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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2018)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Tuesday, October 23, 2018 Hurricane Willa threatens Mexico’s Pacific coast By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY — A potentially catastrophic Hur- ricane Willa swept toward Mexico’s Pacific coast with winds of 145 mph Monday night, threatening a stretch of high-rise resort hotels, surfing beaches and fishing villages. Farther south, Mexican officials reported 12 deaths related to heavy rains from Tropical Storm Vicente. After briefly reaching Category 5 strength, Wil- la’s maximum sustained winds weakened some. But it remained “extremely dangerous” and was fore- cast to bring “life-threat- ening storm surge, wind and rainfall” to parts of west-central and south- western Mexico ahead of an expected Tuesday land- fall, the U.S. National Hur- ricane Center said. Hotel workers started taping up windows, and officials began evacuat- ing people and shuttered schools in a low-lying land- scape where towns sit amid farmland tucked between the sea and lagoons. A decree of “extraordinary emergency” was issued for 19 municipalities in Nayarit and Sinaloa states, the federal Interior Depart- ment announced. Officials said 7,000 to 8,000 people were being evacuated from low-lying areas, mostly in Sinaloa state. The hurricane was expected to pass over or near the Islas Marias — a set of islands about 60 miles offshore that include a nature preserve and a federal prison — early Tuesday. Forecasters said Willa would then blow ashore in the afternoon or evening somewhere along a 140- mile stretch extending from the resort town of Mazatlan to San Blas. It was projected to weaken somewhat before hitting land but was still expected to be extremely dangerous. Yamile Bustamante, assistant general man- ager at the Crown Plaza de Mazatlan, said hotel exec- utives were not ruling out the possibility of evacuat- ing guests but were await- NOAA via AP This GOES East satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Willa in the eastern Pacific, on a path toward Mexico’s Pacific coast on Monday. ing instructions from authorities. The governments of Sinaloa and Nayarit ordered coastal region schools to close and began preparing emergency shelters. Enrique Moreno, mayor of Escuinapa, a municipal- ity of about 60,000 people on Willa’s track, said offi- cials were trying to evac- uate everybody in the sea- side village of Teacapan. He estimated 3,000 were affected but he expected some would try to stay. “The people don’t want to evacuate, but it’s for their security,” he said. About 60 miles up the coast in Mazatlan, with a metropolitan-area popu- lation of about 500,000, Mayor Jose Joel Boucieg- uez said officials prepared shelters and were closely monitoring low-lying areas. Mazatlan is a popular vaca- tion spot and home to a large number of American and Canadian expatriates. Late Monday, Willa was centered about 85 miles southwest of the Islas Marias and 195 miles south-southwest of Mazat- lan. It was moving north at 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended 35 miles from the storm’s center, and tropical storm-force winds were up to 125 miles out. The U.S. hurricane cen- ter warned that Willa could bring 6 to 12 inches of rain — with up to 18 inches in some places — to parts of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa states, with flash flooding and landslides possible in mountainous areas. Farther south, Tropi- cal Storm Vicente weak- ened and was expected to dissipate soon, but it still dropped heavy rainfall that caused dangerous flooding in southern and southwest- ern Mexico. Officials in Oaxaca state said seven adults and five children had lost their lives in drownings or mudslides. FOSSIL: ‘Family wage’ jobs, benefits HAMLEY: Looked to buy in 2016 Continued from 1A Continued from 1A and running for two weeks and all of the employees are from the Fossil area. According to a depart- ment press release, the agency received more than 639,000 calls last year from taxpayers with various questions on filing, paying, and other topics. Krawczyk said the department’s Salem office and its five regional offices will continue to field ques- tions, although the Fos- sil call center isn’t open to the public for in-person services. “This team will help the department continue to improve the assistance tax- payers receive and the expe- rience they have when they call us with questions, con- cerns, or problems,” depart- ment Director Nia Ray said in a statement. At less than 1,500 peo- ple, Wheeler County is the least populous county in Oregon, and recent events don’t seem to suggest that will change. In June, Wheeler County Sheriff Chris Humphreys announced that he