NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Legislature passes sweeping changes
to state’s juvenile sentencing rules
ers adopted in 1994’s Ballot
Measure 11, which set man-
datory minimum sentences
for a collection of serious
crimes.
Among its most weighty
changes, the bill will ensure
that juveniles 15 years of
age and older aren’t auto-
matically tried as adults for
major crimes such as mur-
der, rape and kidnapping.
Instead, judges will be able
to decide on an individual
basis whether a defendant is
tried as an adult.
The bill also ensures
young offenders aren’t sen-
tenced to life without parole,
makes them eligible for a
parole hearing after serving
half their sentence and cre-
ates a new pathway for cer-
tain defendants to secure
early release rather than
being transferred to the
adult prison system.
The changes have support
from a far-ranging swath of
organizations — the ACLU
of Oregon and Koch Indus-
tries are both behind it —
but also from retired judges,
prison guards, the Oregon
Department of Corrections
and Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum. The support has
roots in science that shows
juveniles don’t have fully
developed decision-mak-
ing ability and concerns that
funneling young offenders
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Oregon House of
Representatives on Thurs-
day
passed
sweeping
changes to sentencing rules
for juvenile offenders, a
dramatic shift to tough-
on-crime guidelines voters
approved 25 years ago.
In a tight vote — held
earlier than expected due
to a speed-up maneuver by
House leadership — repre-
sentatives voted 40-18 for
Senate Bill 1008, the bare
minimum required to pass
it.
Before the vote, repre-
sentatives first shot down
two alternative “minority
report” proposals floated by
Republicans — one to mod-
ify the bill and refer it to vot-
ers, the other simply to refer
it to voters. The bill now
heads to the desk of Gov.
Kate Brown, who will sign
it.
“Our juvenile system
creates a class of people
who reoffend at a higher
rate,” said state Rep. Jenni-
fer Williamson, D-Portland,
a central backer of the sen-
tencing changes. “It targets
our communities of color.
My question is, ‘What is
our responsibility knowing
that?’”
SB 1008 eases rules vot-
to the adult prison system
creates hardened criminals.
Still, the bill is conten-
tious. It rankled prosecu-
tors, who didn’t want judges
to have sole discretion on
which juvenile defendants
were tried as adults. They
argued the legislation should
be changed.
“There is broad consen-
sus that we have to change
Measure 11 for youth,” said
state Rep. Mike McLane,
R-Powell Butte, who put
forth a substitute bill on
behalf of the Oregon Dis-
trict Attorneys Association.
“How to do it reasonable
people disagree.”
Opponents also argued
that the bill should go before
Oregon voters, since they
approved Measure 11 in
the first place. But the bill’s
backers pointed out that,
the same year Measure 11
passed, voters also approved
Measure 10, which allowed
lawmakers to alter the
rules if they secured a two-
thirds vote in the House and
Senate.
Representatives
who
spoke against the bill
expressed support for the
overall concept, but said
it was too lax, and that the
worst-of-the-worst young
criminals should not have
the opportunity of being
tried as juveniles.
Students protest death of gun bill
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — One recent
Monday, the phones of stu-
dents from Portland to
Salem lit up.
The news came through
a Slack channel of student
activists: A bill to tighten
the state’s gun laws had been
nixed, the result of a politi-
cal deal hashed out over
Mother’s Day weekend.
There was disappoint-
ment. The students, orga-
nizing to advocate for
tighter gun laws through
their activist group March
For Our Lives, had spent
several days this year lob-
bying lawmakers to pass the
new restrictions.
Then Parkrose happened.
A few days after the deal
was struck, on Friday, May
17, a football coach at Port-
land’s Parkrose High School
tackled an armed student.
March For Our Lives
reacted, with students plan-
ning to return to the Capitol
to convey their displeasure.
A Florida high school
shooting has played a part
in motivating a new gener-
ation of student activists to
seek state policy changes.
And last week’s incident at
Parkrose kept the Oregon
students going.
March For Our Lives,
a national group, formed
SUNDAY
OCB Photo/Claire Withycombe
March For Our Lives students talk with the media in Salem to
convey their displeasure over the deal that led to Senate Bill
978, a gun bill to tighten the state’s gun laws, being nixed.
last year, after a gunman
killed 17 people at Mar-
jory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland,
Fla. Students from across
the country have joined the
movement.
