39/23
VALERI
NAMED
MVP
BRINGING
BETHLEHEM
TO HERMISTON
SPORTS/1B
REGION/3A
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017
142nd Year, No. 34
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Governor: Tax, spending options in the works
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Brown
PORTLAND — Gov. Kate
Brown plans to propose tax
overhaul and cost-containment
measures in the coming months
to address the state’s ongoing
revenue defi cit, she told the
annual Oregon Leadership
Summit Monday.
Without revealing details
of the proposals, Brown said
her offi ce is developing policy
options that could be presented
in time for the Oregon legisla-
tive session in February.
Her offi ce is examining “a
handful of options to solve the
structural defi cit issues Oregon
faces, not just for the short-
term but for the long-term,”
Brown said. “It is time that we
quit kicking this can down the
road.”
But the Legislature’s ability
to consider such proposals
could hinge on potential policy
changes at the federal level,
Brown said.
The federal tax reform bill
being worked out by Repub-
lican lawmakers has Oregon
revenue experts and state
economists scrambling to come
up with an analysis showing
how the proposals could impact
Oregonians’ fi nances and the
state’s budget and services.
“Certainly,
what
is
happening at the federal level
makes it really hard for us to
have a detailed conversation
about (state) tax policy right
now,” she said.
Also
distracting
from
negotiations toward a state
tax overhaul is a statewide
referendum Jan. 23 to repeal a
health care funding bill passed
by state legislators earlier this
year. The bill was intended to
maintain health insurance for
See DEFICIT/8A
Trump takes
step to reduce
two national
monuments
By CATHERINE LUCEY
and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Gregg Carter signs a list of ground rules during registration at the Pendleton Warming Station after volunteer KaSandra
Williams read them out loud.
Shelter from the storm
Improved warming station opens for winter
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Gregg Carter took a drag
off his cigarette and smiled
happily.
In fi ve minutes hence, the
Pendleton Warming Station
would open for the season.
Carter and two others who
waited with him on Saturday
looked forward to escaping the
winter chill.
Carter wore practical attire
— a stocking cap, heavy canvas
coat, jeans and sturdy boots. A
beard buffered his face from
the chill. The Marine Corps
veteran and former cabinet
maker said he has slept under
the stars for several years. At
night, he fi nds a wooded area
and “sleeps in the shadows,”
nestled in two mummy bags,
one nested inside the other.
During the day, he walks, reads
at the library and volunteers at
the Salvation Army. To clean
himself, he fi nds a restroom
and does the best he can with
the squirt gun and washcloth he
keeps in his backpack.
The warming station’s front
door opened at 6:30 p.m. sharp
and the trio headed inside,
where
several
volunteers
chorused a greeting. Carter sat
down at a desk and listened as
See SHELTER/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Chris Clemons, chairman of the Neighbor 2 Neighbor board
that oversees the warming station, uses a power drill to as-
semble a new bunk bed recently while getting the Pendleton
Warming Station ready to open.
SALT LAKE CITY — President
Donald Trump on Monday took the rare
step of scaling back two sprawling national
monuments in Utah, declaring that “public
lands will once again be for public use”
in a move cheered by Republican leaders
who lobbied him to undo protections they
considered overly broad.
The decision marks the fi rst time in a
half century that a president has undone
these types of
land protections.
“I’ve come to
Tribal
and
Utah to take
environmental
groups oppose
the
decision a very historic
and
began
action to
fi ling lawsuits
Monday in a bid reverse federal
to stop Trump
overreach
and
Interior
and restore
Secretary Ryan
Zinke.
the rights of
T r u m p
made the plan
this land to
offi cial during
a speech at the your citizens.”
State Capitol, — Donald Trump,
where he signed
president of
proclamations to
the
United
States
shrink the Bears
Ears and Grand
Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
Both monuments encompass millions of
acres of land.
State offi cials said the protections were
overly broad and closed off the area to
energy development and other access.
Environmental and tribal groups say
the designations are needed to protect
important archaeological and cultural
resources, especially the more than 1.3
million-acre Bears Ears site featuring
thousands of Native American artifacts,
including ancient cliff dwellings and
petroglyphs.
Trump argued that the people of Utah
know best how to care for their land.
“Some people think that the natural
resources of Utah should be controlled by
a small handful of very distant bureaucrats
located in Washington,” Trump said. “And
See MONUMENTS/8A
HERMISTON
Christmas centerpiece
planted downtown
Tree-lighting ceremony
is Thursday evening
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
It may look a little strange in its
current form, but the towering cedar
sticking out of the middle of a street
in Hermiston is expected to draw
hundreds of people downtown on
Thursday for its offi cial unveiling.
In what has become an annual
tradition, the city — with the help
of Umatilla Electric Cooperative
and their subcontractor Trees, Inc.
— dug a six-foot-deep hole in the
middle of Northeast Second Street
near city hall on Monday morning
and placed a roughly 40-foot-tall
Christmas tree inside. The tree will
be lit up every evening during the
holiday season, starting with a tree-
lighting festival Thursday. Food
vendors and live entertainment will
start at 5:30 p.m., with the offi cial
lighting and a visit from Santa at
6 p.m. Downtown businesses will
also be offering special deals for
December’s First Thursday event
from 4:30-7 p.m.
See TREE/8A
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The city of Hermiston’s Christmas tree is raised from the trailer that
brought it from Victory Square Park on Monday.