would resign within the next four to six months and all three of his full-time deputies were also departing. That same month, all the members Wheeler County High School’s graduating class said they don’t plan to return to the county after completing their college educations. The class of 2018 started with more than a dozen students in first grade, but by the time they reached graduation, the class had shrunk to three. Despite the trends in Wheeler County, Smith said the call center could help the area reverse its fortunes. Smith said all of the jobs at the call center were “family wage” jobs with benefits. If the sheriff’s office hired a new deputy, their spouse could take a job at the call center, Smith said. Together, they could afford to buy a house and a car. Smith said he didn’t see why there was any rea- son that the Fossil call cen- ter couldn’t be replicated in other counties with sparse populations and services. According to the depart- ment of revenue press release, the grand opening ceremony will take place at the Wheeler County Court- house in Fossil on Tuesday at 11 a.m. field “is not our issue.” He also said as far he knew, the tribes do not own prop- erty within the city limits of Pendleton. The Ham- ley sites would be the first. Paul Chalmers, Umatilla County tax assessor, said that seemed right but it would require a sufficient search of property records to be certain. Wildhorse Resort & Casino, which the tribes own, looked to buy the Hamley businesses in 2016 for more than $3.1 mil- lion, according to court documents in the lawsuit. Wildhorse, in 2017, began its latest expansion on the reservation — an $85 mil- lion project for a new hotel tower, a 32-lane bowl- ing alley and additions and improvements for din- ing, gaming and the cine- plex. Sams said Wildhorse would manage the Hamley establishments if the tribes bought them. Woodfield and Pearce got involved with the Ham- ley enterprise in 2005 when it was failing. They oversaw the renovation of the century-old build- ing, reopened the Hamley store in September of 2005 and in the next two years expanded the operation with the steakhouse and the Slick Fork Saloon, an event space. The Hamley businesses employ 75-80 people. Theodore Piteo of Port- land represents Woodfield in the bankruptcy case and during a Sept. 4 hearing in Portland told Judge Trish M. Brown about the tribes’ offer. “They have made a pur- chase offer on the Ham- ley’s assets currently for $2 million,” he stated, accord- ing to the court recording. HIPO’s attorney, Albert Kennedy of Portland, also attended the hearing and said he knew of the letter of interest but did not know if the tribes were willing to go through an auction to buy Hamley assets and suggested setting another meeting. Parties in the bankruptcy came together Friday in Portland for a settlement conference, but nothing indicates they made a deal. Sams said there would be more details if the tribes and the Hamley owners reach an agreement, but the tribes have yet to hear back. ADS: ‘What we are seeing now is the candidates trying to define who their opponent is’ Continued from 1A But last year, Buehler disclosed in a Facebook post that he didn’t vote for Trump. Instead, he wrote in the name Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president. Buehler has repeatedly criticized Trump’s policies and conduct in other inter- views and on social media. He also called on Trump to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination as the Sen- ate confirmation hearing unfolded. “With nothing positive to say about her own record or her vision for Oregon, Kate Brown has completely over- played her hand with a ridic- ulous and 100 percent false attack against Knute Bue- hler comparing Knute to Donald Trump,” wrote Jor- dan Conger, Buehler’s cam- paign policy director, in an email. “There are legitimate issues and differences to debate in the race for gover- nor; this is not one of them.” Buehler’s campaign, meanwhile, in an ad ear- lier this month, claimed that revenue from a new payroll tax to fund mass transit ser- vices — which Brown sup- ported — forces workers in the rest of the state to pay for Portland service. “Kate Brown has always been a politician who thinks about Portland first and the rest of Oregon last,” Trout- dale resident Kelly Fisher says in the ad. “Why else would Brown raise a pay- roll tax on a working person like me to pay for Portland’s mass transit system?” Christian Gaston, Brown’s campaign spokes- man, said the ad on the tran- sit tax is “completely false” and “based on a lie.” “This whole campaign has been a constant barrage of misinformation from Knute Buehler and Prior- ity Oregon (political action Jonathan House/Pamplin Media Group The campaigns of GOP nominee Rep. Knute Buehler, left, and incumbent