NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Permit filed to demolish never-used Wapato Jail
By ERICKA CRUZ
GUEVARRA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Wapato Jail won’t
become a homeless shelter
after all.
In fact, Wapato Jail won’t
even be the Wapato Jail for
much longer.
A demolition permit is in
place for the never-opened
Multnomah County jail,
which was sold to private
developer Jordan Schnitzer
in April.
A demolition building
permit application through
the city of Portland’s Bureau
of Development Services
was signed by the property
owner on Nov. 1, according
to documents.
A final permit for a com-
mercial inspection, in addi-
tion to an erosion and site
control inspection, is under-
way as of Nov. 2. Documents
show applicants valued the
cost of all equipment, materi-
als, labor overhead and profit
Kayo Lackey/OPB
Wapato Jail, which Multnomah County has sold, has never been used for incarceration. It is now slated for demolition.
for the work at $1 million.
The permitting process
to demolish the building —
which has been referred to as
an albatross that has strained
county resources since it was
completed in 2004 — began
less than a week before Port-
land voters would decide
between two city councilors
who disagreed vehemently
on what to do with the jail.
Voters ultimately chose Jo
Ann Hardesty, who has been
critical of calls for the jail to
be converted into a homeless
shelter.
“I thought this was a city
of compassionate people,
empathetic people, people
who believed we can do bet-
ter than jail cells for people
who are houseless,” Hard-
esty said in a speech at her
Election Night party soon
after her win Tuesday.
On the campaign trail,
Hardesty’s opponent, Mult-
nomah County Commis-
sioner Loretta Smith, said
she wanted to turn the jail
into a triage center for res-
idential drug and alcohol
rehabilitation, mental health
support and job training
programs.
Schnitzer, who backed
Smith in her campaign for
city council, told Willa-
mette Week in September
that he’d demolish the build-
ing if funding to use the jail
as a homeless shelter didn’t
materialize by Oct. 1.
The money never came.
Schnitzer faced mounting
pressure from leaders includ-
ing Portland Mayor Ted
Wheeler and Oregon Repub-
lican gubernatorial candidate
Knute Buehler to consider
more pitches on what to do
with the jail.
Schnitzer pays $50,000
a month to maintain the
empty jail — a price he told
The Oregonian/OregonLive
he wasn’t keen on paying
forever.
State orders killing of wolves from two more packs
have been preying on cat-
tle in the northeastern cor-
ner of the state will be killed,
the state Department of Fish
and Wildlife said Wednes-
day morning.
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Wolves from two packs that
Hunters will kill members
of the Smackout Pack in Ste-
vens County and members
of the Togo Pack in Ferry
County, the agency said.
Wolves from the two
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Plenty of sunshine
Times of clouds
and sun
A morning shower;
mostly sunny
Mostly sunny and
chilly
Chilly with brilliant
sunshine
52° 28°
54° 35°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
48° 27°
49° 24°
46° 31°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
53° 24°
55° 32°
52° 27°
50° 25°
OREGON FORECAST
47° 27°
ALMANAC
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PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
53/38
45/28
53/25
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
51/31
Lewiston
51/32
54/26
Astoria
56/38
Pullman
Yakima 49/26
50/30
49/26
Portland
Hermiston
56/33
The Dalles 53/24
Salem
Corvallis
56/28
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
46/21
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
55/28
51/23
48/25
Ontario
51/18
Caldwell
Burns
54°
28°
55°
35°
68° (1939) 11° (1936)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
55/28
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
59/27
0.00"
0.01"
0.25"
6.46"
7.91"
7.53"
WINDS (in mph)
49/20
44/6
0.00"
0.10"
0.28"
8.25"
13.90"
10.27"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 44/20
56/31
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
52/28
56/28
50°
36°
53°
35°
71° (2006) 15° (2003)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
49/29
Aberdeen
43/25
47/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
50/36
Today
Fri.
SSW 3-6
W 4-8
SW 4-8
SW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
51/12
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:45 a.m.
4:33 p.m.
7:37 a.m.
5:39 p.m.
First
Full
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Nov 15
Nov 22
Nov 29
Dec 6
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 94° in Edinburg, Texas Low 0° in Leadville, Colo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
packs have continued to
prey on cattle despite efforts
to get them to stop, agency
director Kelly Susewind
said.
“WDFW staff have con-
firmed that on five sepa-
rate occasions since Aug.
20, one or more members of
the Smackout pack injured
one calf and killed four heif-
ers on private pastures,”
the agency said in a news
release.
