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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2018)
MASTER OF WAGONS TRUMP URGES GOP TO USE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ ON BORDER NATION/9A REGION/3A VILLANOVA NATIONAL CHAMPS SPORTS/1B TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018 142nd Year, No. 118 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Drug court gears up for full reboot Umatilla County could restart program in July By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Staff photos by E.J. Harris Darrel Fussleman of Hermiston uses a MIG, or metal inert gas, welder to fabricate steel flatbed on a semi-truck Thursday at N.W. Metal Fabricators in Hermiston. President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. THE TARIFF TOLL Steel, aluminum tariffs create fluctuating market for local industries By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian New tariffs on steel and aluminum have been suspended for several of the United States’ biggest trading partners until May as details are being worked out, leaving many economists and industries still guessing on what the final impacts will be. “It’s one of those ‘you’re going to have to kind of wait and see’ cases,” said Dallas Fridley, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Depart- ment. The tariffs, announced by President Donald Trump in March, impose a 25 percent tax on imported steel and 10 percent tax on imported aluminum. The European Union, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Canada and Mexico have all received temporary exemp- tions until May 1 in exchange for meeting certain conditions, including quotas on exports to the U.S. The Washington Post reported the exemptions granted so far represent about half of all steel imports into the United States. Fridley, an employment The announcement of the tariffs and the suspension of some in them foreign markets, has caused instability that could leave local businesses burdened with large, over-priced stock- piles of steel. ‘It seemed like a huge deal at first, but now the stuff I’m seeing seems like there’s hope it might work itself out.’ Aaron Karlson General manager of NW Metal Fabricators in Hermiston economist, said any industry that uses steel or aluminum could be affected by higher prices. That ranges from local construction firms to farm equipment manu- facturers to brewers who use aluminum cans for packaging. One industry directly affected is metal fabrication. Aaron Karlson, general manager of NW Metal Fabricators in Hermiston, said talk of the tariffs has made the steel and aluminum markets extremely volatile for the past few months. While suppliers usually let their quotes on steel and aluminum stand for at least a week, Karlson said lately they have been telling metal fabricators that any quote is only good for one day due to rapidly fluctuating prices. “Trying to get our customers to say yea or nay on a project in a day is difficult,” Karlson said. While a farmer bringing in a broken piece of equipment might be able to give approval that quickly, many of NW Metal Fabricators’ customers are larger companies like food processing plants that can’t go through all the needed approval processes in a day. That leaves NW Metal Fabri- cators and the customer trying to guess where prices might be a few days later. He said they’ve seen on average a 20 to 25 percent increase in pricing, too. The turmoil in the markets has also See TARIFF/10A Drug court’s return to Umatilla County could take another step forward Wednesday, though with a different approach. Dale Primmer, director of Umatilla County Community Justice Department, is asking the county board of commissioners to approve having Community Counseling Solutions provide treatment for drug court participants. The board will consider the request during it regular meeting Wednesday. Having a treatment provider is a crucial step to bringing back drug court. Community Justice operated the program until state funding declined last year. Since then, Primmer said, his depart- ment has worked with the circuit courts of the 6th Judicial District and others to find a way to restart the program. The next iteration plans to use a post-conviction but See COURT/10A Drone test failure at UAS Range starts fire East Oregonian A “mishap” at the Pendleton UAS Range caused a small fire at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport Saturday morning, although it caused no injuries and damaged no property, Range Manager Darryl Abling said. In an interview Sunday, Abling said the incident happened at approximately 11 a.m. north of the east-west runway at the airport. The Pendleton Fire Department was called to the scene and was able to quickly put out the fire. Following the incident, the airport’s control tower notified the city, the Federal Aviation Administration and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the insti- tution that oversees all UAS operations in Oregon. Abling declined to say what type of UAS was involved with the fire or what happened during the test that led to the incident, adding that test range personnel are currently conducting an investigation and haven’t had a chance to look through the data yet. He also declined to identify the organi- zation that was testing the drone. Abling said the organization is a customer with the city, and the range and the FAA authorized the operation. The organization will not be allowed to fly at the range again until it has undergone an extensive review, he said. After 26 years, the doctor is out Gifford retires after leaving mark on Hermiston medicine By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian If not for a hitchhiking trip to Northeast Oregon at age 17, Joseph Gifford might never have become a doctor. The Beaverton-area teenager thumbed his way to Umatilla, then called a friend in Hermiston from a phone booth. The friend wasn’t home, but his father, Dr. Wendell Ford, fetched Gifford, brought him to Hermiston and cooked him dinner. Partway through the meal, the doctor got a phone call and learned a patient needed an emergency appen- dectomy at the hospital. The teenager tagged along, scrubbed up and helped with the surgery. “He had me hold the retractor,” Gifford said. Getting this up-close view of surgery, Gifford, See DOCTOR/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Dr. Joseph Gifford dictates patient notes into a hand-held recorder on Thursday at his practice in Hermiston.