NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Friday, July 19, 2019
Ditch-cleaning bill passes, but Brown has yet to sign it
Growers would be
allowed to remove
ditch dirt without
a state fill-removal
permit
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A proposal
to streamline ditch-cleaning
regulations got in just under
the wire to win approval
from Oregon lawmakers,
though farmers will likely
wait another year to use the
program.
Growers would be allowed
to remove up to 3,000 cubic
yards of dirt per mile of ditch
over five years without a state
fill-removal permit under
House Bill 2437, up from 50
cubic yards per year under
existing law.
The bill’s fate was uncer-
tain as Republican senators
walked out to prevent a vote
on a controversial climate bill
toward the end of the legisla-
tive session.
However, they returned
in time for the Senate to vote
18-9 in favor of HB 2437 on
June 29, the day before the
Legislature adjourned for
the year. The bill had already
passed the House 42-17 about
two weeks earlier.
Capital Press Photo/Mateusz Perkowski, File
Farmer John Scharf explains the drainage of tile lines from his fields near Amity into a ditch. A compromise bill passed by the
Legislature would allow farmers to clean out ditches more easily.
The bill continues to face
opposition from some envi-
ronmental groups, which
would welcome a veto from
Gov. Kate Brown. The gover-
nor has until Aug. 9 to decide
whether to sign the bill.
“From our point of view,
this bill takes things back
decades as far as wetland
protection,” said Kimberley
Priestley, senior policy ana-
lyst for the Waterwatch of
Oregon nonprofit.
Farmers
who
clean
ditches under the program
would first have to notify the
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture of their plans, which
would be reviewed by the
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Mostly sunny and
nice
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Mostly sunny and
very warm
Mostly sunny and
seasonably hot
Partly sunny and
seasonably hot
78° 49°
87° 55°
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife.
Work could only take
place during the dry season
and the streamlined rules
would not apply to essential
salmonid habitat.
Opponents of the bill
worry about the unintended
consequences of removing a
Safe firearms storage measure
planned for Oregon 2020 ballot
By JONATHAN
LEVINSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
94° 63°
95° 61°
91° 58°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
83° 49°
91° 54°
98° 65°
100° 67°
OREGON FORECAST
96° 61°
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
70/52
72/43
81/47
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
79/53
Lewiston
74/52
82/51
Astoria
70/54
Pullman
Yakima 81/51
74/49
80/51
Portland
Hermiston
78/56
The Dalles 83/49
Salem
Corvallis
78/51
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
74/43
Bend
80/51
76/43
77/46
Ontario
84/54
Caldwell
Burns
WINDS (in mph)
82/49
78/41
0.00"
Trace
0.13"
4.55"
5.10"
5.83"
Today
Medford
87/56
Sat.
SSW 4-8
W 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 4-8
N 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
84/46
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:24 a.m.
8:39 p.m.
10:31 p.m.
8:00 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
July 24
July 31
Aug 7
Aug 15
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 109° in Needles, Calif. Low 35° in Gothic, Colo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
work and vote on an educa-
tion funding bill.
The safe storage law
would require gun owners to
lock up their firearms when
not in use and report stolen
guns within 24 hours or be
held liable for any damages.
State of Safety Action
president Henry Wessinger
said the group conducted a
statewide poll and found that
65% of registered voters sup-
port a safe storage law.
“I just completed an
online NRA hunting course
and it’s exactly the same type
of information that they rec-
ommend,” Wessinger said.
In 2016, 82% of the Ore-
Bend repeals local bag ban
ahead of state law
BEND (AP) — The Bend City Council
has repealed a local plastic bag ban to allow
the state’s ban to take over.
The Bend Bulletin reports that the idea to
repeal the local law was floated last month
as a way to eliminate confusion between the
local law — which started July 1 — and the
state law slated to begin in January.
With the repeal, voted on Wednesday,
now in effect, local retailers will no longer
be officially required to charge 10 cents for
paper bags.
The city council in December established
an ordinance to ban plastic grocery bags in
Bend after months of lobbying from a com-
munity group and middle school students.
The state law, signed by Gov. Kate Brown
on June 20, dictates that all retail establish-
ments will not be allowed to provide sin-
gle-use plastic bags, but allows retailers to
provide recycled paper bags, reusable heavy
plastic bags, or reusable fabric bags for a
charge of at least 5 cents per bag.
