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East Oregonian
Friday, January 12, 2018
Rescuers ‘searching for a
miracle’ in Calif. mudslides
Missouri governor admits
having affair, denies blackmail
MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — More than
two full days after mudslides ravaged the
coastal town of Montecito, the search for the
missing became an increasingly desperate
exercise Thursday, with growing doubts
about whether anyone would be found alive.
Seventeen people from ages 3 to 89 were
confirmed dead, and more than 40 others
were unaccounted for.
“In disaster circumstances there have
been many miraculous stories lasting many
days and we certainly are searching for a
miracle right now,” Santa Barbara County
Sheriff Bill Brown said. He noted that some
people had been rescued Thursday.
Santa Barbara fire Capt. Gary Pitney said
most if not all rescues conducted Wednesday
and Thursday were of people who were safe
but just wanted to get out of the area.
“These were people that were sheltered
in place that had needs that just took a while
to get to some of them,” Pitney said. “They
were OK but they wanted to get out.”
The air smelled of sewage and ash as
more than a dozen firefighters climbed
through rubble in the backyard of a mansion
that had been torn apart. Some rescuers used
poles to probe the muck for bodies, while
others waded chest-deep in the mire. Two
black Labrador retrievers swam around a
debris-filled swimming pool, trying to pick
up any scent.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — When
Eric Greitens sought Missouri’s highest
office in 2016, his resume seemed hard
to top: former Navy SEAL, former
Rhodes scholar and founder of a veterans’
charity. Most important, he said during
the campaign, was his role as “a proud
husband and father.”
On Thursday, the square-jawed
Republican governor fought allegations
that he photographed his hairdresser
naked while having an affair with her and
threatened to publicize the image if she
spoke about their relationship. The top
prosecutor in St. Louis quickly launched an
investigation. A bipartisan group of state
lawmakers asked the attorney general to
investigate as well.
Greitens acknowledged being
“unfaithful” in his marriage but denied
taking any naked photos and blackmailing
the woman to stay quiet.
The governor and his wife released a
statement late Wednesday after St. Louis
television station KMOV aired a bombshell
report that he had a sexual relationship with
the hairdresser in 2015. The report included
allegations from the woman’s ex-husband,
who secretly recorded a conversation with
his ex-wife discussing the affair.
House OKs spy program after
Trump tweets spark confusion
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Donald Trump’s puzzling tweets about a
key U.S. spying law threw the House into
temporary disarray Thursday, but lawmakers
ended up renewing the law — with a new
restriction on when the FBI can dig into the
communications of Americans swept up in
foreign surveillance.
During a hectic morning of House votes
and presidential tweets, Trump’s national
intelligence director also issued new
guidance for how officials can find out the
names of Americans whose identities are
blacked out in classified intelligence reports.
Trump has said previous rules were far
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Emergency workers search areas damaged from storms in Montecito, Calif., Thurs-
day. Rescue workers slogged through knee-deep ooze and used long poles to probe
for bodies Thursday as the search dragged on for victims of the mudslides that
slammed this wealthy coastal town.
too lax and led to damaging leaks about
top aides, a claim fiercely contested by
Democrats.
The new guidelines on “unmasking”
Americans, however, were a side show
to the House showdown over the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, reauthorizing
a collection program set to expire on Jan.
19. The bill passed 256-164 and is now
headed to the Senate. It would extend for six
years the program, which includes massive
monitoring of international communications.
Trump has said he’ll sign the renewal,
but his first tweets Thursday suggested he
had suddenly turned against the program,
alarming intelligence officials.
Work requirement rewrites
health care rules for poor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rewriting the
rules on health care for the poor, the Trump
administration said Thursday it will allow
states to require “able-bodied” Medicaid
recipients to work, a hotly debated first in
the program’s half-century history.
Seema Verma, head of the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, said
requiring work or community involvement
can make a positive difference in people’s
lives and in their health. The goal is to help
people move from public assistance into
jobs that provide health insurance. “We see
people moving off of Medicaid as a good
outcome,” she said.
But advocates said work requirements
will become one more hoop for
low-income people to jump through, and
many could be denied needed coverage
because of technicalities and challenging
new paperwork. Lawsuits are expected
as individual states roll out work
requirements.
“All of this on paper may sound
reasonable, but if you think about the
people who are affected, you can see
people will fall through the cracks,” said
Judy Solomon of the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, which advocates for the
poor.
EOTEC: Needs to update planning commission each month
Continued from 1A
also flouted a 2012 rule that
an ingress on Ott Road is
to be used for emergency
access only.
Nate Rivera, who came
to EOTEC as interim
manager the week after
the 2017 Umatilla County
Fair and is now helping
transition to management
by VenuWorks, said county
commissioner and EOTEC
board member Larry Givens
made the decision to start
using the Ott Road entrance
in addition to Airport Road.
