REGION
Friday, October 19, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Buehler gets $2 million from Knight, GOP governors
By PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Nike co-founder Phil
Knight and the Republi-
can Governors Associa-
tion poured another $2 mil-
lion into the campaign of
Republican Rep. Knute
Buehler in the past week
for his challenge of Demo-
cratic incumbent Gov. Kate
Brown.
The $1 million check
from Knight brings his
overall contributions to
Buehler to $2.5 million,
about 26 percent of the
Republican
candidate’s
overall campaign funds.
That is a record amount to
an Oregon political cam-
paign by an individual.
The governors’ associa-
tion contributions
now total over $2
million, or nearly
21 percent of Bue-
hler’s campaign
funds.
As of Wednes-
day night, the
campaign had yet
to report either of Buehler
the checks to state
campaign finance filing
database.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau learned about the
contributions Wednesday
from a source close to the
campaign. The campaign
has seven days from receipt
to report the contribution.
Jon Thompson, gover-
nors’ association press sec-
retary, on Wednesday con-
firmed the new $1 million
check to Buehler’s
campaign.
“We see the
Oregon
gover-
nor’s race as a top
pick-up opportu-
nity,” Thompson
wrote in an email.
“Knute Buehler is
running a focused,
policy-driven cam-
paign, and we believe he has
a strong chance to win.”
Thompson cited the Cook
Political Report’s assess-
ment Tuesday upgrading
the Oregon gubernatorial
race from “Lean D” to a
“Tossup.”
On Monday, the Repub-
lican Governors Associ-
ation announced plans to
spend over $60 million on
gubernatorial races around
the country in the final three
weeks before the Nov. 6
election.
The most recent check to
Buehler tops off a $1 million
check from Knight Aug. 13,
and $500,000 he gave a year
earlier.
The $1 million from
the Republican gover-
nors follows contribu-
tions of $250,000 on Aug.
27, $250,000 on Aug. 30,
$250,000 on Sept. 14 and
$175,000 on Oct. 1.
Knight recently gave
$1 million to the Repub-
lican governors group but
Thompson, their spokes-
man, said Knight’s gift had
“no impact” on its decision
to write a check to Buehler’s
campaign.
“We don’t solicit or ear-
HERMISTON
Nuisance policies are updated,
authority handed back to police
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
A broken window or a
rusted car in the front yard
may be a headache for a
homeowner, but accord-
ing to Hermiston’s nui-
sance ordinance, it can also
attract crime and affect liva-
bility. The Hermiston Police
Department has recently
revamped its code enforce-
ment strategy, with a second
part-time officer and poten-
tial technology updates.
The goal, said Hermiston
Police Chief Jason Edmis-
ton, is to increase livability
and reduce victimization in
the city.
Edmiston said the police
department has supported
code enforcement for years,
but the responsibility has
bounced back and forth
between different depart-
ments in the city. For the
past two years, the city’s
Parks and Recreation depart-
ment oversaw the nuisance
abatement program, and
employed a former Herm-
iston police officer, Mike
Marcum, as a part-time code
enforcement officer.
In July, the responsibility
returned to the Hermiston
Police Department, who has
hired Tom Spicknall, a for-
mer Oregon State Police ser-
geant, as a second part-time
officer.
The two split the job
on weekdays, with Mar-
cum covering mornings and
Spicknall covering after-
noons. Marcum also works
the job for some hours on
Saturday.
“Livability issues can
have an impact on crime,”
Edmiston said. “A well-
kept, well-lit property is
less likely to be a victim of
a crime.”
He said that while
the
parks
department
was responsible for code
enforcement, they made
progress on bringing several
derelict buildings down.
The officers will also
talk to people about things
like overgrown lawns, trees
hanging over the road or
broken-down vehicles in
their yards.
“We don’t like to tell peo-
ple to cut their grass,” said
Capt. Travis Eynon. “People
believe these are pushing the
envelope on personal rights
— but somebody’s over-
grown lawn may affect the
neighborhood, creating a fire
hazard or a rat harborage.”
He added that the ordi-
nances lay out specific vio-
lations, and are all pub-
licly available on the city’s
website.
The officers will start by
contacting the person who
owns the property, and ask
them to fix the problem. If
the property owner doesn’t
do so within a stated period
of time, the city will have
a contractor go in and fix it
themselves, and then place a
lien on the property for that
cost to the city.
“That has worked better
than citations,” he said.