Shootings at schools
claimed 114 lives in 2018,
according to Education
Week, which tracked inci-
dents where people have
been injured or killed by
guns on school campuses.
Senate Bill 978 would
have
made
sweeping
changes to the state’s gun
laws, including setting stan-
dards for gun storage and
allowing retailers to raise
the minimum purchase age
to 21.
But it got squashed after
Gov. Kate Brown and Sen-
ate President Peter Court-
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Jury: Man guilty in 1989
murder of teen near
Bellingham
Overcast
Mostly cloudy
Clouds and sun,
showers around
Partly sunny and
beautiful
Mostly sunny
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
68° 47°
70° 50°
73° 50°
77° 54°
76° 56°
80° 57°
80° 54°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
83° 58°
87° 60°
86° 58°
OREGON FORECAST
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
57/45
66/47
65/49
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
71/51
Lewiston
58/47
74/52
Astoria
58/46
Pullman
Yakima 69/53
59/43
70/52
Portland
Hermiston
59/49
The Dalles 73/50
Salem
Corvallis
58/45
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
63/44
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
58/45
60/41
62/44
Ontario
68/51
Caldwell
Burns
72°
61°
75°
49°
97° (1928) 35° (2010)
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
57/45
Trace
0.44"
0.87"
4.32"
4.96"
4.86"
Today
64/45
Sun.
SW 8-16
W 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A
Whatcom County jury has found a man
guilty of first-degree murder in the death of
an 18-year-old woman nearly three decades
ago.
The Bellingham Herald reports 51-year-
old Timothy Bass of Everson was found
guilty Friday after the jury deliberated for
about a day.
The jury also found Bass guilty of rape,
attempted rape, kidnapping and attempted
kidnapping.
On Nov. 24, 1989, Stavik went for a jog
near her home east of Bellingham, and never
returned. Her body was found three days
later in the Nooksack River.
A co-worker of Bass collected a plastic
cup and Coke can that he discarded and gave
it to detectives. Authorities matched Bass’
DNA to evidence found on Stavik’s body
and arrested him in December 2017.
The defense argued that Bass had a con-
sensual sexual relationship with Stavik prior
WINDS (in mph)
65/49
60/44
Trace
1.35"
1.01"
9.11"
6.07"
6.12"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 59/42
58/44
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
68/47
65/49
65°
57°
73°
49°
93° (1928) 34° (1920)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
59/46
Aberdeen
65/51
62/50
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
59/50
ney, D-Salem, hammered
out a deal with Senate
Republican Leader Herman
Baertschiger Jr. of Grants
Pass over the weekend of
May 11-12.
The deal was intended
to get Republican senators
back in the Senate chamber
so legislation could move.
Opponents of the gun
bill had appeared angered
about the proposed restric-
tions on gun ownership, lin-
ing up in droves to testify
against the bill.
Proponents were equally
motivated to stop what they
feel is an epidemic of gun
violence. Brown and Attor-
ney General Ellen Rosen-
blum testified for the bill,
which never made it to the
floor of either the House or
Senate.
OREGON IN BRIEF
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
Saturday, May 25, 2019
to her disappearance and that Bass had noth-
ing to do with her death.
Jury finds woman guilty in
Newport man’s murder
ASTORIA (AP) — A jury has found
a woman guilty of the 2016 murder of a
71-year-old Newport man by aiding and
abetting her boyfriend with the crime.
The Daily Astorian reports the jury in
Clatsop County Circuit Court on Thurs-
day also unanimously found Adeena Copell
guilty of abuse of a corpse and two counts of
unlawful use of a vehicle.
Christian Wilkins pleaded guilty earlier
this month to the same charges.
Howard Vinge was beaten to death
inside his RV in September 2016. His body
was dumped down an embankment east of
Astoria.
Prosecutors say Copell and Wilkins lived
with Vinge for about two months before his
death and that they took his RV and a car.
Prosecutors say they abandoned the RV
after it broke down and drove the car to Ari-
zona, where they were arrested.
They will be sentenced in June.
CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
NNW 6-12
NW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
62/39
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:14 a.m.
8:30 p.m.
1:31 a.m.
11:24 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
May 26
June 3
June 9
June 17
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 100° in Cherry Point, N.C. Low 13° in Climax, Colo.
M
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
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