He said the decision was
made in consultation with
Sheriff Terry Rowan after
extensive traffic jams on
the first day caused serious
concerns about safety.
City planning director
Clint Spencer said it
“rankled” to read in the
newspaper that a condition
for approval of EOTEC’s
zoning was being violated
after the first day of
EOTEC’s first large event.
Rivera said EOTEC was
“fully aware” that it had
failed in its responsibility
to make sure conditions set
by the planning commis-
sion were met but things
would be different now that
VenuWorks had taken over
management of the center
and could craft parking and
traffic plans.
“We had that in place and
it didn’t seem to matter,”
commissioner Kathy Erz
replied, noting the time the
planning commission spent
discussing concerns that the
two-lane, unpaved Ott Road
would not handling heavy
traffic. “After the first day
“We need at
least one more
year to gauge if
these conditions
are effective.”
— Clint Spencer,
city planning director
the whole plan was thrown
to the wind.”
Rivera said plans for the
first year were all based in
theory, but moving forward
it would be easier to craft a
plan with knowledge from
last year’s event.
“Let us work with our
new management company
and let us come back with
a plan that is well thought
out and well considered,” he
said.
There won’t be as
much data as the plan-
ning commission hoped,
however. Ridership for
the free shuttles — which
commissioners said they had
expected would run all week
but instead only ran Friday
and Saturday — was not
tracked. Equipment failures
caused by high temperatures
in the afternoons kept the
fair from getting an accurate
attendance count for 2017,
and Rivera said data from
traffic counts conducted by
the county were “not able to
be recovered” either.
Planning commissioner
Derek Caplinger said he was
worried that with the lack of
data and a new management
company, “we’re essentially
starting over” again next
year.
Hamm said in his five or
six years on the planning
commission he had never
seen someone fail to follow
through on conditions set
by the planning commission
on a variance. He asked
Spencer what the normal
procedure would be.
Spencer said EOTEC
was an unusual case because
usually conditions are set
before construction begins
and the city simply does not
issue an occupancy permit
until the conditions are met.
He said the redress after a
building begins operation is
usually to take the owners
to municipal court and levy
fines. However, he also
noted earlier in the meeting
that “construction of the
facility was literally going
until the first day of the
event” and a management
company had not yet been
hired.
“We need at least one
more year to gauge if these
conditions are effective,” he
said.
Under questioning by
the commission, EOTEC
chair/city manager Byron
Smith said the board could
likely have a plan for
parking and traffic for the
planning
commission’s
review by May. He and
Givens also noted that the
state legislature included
about $1 million in their
transportation package for
improvements to Ott Road
and Airport Road. Givens
said the project likely
wouldn’t be completed in
time for the 2018 fair but
perhaps 2019.
Planning commission
chair Margaret Saylor said
she was there on the first
day of the fair when traffic
was backed up hours, and
thought that the decision to
route some traffic through
Ott Road was needed for
safety. However, it still
broke the conditions of
EOTEC’s variance. She
said EOTEC needed to
begin work immediately on
better plans for next year,
and come back to update
the planning commission
each month.
Commissioner Moses
Frederic also added that
the plan needed to include
backup provisions.
“Multiple plans in place
would allow you to pivot to
another transportation plan
instead of making these
decisions ad hoc,” he said.
As the meeting wrapped
up, former EOTEC board
member Dennis Doherty
said he thought he was
never going to get out of
EOTEC after the rodeo on
the first night and faulted
the planning commission
for setting the condition
that Ott Road not be used.
He also said it seemed
there were “expectations
placed on the EOTEC
board that they don’t have
the authority, power or
time to solve.” He said he
took his hat off to all of the
people who volunteered
countless hours of their
time to pull off the fair
and rodeo at EOTEC, and
urged everyone in the room
to “not let people divide
us.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
UMATILLA: National Guard has been training at the site since the 1980s
Continued from 1A
Regional Training Insti-
tute, which trains infantry
leaders.
The $25 million will be
spent over several years,
according to the release, and
pay for sewer line repairs, a
water distribution system,
roads, fencing, improve-
ments to offices, lodging
and the dining facility
and new classrooms. An
additional $2 million has
already been spent on the
project.
The
depot
was
constructed in 1941 in
preparation for World War
II, and Lt. Col. Noel Hoback
told the East Oregonian
in September it seems that
many of the buildings being
used by the National Guard
were part of the original
construction.
The Oregon National
Guard has been training at
Photo by Jonathan (Jay) Koester, NCO Journal
Sgt. Jennifer Sargeant of the Washington National
Guard learns infantry tactics during a day of training
at Camp Umatilla, Oregon in November 2016.
the site since the 1980s and
has built arms ranges and
kept vehicles.