Many times, Edmiston
said, the problems are on
properties where the land-
lord does not live in Herm-
iston, and the properties are
not maintained.
“At some point with
chronic landlords, we may
go straight to a citation,” he
said. “It’s a waste of time
for everyone to have to
continue to babysit certain
properties.”
He said sworn officers
will still handle some issues,
like animal complaints.
“Not because they’re fun,
but because they’re emo-
tionally charged,” he said.
Edmiston said the depart-
ment also plans to look into
some other updates to the
nuisance abatement policy,
including some software
programs, which will allow
officers and city employ-
ees to know what the code
enforcement officers are
doing so they don’t dupli-
cate one another’s work.
He said during the win-
ter months they will also
review policies to see if they
need to make any upgrades
or amendments to nuisance
ordinances.
He also encouraged res-
idents to call the city or
police department if they
have violations to report.
“If we wanted to be 100
percent proactive on code
enforcement, there would
be a lot of unhappy peo-
ple,” he said. “We’re trying
to balance between being
proactive and being com-
plaint-driven. But at the
end of the day, the goal is to
make sure the city doesn’t
have hazards and look
unappealing.”
Flight of aphids clogs Pendleton air
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton folks can
expect to keep swatting their
way through town while
the flight of autumn aphids
remains aloft.
Locals have noticed the
minute insects darting about
are far greater in number
this year. The bugs created a
gray haze Monday afternoon
at the youth football game
behind the high school, cov-
ering onlookers and athletes
alike with their minuscule
bodies. And entomologist
Ira Thompson said he was in
Pendleton on Tuesday when
“they were pretty bad.”
Thompson assists the
irrigated agriculture ento-
mology program at the Ore-
gon State University Exten-
sion Service in Hermiston.
He said the bugs in Pend-
leton are a type of woolly
Photo contributed by Jack Simons
A flight of aphids swarms a pickup truck on the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation.
aphid that takes to the air
each fall.
“There’s basically an
aphid for every kind of
plant,” Thompson said. “I
think what’s happening is
they are searching for their
winter host.”
Aphids are plant eat-
ers, he said, so their hosts
are plants they can eat and
reproduce on. The insects
are departing summer vil-
las for sturdier digs they
can lay eggs in for the win-
ter. Thompson said the bugs
should clear out after a cou-
ple of weeks.
He also said putting a
pin into the reason for this
year’s aphid boom is diffi-
cult. Their populations tend
to be cyclical, he explained,
and a variety of factors
affect the population, from
climate to hosts to preda-
tors. Ladybugs are the most
well known aphid predator,
but big-eyed bugs and other
insects also devour aphids.
And a species of tiny para-
sitic wasp lays eggs in the
bodies of aphids, which later
causes their demise.
Aphids can carry dis-
eases that harm plants and
crops, Thompson said, “but
for the most part, about this
time of the year, they are a
nuisance.”
152 voters’ pamphlets lacked Umatilla County section
East Oregonian
Human error looks to be
at blame for why a fraction
of Umatilla County vot-
ers received a state voters’
pamphlet without the coun-
ty’s section.
State contractor Signa-
ture Graphics of Portland
produced 31,570 of the
informational pamphlets
for Umatilla County house-
holds, according to infor-
mation from county elec-
tions manager Kim Lindell,
and 152 books lacked
the section for Umatilla
County.
Kim Forbis with Sig-
nature Graphics explained
in an email to the county
that an employee “manu-
ally feeds the county insert
into a pocket on a bind-
ing machine that marries
it up with the state book.”
The machine has a detector
that measures the caliper
of the entire book to make
sure all sections and inserts
are inside prior to stapling
and trimming. But Uma-
tilla County’s insert was
just eight pages. The thin
section made it difficult to
detect when becoming part
of the 132-page state book.
Lindell said county elec-
tions received 20 calls con-
cerning pamphlets lack-
ing the insert, and based on
the numbers, it appears less
than half a percent of all the
pamphlets did not get the
insert.
And for anyone who
wants a complete pam-
phlet, she said, the office
has plenty available.
mark contributions for a
particular race,” Thompson
wrote. “All of our contribu-
tions to the RGA go into one
big pot.”
Brown,
meanwhile,
has received more than
$650,000 over the past
year from the Democratic
Governors
Association
and $85,000 from Nike,
according to state campaign
finance data.