Democrat Gov. Kate Brown are re- leasing multiple TV and social media ads as the guber- natorial campaign enters its final days. committee),” Gaston said. “It has been really difficult to push out fact checks fast enough.” In fact, the taxes paid by employees in densely pop- ulated areas, such as Port- land, help pay for transit ser- vices in sparsely populated areas such as Gilliam and Harney counties, said Karyn Criswell, a state transporta- tion project manager. About 42 jurisdictions around the state get money from the transit tax. Six- teen cover areas with so few workers that they get $50,000 a year from the state as a base, Criswell said. Conger said the ad is accurate because as a Trout- dale resident, Kelly’s pay- roll taxes go toward TriMet, which provides transit ser- vices largely to Portland. But TriMet maps show service is also offered to Troutdale. In ads aired recently, Brown’s campaign stated that Buehler wants to restrict access to abortion. The campaign and some pro-choice advocates have offered as evidence Bue- hler’s vote against the state’s Reproductive Equity Act in 2017. The act, among other things, expanded reproduc- tive health care to undocu- mented immigrants. Buehler has said repeat- edly he is pro-choice and would make no changes to the state’s abortion laws, which are among the least restrictive in the nation. “Yes, he voted against that act, but does that mean he is not pro-choice? Heck, no,” said Moore, the state political scientist from Pacific University. “He is definitely pro-choice. He just didn’t take this further step. “When you look at any major Republican candi- date, he is a wild radical on choice.” Buehler’s campaign also takes issue with an ad by Brown’s campaign that said Buehler voted to “take coverage away from … hundreds of thousands of Oregonians.” The ad refers to Bue- hler’s vote against a bill to enact a mix of health care provider taxes to temporar- ily fund the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medicaid. The taxes hit hospi- tals, insurers, the Public Employees Benefits Board and coordinated health care organizations, which are regional networks of Ore- gon Health Plan providers. Buehler did vote against the taxes because he felt they were “unfair and tar- geted small businesses and school districts while exempting large corpora- tions,” Conger said. He wanted a longer-term solution for funding health care and with other legis- lators proposed legislation to do so. Their ideas never made it to a vote. Gaston defended Brown’s ads as “narrowly on actions Buehler has taken.” “His campaign is about … selling this image of him- self as a candidate that is different from what he has done as a legislator,” Gas- ton said. In another ad, Buehler’s campaign said that Brown “cut career-focused educa- tion by 43 percent.” The claim refers to vot- er-approved Measure 98 in 2016. The ballot measure dedicated about $150 mil- lion per year toward high school career-technical edu- cation and other programs to boost the graduation rate. A year later, Brown proposed increasing career-technical education funding by $75 million a year — not the full amount approved by voters. Legisla- tors, including Buehler, ulti- mately passed a budget that instead allocated $85 mil- lion a year for career-techni- cal education funding. Buehler voted against the state education budget for several reasons, including that short funding of career education, his campaign said. “He thought at the time that was the more appropri- ate time to present that mes- sage, and frankly, he wanted to make sure some fund- ing on Measure 98 made it through,” Conger said in a phone interview with the Oregon Capital Bureau. Conger defended calling the funding for Measure 98 a cut. “Voters recognized this as a priority and made the funding available for it, and even then, she proposed cut- ting it in half,” Conger said. “If cutting voter-approved funding doesn’t amount to a cut, I don’t know what will.” Gaston called the ad “complete trash politics.” “It’s galling that (Bue- hler) has the temerity to say we are doing anything but stating the truth about his record, when he is saying Governor Brown cut CTE (career-technical education) funding,” Gaston said. Buehler’s ad also implied that Brown’s policies con- tributed to Oregon’s third- worst graduation rate in the nation. Oregon already held that distinction before Brown became governor. Since she took office in February 2015, the graduation rate has inched up slightly but not enough to change the state’s third-worst national ranking. INVEST IN COMMUNITY VALUES: HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION, & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JAMIEFOROREGON.COM AUTHORIZED AND PAID FOR BY McLEOD-SKINNER FOR OREGON • PO BOX 1894, REDMOND, OR 97756