Meanwhile, the agency
documented six depreda-
tions by members of the
Togo Pack in the past 10
months, and the remaining
three wolves in that pack
will be killed.
The hunting of wolves
can begin on Thursday, the
agency said.
Last month the state
decided to kill the remain-
ing two wolves from the
Old Profanity Peak Territory
Pack, which has repeatedly
preyed on cattle in Ferry
County.
The Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity and other con-
servation groups have criti-
cized the killing of wolves to
save cattle grazing on public
lands.
Wolves were killed off in
Washington state early in the
past century. But they began
moving back into the state
early in this century from
Idaho and Canada. That has
created intense conflicts
with ranchers in the moun-
tainous and sparsely popu-
lated northeastern part of the
state
Wolves are listed as an
endangered species through-
out Washington. But a man-
agement plan allows the
state to kill wolves if offi-
cials confirm a certain num-
ber of livestock attacks
within a specific time period.
In the case of the Smack-
out Pack, Susewind autho-
rized incremental removal
of wolves from the pack.
One or two wolves will be
killed, and then there will
be a halt to determine if that
stops the depredations, the
agency said.
The agency said it will
use humane lethal removal
methods consistent with
state and federal laws.
Likely options include
shooting from a helicopter,
trapping and shooting from
the ground.
The department docu-
mented the existence of the
pack in 2011. Recent surveys
indicate the pack includes
four or five adult wolves.
In the case of the Togo
Pack, Susewind said a recent
depredation was an indica-
tion that the pack behavior
of preying on livestock has
not changed.
Susewind decided to
issue a permit to the live-
stock owner allowing him,
his immediate family, or his
employees to kill wolves if
they are within his private
fenced pasture.
Susewind decided to
issue a permit rather than
having department staff con-
duct the hunts because of a
lack of resources due to hav-
ing three hunts underway at
the same time.
The Center for Biological
Diversity has tried unsuc-
cessfully to block past wolf
hunts in court, saying that
killing wolves ignores sci-
ence and goes against the
wishes of many in the state.
“Washington residents
have made it clear that they
support wolf recovery,”
Amaroq Weiss of the center
said in a recent news release.
The state since 2012 has
killed 21 wolves, 17 of them
to benefit the same livestock
owner, she said.
“Washington residents
are fed up with wolf-man-
agement policies that reward
livestock owners for irre-
sponsible business prac-
tices,” Weiss said. “The
wildlife department’s mis-
sion is to preserve and pro-
tect the state’s wildlife.”
8 of 10 Oregon counties approve
measure to boost gun rights
PORTLAND (AP) —
Voters in eight Oregon coun-
ties have approved ordi-
nances to bolster residents’
gun rights that were champi-
oned by militia groups.
The
Oregonian/Ore-
gonLive reported Wednes-
day that the ordinances say
that residents of those coun-
ties now have the right to
own semi-automatic weap-
ons and high-capacity mag-
azines, regardless of state or
federal law.
They also empower sher-
iffs to determine if state and
federal gun laws are consti-
tutional and prohibit the use
of county funds to enforce
them.
But the ordinances are
likely to be challenged
in court and are seen as
mostly symbolic.
The measure appeared
in Baker, Columbia, Doug-
las, Jackson, Klamath, Lake,
Lincoln, Linn, Umatilla and
Union counties.
It passed in all but Jack-
son and Lincoln counties.
Two militia groups, the
Three Percenters and Oath
Keepers, campaigned for the
ordinance across the state.
Washington voters approve stricter gun laws
Oregon Public Broadcasting
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The only statewide gun
legislation on the ballot this
Election Day was approved
by 60 percent of Washington
voters. Initiative 1639 will
tighten laws on semi-auto-
matic rifles in the state.
The law will raise the
legal age to purchase
semi-automatic rifles to 21,
impose a 10-day waiting
period on purchases, require
an annual background check
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and mandate purchasers
to take a firearms training
course.
The measure also created
a new class of crime called
“community
endanger-
ment,” which requires gun
owners to store their fire-
arms so they don’t get into
the hands of someone who
isn’t permitted to access it,
such as a felon or child.
If a firearm does get into
the wrong hands and that
firearm is displayed in pub-
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lic, discharged, or used to
commit a crime, the owner
can be charged with misde-
meanor or felony commu-
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“My generation has been
defined by gun violence. It
has been defined by Amer-
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Steve Paolini 22, the ini-
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ager. “We have been defined
by continued and repeated
inaction by our elected
officials.”
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