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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Tuesday, August 20, 2019 Portland ‘ground zero’ for protests between right, left-wing By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press PORTLAND — Hun- dreds of far-right protest- ers and anti-fascist count- er-demonstrators swarmed downtown Portland on Sat- urday for a long-hyped rally that attracted President Don- ald Trump’s attention and resulted in at least 13 arrests. Police seized metal poles, bear spray and other weapons and closed bridges and streets to try to keep the rival groups apart. They were largely suc- cessful. Six minor injuries were reported. “This was a dynamic event with demonstrators frequently moving from one part of the city to another,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said at an evening news conference. Leaders of the right-wing groups vowed to return to Portland, saying they would keep coming back to the lib- eral West Coast city so long as the left-wing antifascist, known as antifa, groups remained active. President Donald Trump weighed in early Satur- day, writing on Twitter that “Portland is being watched very closely... Hopefully the Mayor will be able to prop- erly do his job.” He also wrote that “major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an ‘ORGANIZATION of TER- AP Photo/Noah Berger Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators march across the Hawthorne Bridge during an “End Domestic Terrorism” rally in Portland on Saturday. The group includes or- ganizer Joe Biggs, in green hat, and Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, holding megaphone. ference Portland’s mayor said Biggs was not welcome. “We do not want him here in my city. Period,” Wheeler said. Wheeler tied the demon- strations to “a rising white nationalist movement” and a growing sense of fear in the country. “We’re certainly seeing that play out,” he said. “Port- land being a very progressive community is always going to be at or near ground zero of this battle.” The events began late Sat- urday morning. Flag-wav- ROR.’” It wasn’t immedi- ately clear what he meant by that because there’s no mech- anism for the United States government to declare a domestic organization a ter- ror group. Joe Biggs, the organizer of the right-wing gathering, said it was a success. “Go look at President Trump’s Twitter,” he told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “He talked about Portland, said he’s watching antifa. That’s all we wanted.” At the evening news con- Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY ing members of the Proud Boys, Three Percenters mili- tia group and others gathered downtown, some wearing body armor and helmets like the antifa protesters. Police said they had seized the weapons, including shields, from multiple groups as they assembled along the Wil- lamette River, which runs through the city. More than two dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, were in the city for the right-wing rally. Partly sunny Beautiful with clouds and sun Mostly sunny and pleasant Partly sunny; breezy in the p.m. PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 94° 64° 85° 58° 80° 52° 85° 57° 86° 62° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 96° 67° 87° 59° 83° 52° 88° 61° 88° 64° 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 70/60 92/57 93/60 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 95/67 Lewiston 80/59 96/68 Astoria 70/60 Pullman Yakima 95/64 79/55 99/67 Portland Hermiston 85/60 The Dalles 96/67 Salem Corvallis 78/54 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 93/59 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 80/56 91/56 95/59 Ontario 100/63 Caldwell Burns 90° 66° 87° 57° 106° (1967) 42° (1973) 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 81/55 0.00" 0.05" 0.12" 4.61" 5.13" 6.04" WINDS (in mph) 98/60 93/52 0.00" 0.10" 0.26" 9.71" 6.49" 8.21" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 91/54 81/58 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 94/64 92/64 88° 55° 87° 57° 109° (1897) 37° (1916) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 82/58 Aberdeen 91/63 91/66 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 81/61 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 93/61 Wed. WSW 3-6 NNW 4-8 WSW 8-16 W 8-16 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 87/50 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:01 a.m. 7:55 p.m. 10:30 p.m. 10:57 a.m. Last New First Full Aug 23 Aug 30 Sep 5 Sep 13 NATIONAL EXTREMES warrant for felony rioting. He was at a confrontation that broke out on May 1 outside a bar where antifa members had gathered after a May Day demonstration. In a video he lives- treamed on Facebook, Gib- son accused the police of playing politics by arresting him but not the masked dem- onstrators who beat up con- servative blogger Andy Ngo at a June 29 rally that drew national attention. A video of that attack went viral and led the Proud Boys, who have been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, to orga- nize Saturday’s event. Police continue to inves- tigate several incidents from clashes on May 1 and June 29 and are politically neutral, Jones said. Authorities had asked res- idents not to call 911 Satur- day unless it’s a life-threat- ening emergency and to stay away from the heart of downtown. Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said author- ities tried to keep every- one safe and allow people to exercise their free speech rights during the rallies. “Today was a long and arduous day,” Outlaw said at the news conference. “The disruptions were held to a very small area of downtown Portland.” La Grande pastor launching DREAMS program for middle school students By DICK MASON EO Media Group Very warm with plenty of sun Portland Police said all of the city’s 1,000 officers would be on duty for the gathering that was hyped on social media and elsewhere for weeks. As of early afternoon, most of the right-wing groups had left the area via a downtown bridge. Police used officers on bikes and in riot gear to keep black- clad, mask-wearing anti-fas- cist protesters from following them. But hundreds of peo- ple remained downtown and on nearby streets, and there were skirmishes through- out the day. Police declared a gathering of mostly left- wing protesters near Pioneer Courthouse Square a “civil disturbance” and told people to leave. Police spokeswoman Lt. Tina Jones at one point said there were about 1,200 on the streets, but that number fell throughout the day. The self-described anti-fascists had vowed to confront the right-wing rally, while leaders from the far right urged their follow- ers to turn out in large num- bers to protest the arrests of six members of right-wing groups in the run-up to the event. Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gib- son, who organized simi- lar rallies in 2017 and 2018 that erupted in clashes, sur- rendered Friday on an arrest LA GRANDE — Father Saji Thomas is returning to his roots this week at La Grande Middle School. Thomas, who served as an educator in India for a decade before moving to La Grande in 2015, is help- ing to oversee the start of a new three-year program for LMS students designed to help them develop greater feelings of self-worth, learn how to set goals, form val- ues and much more. The program is named DREAMS, and got off to a promising start last week. A total of 23 children, all weeks away from enter- ing sixth grade, attended a five-day kickoff camp for DREAMS, which stands for Desire, Readiness, Empow- erment, Action, Mastery and Success. The program was brought to La Grande by Thomas, pastor of Our Lady of the Valley Catho- lic Church. Thomas said he wanted DREAMS started in La Grande because he saw how successful it has been in other communities in the United States and in India. Thomas is enjoying the opportunity to again work with children as an educator. “I like teaching children and helping them grow,” he said. Thomas is not only advis- ing students, but also giv- ing them the opportunity to instruct him. For example, one student, Ella Ganung, taught him a card game during a break Thursday. Thomas was a princi- pal in India a total of 10 years before coming to La Grande. His last five years in India were spent as prin- cipal of a large school for students in kindergarten through 12th grade in the city of Bangalore. He learned about the DREAMS program through one of its primary found- ers, Father Lijo Thomas of India, who is also a Catholic priest. (Lijo and Saji are not related.) Lijo Thomas devel- oped the curriculum for the program as part of the thesis he wrote for a doctorate in education degree he earned from the University of Lou- isiana at Monroe. Lijo Thomas was instrumental in bringing DREAMS to La Grande, Saji Thomas said, along with people including Al Adelsberger, a La Grande businessman. The La Grande School District, which is not affiliated with DREAMS, has also helped by providing space for pro- gram sessions. Saji Thomas is one of the 12 mentors in the La Grande DREAMS program. The mentors are a mix of com- munity members, Eastern Oregon University students and La Grande High School seniors. After this week’s five-day camp ends, the mentors will meet with the DREAMS students every three months for a day to advise them and see how they are doing. The men- tors will also meet with the DREAMS students at five- day camps in 2020 and 2021. Sophia Madsen, one of the mentors, is looking forward to the follow-up sessions. “I’m excited about seeing them grow and keeping up with them,” she said. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 110° in Needles, Calif. Low 30° in Stanley, Idaho BRIEFLY NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Entire OPT wolf pack in NE Washington killed 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 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — 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 EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to 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 © 2019, EO Media Group 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low SPOKANE — All members of a wolf pack that had been preying on cattle in northeastern Washington state have been killed. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday that the four remaining members of the OPT wolf pack on Ferry County had been killed. The wolf pack had been responsible for 29 depredation incidents on cattle since 2018, the agency says. Agency director Kelly Susewind autho- rized the deaths on July 31. Environmental groups opposed the kill- ings, which they contend benefit only one ranch operation in the Kettle River range. The agency believes it has removed all members of the OPT pack, although another wolf was sighted in the area this spring. It may be from another pack. 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Crews battle large blaze in Salem SALEM — Crews battled a four-alarm blaze at a wooden pallet facility in Salem. The Statesman Journal reported the fire was initially reported before 3 a.m. Monday. Fire officials stated that the blaze engulfed a large number of wooden pal- lets but crews had made good progress and had the fire spread contained as of 6 a.m. Authorities said all structures at the Oregon Pallet location and surrounding businesses were not burned in the blaze. 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