” he wrote.
Those who have a prior
felony conviction won’t
be afforded misdemeanor
consideration, nor will people
who have two or more prior
drug convictions or possess
more than user amounts.
4
7
7
4
2
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: Storms will riddle the Southeast and Ohio Valley today. Showers and
storms are forecast from the Upper Midwest to the High Plains. Storms over the central
Plains have the greatest risk of being severe.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Carrizo Springs, Texas
Low 30° in Meacham, Ore.
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
87
90
84
89
85
89
88
84
94
88
85
84
96
75
84
95
62
72
88
94
86
94
85
99
90
77
Lo
63
75
70
69
58
76
60
62
77
69
72
68
79
55
67
69
44
55
72
80
75
76
68
78
77
62
W
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
s
c
r
pc
pc
t
t
t
s
pc
pc
Thur.
Hi
91
91
82
84
86
90
88
79
94
86
84
86
96
85
82
96
61
81
88
95
86
93
83
102
90
78
Lo
64
75
73
72
55
76
59
65
78
72
65
72
79
57
68
70
43
59
75
78
70
76
63
79
73
63
W
s
t
sh
pc
s
pc
s
pc
t
pc
pc
t
t
t
t
s
c
s
pc
t
t
t
pc
s
pc
pc
Today
Hi
Louisville
87
Memphis
90
Miami
92
Milwaukee
80
Minneapolis
78
Nashville
90
New Orleans
90
New York City
87
Oklahoma City
90
Omaha
81
Philadelphia
89
Phoenix
102
Portland, ME
82
Providence
86
Raleigh
91
Rapid City
80
Reno
90
Sacramento
88
St. Louis
89
Salt Lake City
88
San Diego
74
San Francisco
72
Seattle
77
Tucson
98
Washington, DC 89
Wichita
90
Lo
76
77
80
71
65
76
77
68
70
67
71
77
54
60
72
53
60
61
76
66
64
59
58
70
75
67
W
t
c
pc
pc
r
t
t
s
t
t
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
pc
s
pc
pc
s
s
pc
t
Thur.
Hi
90
89
92
84
76
90
91
81
91
84
83
104
80
80
92
87
94
90
90
91
75
74
75
99
87
89
Lo
74
75
81
64
60
76
77
72
68
62
73
76
58
65
76
56
62
61
69
66
66
60
56
71
76
67
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
t
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
s
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
t
s
s
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
s
t
pc