NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
NORCOR has released inmates to save space for ICE detainees
to make room for the 40
detainees that you had asked
for. If you are not going to
use us to that extent, please
let me know that as well so I
can advise my sheriffs.”
Less than three hours
later, an ICE official wrote
back indicating detainees
would soon arrive from the
Northwest Detention Cen-
ter in Tacoma, Washington.
“Tacoma is working on
vetting more detainees to
go to NORCOR,” ICE offi-
cial Larry Peterson wrote.
“I will let you know when
they are ready for transfer.”
“Thanks, I have been
getting pressed for people,”
Lindhorst wrote back.
“No problem,” Peterson
wrote. “I will keep hound-
ing them for more.”
Lindhorst has since been
promoted to NORCOR’s
commander. He declined to
comment on Thursday, cit-
ing the pending litigation.
NORCOR is the regional
jail for Hood River, Gil-
liam, Sherman and Wasco
counties. It also contracts
with Benton County to
house inmates.
But in recent years, the
jail has become particu-
larly reliant on funding
By CONRAD WILSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
A regional jail in The
Dalles that houses detain-
ees for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
has suggested local sheriffs
keep their “numbers low”
in the jail to make room for
immigrant detainees.
The Northern Oregon
Regional Corrections Facil-
ity — or NORCOR — has
housed immigration detain-
ees since 1999, when the
facility first opened. Critics
of that process say it vio-
lates Oregon’s sanctuary
law and have sued the jail.
Documents included in
that lawsuit give potential
insight into how NORCOR
allocates space for ICE
detainees.
In a Sept. 29, 2016
email, then-NORCOR Lt.
Dan Lindhorst wrote ICE to
ask that they increase their
number of detainees at the
jail.
“I see this morning we
are down to 26 ICE detain-
ees,” Lindhorst wrote.
“Could you please see if
you can get these numbers
up. We have been keeping
the county numbers low
Conrad Wilson/Oregon Public Broadcasting
NORCOR is a cinder block jail surrounded by a high chain-link fence and razor wire
in an industrial section of The Dalles.
from its increasingly lucra-
tive contract with ICE. Last
year, the federal agency
paid NORCOR more than
$900,000 to house detain-
ees, according to the jail’s
budget documents. That’s
more than 11 percent of the
jail’s 2017-18 budget.
The county’s contract
with ICE doesn’t guaran-
tee how much the federal
agency will use NORCOR.
But in 2016, then-jail
administrator Bryan Bran-
denburg told OPB that ICE
does “their best to keep our
numbers up a little bit.”
In 2016, Wasco County
failed to continue a prop-
erty tax levy to fund the jail,
making the jail even more
reliant on its contract with
ICE.
“Huge,” Gilliam County
Sheriff Gary Bettencourt
said when describing the
problem if the jail’s ICE
contract went away. “It
would be a huge problem.”
Bettencourt said the jail
uses a matrix system when
the inmate population starts
to reach capacity. He said
there’s a “very low number
of people we matrix.”
Historically, the jail’s
population has been slightly
more than 200 adult inmates
and detainees.
“If we get over that, we
initiate the matrix system
that just starts pushing peo-
ple out the door,” Betten-
court said. “It’s kind of a
grading system; somebody
who’s not a threat to the
community or themselves,
so it’s got to be a pretty low-
level crime.”
He said an inmate’s crim-
inal history is also taken
into consideration before
that person is let out to
make room for more serious
offenders.
“We think our local bed
numbers are adequate,” Bet-
tencourt said.
He said there’s never
been a time when the ICE
contract has prevented
someone arrested locally
from getting booked into
the jail.
“We’re never not able to
take a local person,” he said.
The sheriffs of Hood
River, Sherman and Wasco
counties did not return
requests for comment.
“We’re never not able to take a local person”
— Gary Bettencourt, Gilliam County sheriff
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Mostly cloudy and
chilly
Cloudy with spotty
showers
41° 34°
53° 39°
SATURDAY
Mostly cloudy with
a shower
Report: Oregon needs a separate
state agency for legal marijuana
SUNDAY
Partly sunny
Mostly cloudy
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
49° 35°
47° 33°
48° 35°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
38° 31°
52° 40°
50° 36°
52° 32°
OREGON FORECAST
50° 35°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/46
48/38
41/24
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
43/36
Lewiston
50/45
40/32
Astoria
53/44
Pullman
Yakima 37/31
50/42
48/37
Portland
Hermiston
48/45
The Dalles 38/31
Salem
Corvallis
50/42
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
48/36
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
52/44
53/35
50/38
Ontario
44/31
Caldwell
Burns
32°
28°
48°
32°
65° (1962) 6° (1929)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
52/44
0.00"
0.01"
0.76"
6.46"
8.46"
8.04"
WINDS (in mph)
47/34
43/21
0.00"
0.10"
0.92"
8.25"
14.58"
10.91"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 48/34
53/45
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
41/34
41/34
31°
20°
47°
32°
69° (1958) 9° (1977)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
51/41
Aberdeen
41/34
36/29
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
51/45
Today
Medford
56/39
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
S 4-8
SSW 7-14
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:03 a.m.