Vancouver man sentenced in
mother’s killing
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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70s
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warm front stationary front
110s
high low
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A man
will serve more than 34 years in prison for
killing his mother and dismembering her
body in 2017 at her Vancouver home.
The Columbian reports 48-year-old
Kenneth Moore was sentenced Wednesday.
He was convicted by a Clark County
Superior Court jury June 11 of first-de-
gree murder, with an enhancement for an
egregious lack of remorse, in the death of
60-year-old Leisa Holt, and assault with a
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gon’s 503 firearm deaths were
death by suicide. That’s com-
pared with 59% nationally.
In 2018, a team of
researchers at the RAND
Corporation looked at how
different kinds of gun laws
impact things like homi-
cide and suicide. The lead
researcher on that study said
they found that safe storage
laws can reduce the number
of lives lost to suicide and
unintentional injury.
Wessinger said State of
Safety Action is preparing for
a ballot initiative but the group
is still optimistic the legisla-
tion will be taken up in the
2020 legislative session.
BRIEFLY
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
SALEM — Oregon-based
gun safety group State of
Safety Action filed an initia-
tive petition Thursday to put
a safe firearms storage law on
the November 2020 ballot.
The group got a late start
in 2018 and missed a dead-
line to get its initiative on
the 2018 ballot. During this
year’s legislative session safe
storage legislation was part
of the omnibus gun bill that
was bargained away by Gov.
Kate Brown in order to coax
Republican Senators back to
84°
67°
90°
59°
109° (1960) 43° (1945)
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
79/52
0.00"
0.02"
0.18"
9.59"
6.49"
7.75"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 70/40
79/54
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
78/49
82/54
80°
64°
89°
59°
108° (1960) 43° (1915)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
73/50
Aberdeen
73/48
78/54
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
73/56
much larger quantity of sed-
iment from ditches, as well
as the effect of depositing
the material in wetlands, said
Priestley.
They’re also troubled by
the lack of public notice for
proposed ditch-cleaning.
“I think there are citizens
across the state that are inter-
ested in these types of proj-
ects,” she said.
If the bill is signed into
law, it doesn’t go into effect
until January 2020. Imple-
menting the new rules will
also require a memorandum
of understanding between
ODA and the Oregon
Department of State Lands,
which oversees fill-removal
permits.
The two agencies will
decide whether additional
rule-making is necessary to
implement the bill and there
is no timeline for when the
new regulations will become
operational, said Meliah
Masiba, legislative coordina-
tor for DSL.
The bill’s language is
comprehensive enough that
rule-making may not be nec-
essary, said Mary Anne Coo-
per, vice president of public
policy for the Oregon Farm
Bureau.
Even so, it’s likely that
farmers will have to wait
until next spring to provide
notices and the following
summer or autumn to clean
ditches under the program,
Cooper said.
The Farm Bureau will
be keeping an eye on the
program’s progress as it’s
implemented.
“Our number one prior-
ity is ease of use for farmers,”
Cooper said.
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firearm on a law enforcement officer.
The assault conviction stems from
Moore pointing a rifle at a responding
officer.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu
told the jury that over three days, Moore
strangled and stabbed Holt and cut up her
body for disposal. Vu argued that Moore
was angry at Holt, who tended to him,
likely over her boyfriend.
Holt’s body was discovered Feb. 17,
2017, after her boyfriend and police con-
ducted a welfare check.
Oregon man given probation
for sales of counterfeit scopes
PORTLAND (AP) — An Oregon busi-
ness owner who sold counterfeit rifle
scopes from China has received five years
of federal probation.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported
Thursday that 58-year-old CulMar Out-
doors owner Mark Culp was sentenced
Thursday.
The Portland suburb business owner
says he sold 13 Chinese-made Leupold
scopes far below the market price.
Officials say Leupold & Stevens Inc.
personnel purchased the online prod-
ucts, confirmed the forgeries and notified
authorities.
Leupold also makes range finders, bin-
oculars and thermal sensors for sporting,
shooting and military applications.
Prosecutors say Culp made about $3,700
online.
Culp says it is “a hard lesson learned”
and he intends to move forward with his
life and business.
Culp retired from the U.S. Air Force in
2010 and has no prior criminal record.
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