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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
TRAIL SYSTEM PLAN GETS $150K GRANT STANFIELD ON COURSE FOR STATE REGION/3A SPORTS/1B WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018 143rd Year, No. 6 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD HERMISTON HERMISTON Smith warns PERS bill coming due Representative questions whether Legislature has ‘fortitude’ to make hard decision By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Staff photo by E,J. Harris U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden talks about student loan debt on Tuesday during a town hall meeting at Hermiston High School. Students quiz Wyden The Oregon Legislature is going to have to take some hard votes in 2019 to address the Public Employee Retirement System’s unfunded obligation, according to Rep. Greg Smith. “We have to deal with an issue that none of us created,” he said. The representative for District 57 spent an hour with the Hermiston City Council on Monday, answering their questions about the upcoming legis- lative session and how the Smith League of Oregon Cit- ies’ six legislative priorities might fare. While cities would like to see more money spent to address issues such as mental health care and homelessness, Smith said the state’s $22 bil- lion obligation to PERS presents some chal- Town hall draws about 250 students at Hermiston High See PERS/8A Campaign for write-in votes gets away from Givens By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian I n his two-hour town hall meeting with students and staff at Hermiston High School, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said there wasn’t a specific issue that drove the session, but it all boiled down to one idea. “They feel it’s more important than ever before that government be accessible,” he said. The Tuesday morning event drew about 250 students and 30 community mem- bers, and was open to all residents in the area. Unlike Wyden’s last visit to Uma- tilla County in April, where students over- whelmingly wanted to discuss gun control, there wasn’t a focused line of question- ing at this meeting. Instead, students and community members asked him about his stance on issues like immigration, health care costs, graduation rates, and quizzed him on some of his specific votes in the Senate. When a student asked him point-blank his opinion of Donald Trump, Wyden acknowledged that he has some gripes with the president, but steered clear of bashing him. “I agree with him on some issues,” Wyden said. “The question of fighting those who cheat on international trade — I agree with him on that.” He frowned on Trump’s praise this week of Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte, Official Facebook account attacks opponent, fellow commissioner and newspaper By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Staff photo by E,J. Harris Mark Petersen of Pendleton asks a question about voter suppression in the 2018 midterms during a town hall meeting at Hermiston High on Tuesday. who body-slammed a reporter while on the campaign trail last year. “I’m for freedom of the press — not freedom to assault,” he said. Hermiston City Councilor Roy Barron asked Wyden to discuss his stance on Bal- lot Measure 105 which, if passed, would repeal Oregon’s status as a sanctuary state. “What is the federal government doing to get comprehensive immigration reform?” he asked. Wyden said he would vote against Mea- sure 105, and that he believed the mea- sure would only make immigrants afraid to come forward for things they need, like filling prescriptions or reporting domestic abuse. He criticized Trump’s changing stances on immigration, and condemned his fam- ily separation policy, to audience applause. He said he still supports a direct path to citizenship for undocumented individuals who speak English and haven’t broken any other laws. Umatilla County Commissioner Larry Givens in the primary election said he would not engage in negative attacks. The write-in campaign to re-elect Givens did not get that message. The campaign Sunday at 10:59 a.m. posted a comment accusing Athena Mayor John Sha- fer, who defeated Givens on the May ballot, of parroting what other candidates said at a recent forum and of being a toady for Com- missioner George Murdock, who also is run- ning for re-election, but not against Givens. “So I anticipate what will happen now will See WYDEN/8A See GIVENS/8A National forest logging on upward track, official says Federal forest policies discussed during recent timber tour By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI EO Media Group EO Media Group photo by Mateusz Perkowski Steve Fitzpatrick, director of Oregon State University’s College of Forestry research forests, center, discusses forest treatments during an Oct. 19 tour in Corvallis. The volume of timber cut from Northwest national forests is increas- ing due to collaborative planning and growing state involvement in logging projects, according to an Oregon for- est supervisor. For example, the Willamette National Forest — Oregon’s foremost timber producer and a regular top contender nationally — aims to gen- erate 100 million board-feet in 2020, up from about 75 million to 80 mil- lion board-feet in 2018, said Tracy Beck, the forest’s supervisor. Last year, 66 million board-feet were harvested from the forest, according to federal statistics. Contrary to the common belief that federal logging projects are being tied up in litigation, lawsuits have only been filed against a handful of the hundreds of projects in the area, Beck said at a recent timber industry tour in Corvallis. “We’re winning most of those cases,” he said. “I really feel like col- See TIMBER/8A