4:19 p.m.
3:55 p.m.
4:57 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
Nov 22
Nov 29
Dec 6
Dec 15
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 88° in Hollywood, Fla. Low -20° in Cotton, Minn.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
cold front
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
www.eastoregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to www.eastoregonian.com
and click on ‘Subscribe’
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and
postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group
60s
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
Lawmakers ordered to
comply with subpoenas over
misconduct
PORTLAND (AP) — A Multnomah
County Circuit Court judge has ruled that
Oregon legislative leaders must comply
with subpoenas for documents and testi-
mony in the sexual harassment investiga-
tion at the Capitol.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports
Judge Christopher Marshall said Monday
the subpoenas were reasonable in scope
and had been issued lawfully by the Oregon
Bureau of Labor and Industries. But he also
found the Legislature’s top officials initially
had cause to object, rejecting the agency’s
request for a contempt order and $1,000-a-
day fines.
He gave lawmakers until Dec. 5 to pro-
vide documents and Dec. 18 to provide
testimony.
Through their attorneys, Senate President
Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina
Kotek had argued that supplying the infor-
mation would jeopardize the privacy of peo-
ple who had complained about misconduct.
On Monday, labor agency lawyer Nena
Cook said the alleged victims’ information
would be kept private under a protective
order.
The Bureau of Labor and Industries had
identified two interns who reported being
sexually harassed while working for for-
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Local home delivery Savings off cover price
EZPay
$14.50
41 percent
52 weeks
$173.67
41 percent
26 weeks
$91.86
38 percent
13 weeks
$47.77
36 percent
*EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge
Single copy price:
$1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday
Circulation Manager:
Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828
marijuana, the OLCC in August revealed it
planned to seek $7 million per biennium in
recreational pot tax money from the 2019
Legislature.
Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the
OLCC, told the newspaper he had heard
mention of the new agency recommenda-
tion, but said it was “not our issue to com-
ment on.”
The cannabis commission was formed
by the 2017 Legislature.
Jonathan Modie, spokesman for the
Oregon Health Authority, stressed the rec-
ommendation is still a draft. The cannabis
commission meets Nov. 27 via conference
call to discuss recommendations included
in the draft report.
If the commission approves the recom-
mendation, Modie said, the report will be
presented to a legislative committee when
the session begins.
Jim Moore, a political science profes-
sor at Pacific University, said proposals
like this usually come about after an audit
reveals problems, but this one appears to
be spontaneous.
“I think it will have good political sup-
port,” he said.
BRIEFLY
Thu.
NNE 3-6
ENE 3-6
Boardman
Pendleton
51/30
SALEM (AP) — The Oregon Cannabis
Commission is recommending the state set
up an independent agency to regulate legal
marijuana rather than having three differ-
ent agencies share the job, a newspaper
reported Tuesday.
Marijuana is currently regulated by
the Oregon Health Authority, the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission and the Ore-
gon Department of Agriculture, but their
responsibilities also include public health,
alcohol and crop services.
The Statesman Journal obtained a draft
report through a public records request that
says having three agencies manage mari-
juana creates confusion and each agency
has a different mindset about how to
address cannabis.
Law enforcement officials and growers
also find the multi-agency approach “con-
fusing and difficult to navigate,” the report
said.
The lines regarding who’s responsible
for what have changed over time.
Certain medical growers were required
as of July 1 to use the OLCC’s Canna-
bis Tracking System, which recreational
licensees also use. To help track medical
ADVERTISING
Regional Publisher and Revenue Director:
Christopher Rush
541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com
Advertising Services:
Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
Grace Bubar
541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Kimberly Macias
541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com
• Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
• Audra Workman
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
mer Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg. Kruse
resigned following the allegations, which
he denied.
The labor agency’s investigation dates
back to Aug. 1, when Democratic Labor
Commissioner Brad Avakian took the
extraordinary step of filing a complaint with
his own agency alleging that Courtney and
Kotek knew or should have known about
complaints about Kruse and the “broader
sexually hostile environment in the Capi-
tol.” Avakian’s complaint also named seven
other individuals including the Legisla-
ture’s human resources chief and top law-
yer, plus the entire Legislature and Depart-
ment of Administrative Services, which
handles human resources for much of the
state government.
Wyden: Public needs more
time to study nuke waste
proposal
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — U.S. Sen.
Ron Wyden says the public needs more
time to comment on a proposal to reclas-
sify radioactive waste stored at the nation’s
nuclear weapons production complex.
The Oregon Democrat this week joined
calls for the process to be slowed down.
The U.S. Department of Energy is con-
sidering a change to how it interprets the
legal definition of high level radioactive
waste.
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at
541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
Business Office Manager:
541-966-0822
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com