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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2019)
A8 East Oregonian Thursday, January 10, 2019 Trucker: Shortage puts drivers in high demand Continued from Page A1 Staff photo by Kathy Aney/ Michael Kennedy, a long-haul trucker who works for Medelez Trucking in Hermiston, drives his rig Wednesday in Hermiston. Later, he headed to San Diego with a load of frozen french fries. $10, the driving test is $70, the certificate of test com- pletion is $40, the license is $75 if you already have an Oregon driver’s license and $135 if you don’t. Medelez said he sees truckers aging out of the workforce with no one to replace them as another major factor. According to the transportation institute’s report, 28 percent of truck drivers are 55 and older, a situation putting “signifi- cant pressure on the indus- try to increase the avail- able pool of qualified truck drivers.” One way to do that is pro- vide better pay and benefits. Medelez said his fami- ly’s business offers a heath insurance package, a 401K for retirement and an annual savings program in which the company matches 50 percent of an employee’s contributions. He said that’s a popular item for some extra Christmas cash. And rookie driv- ers can make $60,000 a year, Medelez said, while Walmart pays its drivers more than $80,000. Driv- ers at Medelez and BJK can earn that, too, he said, “But you’ve got to hustle. It doesn’t come easy.” Stephens said the com- petition is giving drivers freedom to pick where they want to work. Drivers are willing to jump from one company to the next if they see a better deal, he said, and companies need driv- ers so badly they overlook someone who may have left their last employer in the lurch. Medelez said all the competition compounds the shortage. Large companies, small companies with just a handful of semis, even bus companies are looking for folks with the golden com- bination of a CDL and clean driving record. That’s why Medelez and BJK keep on top of who they have avail- able to handle big rigs. “I think we manage it well,” Medelez said. “We’re here all the time.” Texas landowners dig in to fight Trump’s border wall By NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press HIDALGO, Texas — As President Donald Trump travels to the border in Texas to make the case for his $5.7 billion wall, land- owner Eloisa Cavazos says she knows firsthand how the project will play out if the White House gets its way. The federal government has started surveying land along the border in Texas and announced plans to start construction next month. Rather than surrender their land, some property own- ers are digging in, vowing to reject buyout offers and pre- paring to fight the adminis- tration in court. “You could give me a tril- lion dollars and I wouldn’t take it,” said Cavazos, whose land sits along the Rio Grande, the river sep- arating the U.S. and Mex- ico in Texas. “It’s not about money.” Trump is scheduled to visit the border Thursday in McAllen, a city of 143,000 on the river. Congress in March funded 33 miles of walls and fencing in Texas. The gov- ernment has laid out plans that would cut across private land in the Rio Grande Val- ley. Those in the way include landowners who have lived in the valley for generations, environmental groups and a 19th century chapel. Many have hired law- yers who are preparing to fight the government if, as expected, it moves to seize their land through eminent domain. The opposition will intensify if Democrats accede to the Trump admin- istration’s demand to build more than 215 new miles of wall, including 104 miles in AP Photo/John L. Mone Father Roy Snipes, pastor of the La Lomita Chapel, shows Associated Press journalists the land on either side of the Rio Grande at the US-Mexico border on Tuesday in Mission, Texas. the Rio Grande Valley and 55 miles near Laredo. Even a compromise solution to build “steel slats,” as Trump has suggested, or more fenc- ing of the kind that Demo- crats have previously sup- ported would likely trigger more court cases and push- back in Texas. Legal experts say Trump likely cannot waive eminent domain — which requires the government to demon- strate a public use for the land and provide landown- ers with compensation — by declaring a national emergency. While this is Trump’s first visit to the border in Texas as president, his adminis- tration’s immigration crack- down has been felt here for months. Hundreds of the more than 2,400 children sep- arated from their parents last summer were detained in cages at a Border Patrol facility in McAllen. Three “tender-age” facilities for the youngest children were opened in this region. The president also ordered soldiers to the bor- der in response to a wave of migrant caravans before the November election. Those troops had a heavy pres- ence in the Rio Grande Val- ley, though they have since quietly left. A spokeswoman for the border security mis- sion said they closed their base camp along the border on Dec. 22. But Trump’s border wall will last beyond his admin- istration. Building in the region is a top priority for the Department of Home- land Security because it’s the busiest area for