“A lot of the facilities
and infrastructure out there
haven’t been updated in
decades if at all,” said Eric
Manus, the senior manager
for the Camp Umatilla
construction projects. “We
have already been out
there working projects to
modernize the infrastructure
so that we have a solid
foundation for building
renovations over the next
several years.”
The Oregon Adjutant
General and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers signed a
license on Nov. 27 that dedi-
cated the land as a training
center. The U.S. Army has
yet to transfer the rest of
the land to local control,
including a 5,600-acre wild-
life refuge and 4,000 acres
of industrial development.
Jim Willeford is the
Oregon Military Depart-
ment’s head of construction,
and said working with the
needs of the neighboring
entities is important.
“As we train out there,
we want to have plans in
place so that we can balance
getting our training done
with having minimal impact
on the surrounding land
and wildlife,” he said. “We
also want to preserve some
things like the old parade
grounds for their historic
value.”
Willeford said some of
the large grass lawns will
be turned back into desert,
saving on irrigation.
Walmart boosts starting pay,
closing dozens of Sam’s Clubs
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart confirmed
Thursday that it is closing 10 percent of its
Sam’s Club warehouse stores — a move that
a union-backed group estimated could cost
thousands of jobs — on the same day the
company announced that it was boosting its
starting salary for U.S. workers and handing
out bonuses.
The world’s largest private employer said
it was closing 63 of its 660 Sam’s Clubs
over the next few weeks, with some shut
already. Up to 12 are being converted into
distribution centers to handle online orders,
the company said late Thursday.
It did not disclose how many people
would lose their jobs, but said some workers
may be placed at other Walmart locations.
DRUGS: There is no law
against the consumption of
drugs — only possession
confirmed in the toxicology
test,” Roberts said.
that details symptoms and
The drug expert program
identifiers for the different has been around since the
drug categories. At the end of 1990s, according to Herm-
the class, they take an exam, iston Police Chief Jason
which includes recreating the Edmiston.
matrix from memory.
Roberts said over time,
The matrix will allow the drug recognition experts
them to eliminate certain learn to look for signs that a
substances based
person may have
on behaviors symp-
used
multiple
tomatic of a certain
drugs, or if a person
drug.
has been using
Officers search
drugs that may
for horizontal gaze
have quickly left
nystagmus (HGN),
their system.
an
involuntary
“You see a
jerking of the eyes.
change in how the
“If I don’t see
body reacts over
HGN, I can rule out Roberts
time,” he said.
CNS depressants,
“Some drugs are
inhalants,
and
really fast-acting,
dissociative anes-
like inhalants. We
thetics,” Roberts
look at things like
said. “If we see
pulse rate, how
HGN, we look at
eyes are moving. If
those three catego-
there’s involuntary
ries as contenders
jerking of the
for impairment.”
eyes, we put them
Once they’ve
through the same
completed
the
field sobriety tests.”
course,
Roberts Post
Other
tests
said students have
include
whether
a field certification training a person can divide their
in Portland where they work attention, and the degree to
on identifying people who which a person’s eyes are
are impaired.
dilated. They will also check
Often times, Roberts said, the person’s vital signs, and
the people that volunteer are examine their muscle tone
homeless.
and skin for signs of injection
“We give them a sand- marks.
wich and a soda,” Roberts
Eynon pointed out that
said. “We’re not threatening getting further testing from
anyone with jail, they’re total a DRE is voluntary for
volunteers.”
someone who has been
He said while they pulled over, but there is
occasionally find people in some incentive to agree to
possession of drugs during further tests. If an officer has
the exercises, they typically reason to believe a person is
focus on the task at hand.
impaired, they will still be
“We always use officer required to submit a urine
discretion,” he said. “If we sample.
find a residual amount, now
Edmiston said police
under the new law it’s a spend an inordinate energy
misdemeanor. Often, we’ll on DUIs.
just give them a warning.”
“There’s often more time
Roberts added that the and resources dedicated to
field exercises are easier to one DUI investigation and
conduct in Oregon, because arrests than for many felony
there is no law against the crimes and arrests,” he said.
consumption of drugs —
He said while the drug
only against possession.
expert positions are helpful
“If you’ve ingested it, in identifying impairment,
it’s not technically a crime,” they still pull officers from
he said. “That gives us the their duties.
freedom to walk around and
He said in the past several
ask people to volunteer.”
years, all Class A misde-
“The volunteers we get are meanors, including DUIs,
really vital to the process,” he have gone to the courts,
said. “It would be really diffi- which means pulling officers
cult to hold field certification off their beats and paying for
otherwise.”
medical analysis. And he is
The final step of training not aware of a Breathalyzer
is to confirm students’ eval- equivalent for other drugs.
uations with toxicology tests.
–——
“Each student has to have
Contact
Jayati
at least 80 percent of the Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
evaluations confirmed, that 4534 or jramakrishnan@
what they called is actually eastoregonian.com
Continued from 1A