This year’s governor’s
race is the most expen-
sive in Oregon history. As
of Wednesday, campaign
finance reports showed Bue-
hler and Brown were about
even in campaign fundrais-
ing. Both have raised more
than $9 million. That was
without the newly disclosed
$2 million to Buehler.
Before those donations,
campaign finance reports
showed that Buehler had
about $1.8 million of cash
on hand, while Brown had
about $3.2 million.
Buehler’s
campaign
spokeswoman,
Monica
Wroblewski, said the cam-
paign has a policy of not
commenting on donors or
donations.
Knight could not be
reached for comment.
———
Paris Achen: pachen@
portlandtribune.com
or
503-363-0888. Achen is a
reporter for the Portland
Tribune working for the
Oregon Capital Bureau, a
collaboration of EO Media
Group, Pamplin Media
Group and Salem Reporter.
Steven Duggan delays
drug crimes trial
East Oregonian
Sex offender Steven
Ray Duggan of Pendleton
fired his lawyer just before
the start of his trial for drug
crimes.
State court records
show Duggan, 53, was
going to a jury trial Thurs-
day at the Umatilla County
Courthouse, Pendleton, on
felonies of possession of
methamphetamine, deliv-
ery of meth and delivery
of meth within 1,000 feet
of a school, and a misde-
meanor or frequenting a
place where controlled
substances are used. That
changed
Wednesday
when his attorney, Robert
Klahn of Pendleton, filed
a motion to withdraw from
the case because Duggan
fired him.
Duggan gave Kline a
hand-written note stating,
“I can no longer have Rob-
ert G Klahn represent me
because the attorney cli-
ent relationship no longer
exists.”
He did not provide any
more explanation, but Cir-
cuit Judge Jon Lieual-
len canceled the one-day
trial. Lieuallen set a hear-
ing Tuesday to appoint a
new lawyer to represent
Duggan.
Duggan, 53, has convic-
tions in 1990 and 2001 in
Umatilla County for rape
and sodomy. He got out of
prison in Washington ear-
lier this year after serving
time for drug crimes. He
remains in the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton.
PENDLETON
Man faces federal time
for molesting a girl
East Oregonian
Shane Britton of Pend-
leton faces upward of two
years in federal prison
for molesting a girl on
the
Umatilla
Indian
Reservation.
A federal jury in Port-
land on Wednesday found
Britton, 43, guilty of
abusive sexual contact.
According to court docu-
ments, Britton molested
the minor in June 2016
while staying with her
and her mother at their
home on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation near
Pendleton.
The girl and her
mother are members of
the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation,
accord-
ing to the U.S. Attor-
ney’s Office for Oregon.
Britton is not a tribal
member.
The evidence at the
two-day trial showed
Britton “subjected the
victim to a series of
unwanted and progres-
sively more invasive
physical encounters,” the
U.S. Attorney’s Office
reported. “In a recorded
interview, Britton ini-
tially denied the allega-
tion of abusive sexual
contact, but later admit-
ted he inappropriately
touched the victim.”
The FBI investigated
the case with the Umatilla
Tribal Police Department.
Britton’s sentencing is
Jan. 23, 2019, before U.S.
District Judge Michael H.
Simon.
The maximum sen-
tence for the crime is two
years in prison, a $250,000
fine and five years of post-
prison supervision.
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COMMISSIONER
GEORGE MURDOCK
IS FOCUSED ON
UMATILLA COUNTY
“He’s my go-to guy.”
Terry Rowan, Umatilla County Sheriff
“We absolutely have to keep Commissioner Murdock in the Courthouse.”
Dan Primus, Umatilla County District Attorney
“Commissioner Murdock understands rural values and he understands
what it takes to balance a budget and yet listen to what people
think is important. He grew in a small town and graduated in a
class of 37 students.”
Toni Hamby, Pilot Rock
“I’ve worked closely with George Murdock since the day
I moved to Pendleton. At every step of the way, he is
focused on making a positive difference - whatever the project and
whatever the challenge.”
John Turner, mayor of Pendleton
“If government is going to work in Eastern Oregon, it is vital the cities
and the county are on the same page. Commissioner Murdock epitomizes
the idea of working together for the benefit
of not just Hermiston, but all of Umatilla County.”
Dave Drotzmann, mayor of Hermiston
Experience is the Difference
Umatilla County Commission Board Chair
George Murdock has earned a second full term
Paid for by Committee to Re-elect George Murdock, County Commissioner.
191 NW Johns Lane, Pendleton, OR 97801