illegal border crossings. More than 23,000 parents and children were caught illegally cross- ing the border in the Rio Grande Valley in November — more than triple the num- ber from a year earlier. Homeland Security offi- cials argue that a wall would stop many crossings and deter Central American fam- ilies from trying to migrate north. Many of those fam- ilies are seeking asylum because of violence in their home countries and often turn themselves in to bor- der agents when they arrive here. The number of fami- lies has surged. DHS said Wednesday that it detained 27,518 adults and children traveling together on the AP Photo/Andrew Selsky Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle shows her oath of office after she signed it after her inauguration at the state Capitol in Salem on Monday. Hoyle: Newly-elected Oregon labor commissioner delegates duties to deputy Continued from Page A1 workplace free of harass- ment. They said they expect recommendations by the Oregon Law Commission aimed at achieving that will be swiftly implemented. Among the commis- sion’s recent numerous recommendations: — The Legislature should establish and fund an Equity Office with at least two staffers, one of whom would conduct investiga- tions, write investigative reports and recommend interim safety measures. The other staffer would con- duct outreach and training, receive confidential disclo- sures and provide advice. — Make at least two hours of training avail- able on multiple occasions throughout the year. — Make respectful workplace training man- datory for legislative staff, including interns, and lobbyists. — More clearly describe conduct that constitutes workplace harassment. — Use cell phone apps that allow members of the Capitol community to sub- mit questions anonymously or interact with the Equity Office or trainer; and use software for interactive training when in-person training is impractical. Deputy Labor Commis- sioner Duke Shepard will make the final decision on the case, Hoyle said. There had been worry that Hoyle, a former House majority leader, would give the investigation short shrift because she knows the lead- ers in the Legislature. southern border in Decem- ber, a new monthly high. With part of the $1.6 bil- lion Congress approved in March, U.S. Cus- toms and Border Protec- tion announced it would build 25 miles of wall along the flood-control levee in Hidalgo County, which runs well north of the Rio Grande. Congress did not allow construction of any of Trump’s wall prototypes. But the administration’s plans call for a concrete wall to the height of the exist- ing levee, with 18-foot steel posts on top. CBP wants to clear 150 feet in front of any new construction for an “enforcement zone” of access roads, cameras, and lighting. The government sued the local Roman Catholic dio- cese late last year to gain access for its surveyors at the site of La Lomita chapel, which opened in 1865 and was an important site for missionaries who traveled the Rio Grande Valley by horseback. It remains an epicenter of the Rio Grande Valley’s Catholic community, host- ing weddings and funerals, as well as an annual Palm Sunday procession that draws 2,000 people. The chapel is a short dis- tance from the Rio Grande. It falls directly into the area where CBP wants to build its “enforcement zone.” The diocese said it opposes a border wall because the barrier violates Catholic teachings and the church’s responsibility to protect migrants, as well as the church’s First Amend- ment right of religious free- dom. A legal group from Georgetown University has joined the diocese in its lawsuit. EO file photo A VFW color guard marches underneath a large United States flag at the start of the Fourth of July Parade on July 4, 2018, in Pendleton. Parade: Council considering $1,500 fee, with four exceptions Continued from Page A1 In an interview Wednes- day, Fairley elaborated on his comments, saying he wants to have a discussion with the council on how to recover public safety costs. Since the police depart- ment relies on the general fund for most of its budget, Fairley said a cost recov- ery mechanism for public safety could allow the city to use its only discretion- ary fund for other budget priorities. Although the Veter- ans of Foreign Wars Post 922-organized Fourth of July Parade is cur- rently exempted under the amendment proposal, a $1,500 fee would have an effect on parade organizers. A former Pendleton police chief, VFW Com- mander Gary Ward said he understands the costs that go into covering parades. But requiring a $1,500 fee means the VFW would have to consider how to spread their additional costs amongst their mem- bers and sponsors. Roberts said he doesn’t have an opinion on who should or shouldn’t be exempted from the fee, but he said a lot goes into orga- nizing public safety for a parade, which can some- times include coordinating with the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation. While the council usu- ally votes on an ordinance at the meeting following a first reading, Mayor John Turner told City Manager Robb Corbett that the coun- cil needed more time “to talk about it some more” and suggested a final vote be postponed further.