NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Highway 30 could get a new name honoring Oregon veterans
By KEVIN HARDEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s long stretch
of U.S. Highway 30, from Astoria to
the Idaho border, could become the
Oregon Veterans Memorial High-
way.
Senate Bill 790, introduced on
Feb. 24 by Sen. Tim Knopp, a Bend
Republican, would rename Oregon’s
477-mile section of the national
highway. On Wednesday, March 3,
the bill was referred to the Senate
Committee on Veterans and Emer-
gency Preparedness.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dick
Tobiason of the nonprofit Bend
Heroes Foundation is the driving
force behind SB 790. Tobiason, who
served two tours during the Viet-
nam War as an Army aviator, and
his one-man nonprofi t operation led
efforts on past legislation to rename
eight Oregon highways to honor
veterans. His legislative success rate
is 100%.
“I’ve never lost a vote in 12 years
doing these highways,” Tobiason
said.
It’s simple math, he said. The
Bend Heroes Foundation raises all
the money needed to create 4-by-8
foot signs to be posted along the
highway with the veterans designa-
tion (probably more than $10,000
for Highway 30). It pays Oregon’s
Department of Transportation to
install them. Not a dime of taxpayer
funds goes into the effort.
“Why would the Legislature
disapprove of this?” Tobiason asked.
“It doesn’t cost them a cent.”
There are nearly 100 signs honor-
ing veterans installed on eight Oregon
highways stretching more than 3,000
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
An American fl ag and POW/MIA fl ag fl y from the handles of William Koston’s walker as he strolls along U.S. High-
way 30 near Roy Raley Park in Pendleton on Friday, March, 5, 2021. Koston, who served with the 101st Airborne
Division in Germany, said he fl ies the fl ags to remember those who have yet to make it home. A proposal intro-
duced on Feb. 24 by Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, would rename the Oregon stretch of Highway 30 as the Oregon
Veterans Memorial Highway.
miles across the state. Each desig-
nated highway has between 10 and
18 signs, he said. That means driv-
ers could see one veterans highway
honor sign every 65 miles.
U.S. Highway 30 extends 3,073
miles to Boston on the East Coast. It
is the only major highway in Oregon
not designated to honor veterans. It
crosses 11 states and is the nation’s
third longest coast-to-coast highway.
Oregon’s section of the highway
that winds along the Columbia River
from the Astoria-Megler Bridge
through Scappoose and Portland
before heading east as part of Inter-
state 84, is the beginning of Tobia-
son’s plans for the road. He’s working
with veterans groups and lawmak-
ers in 10 other states to get the same
designation all the way to Boston.
Tobiason’s Bend Heroes Foun-
dation has also asked Congress to
designate the 3,365-mile U.S. High-
way 20, which begins at Newport
on the Oregon Coast and heads east
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
A bit of rain and
snow
| Go to AccuWeather.com
MONDAY
Mainly cloudy with
a shower
TUESDAY
A thick cloud cover
WEDNESDAY
Rather cloudy
Sunshine; breezy
in the p.m.
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
55° 39°
56° 32°
53° 33°
57° 35°
59° 34°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 37°
59° 32°
57° 32°
60° 33°
OREGON FORECAST
63° 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
47/39
43/33
56/33
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
54/39
Lewiston
50/39
60/36
Astoria
50/40
Pullman
Yakima 58/39
50/37
50/37
Portland
Hermiston
53/41
The Dalles 59/37
Salem
Corvallis
51/38
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
46/31
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
52/39
51/34
46/31
Ontario
53/31
Caldwell
Burns
76°
37°
54°
32°
76° (2021) 0° (2019)
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
51/39
0.00"
0.00"
0.17"
1.08"
0.36"
2.41"
WINDS (in mph)
52/30
45/25
0.00"
0.00"
0.17"
3.02"
4.06"
2.68"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 41/26
51/39
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
55/39
55/37
71°
53°
52°
33°
74° (1972) 1° (2019)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
51/38
Aberdeen
47/34
52/34
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
51/40
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
53/36
Sun.
WSW 8-16
WSW 8-16
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
45/26
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:24 a.m.
5:49 p.m.
2:04 a.m.
10:47 a.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Mar 13
Mar 21
Mar 28
Apr 4
to Boston, the National Medal of
Honor Highway. Oregon’s section of
Highway 20 is already known as the
Medal of Honor Highway.
SB 790 is also kind of an ending
for Tobiason. He has proposed simi-
lar bills since 2008 and testifi ed 14
times in favor of legislation. When
he’s fi nished with the U.S. Highway
30 project, just about every major
highway in the state will honor veter-
ans or service men and women miss-
ing in action.
Between World War I (1914)
and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and
the Persian Gulf (1990 and 2003),
6,000 Oregon soldiers, sailors
(including Coast Guard), Marines,
merchant seamen and airmen were
killed. During that same time, about
15,000 Oregonians were wounded
in combat and nearly 1,000 were
prisoners. About 1,000 Oregonians
remain missing in action from all of
the confl icts.
Oregon highways Tobiason and
the foundation have designated
include:
• U.S. Highway 395, from Califor-
nia to Washington, is the World War I
Veterans Memorial Highway.
• Interstate 5, from California to
Washington, is known as the Korean
War Veterans Memorial Highway
and the Purple Heart Trail.
• A section of I-5 from Albany to
Salem is the Atomic Veterans Memo-
rial Highway.
• U.S. Highway 101, from Wash-
ington to California, is the Persian
Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans
Memorial Highway.
• A section of U.S. Highway 26,
from the Highway 101 intersection
to Idaho, is the POW/MIA Memorial
Highway.
Tobiason is already planning
his Eastern Oregon trip later this
year when U.S. Highway 30 is offi -
cially designed the Oregon Veterans
Memorial Highway. He’s been to
nearly every highway sign dedica-
tion ceremony, racking up more than
5,000 miles on his vehicle.
“We’ll have a big ceremony in
Ontario,” Tobiason said. “We should
have Idaho offi cials there, because
their bill should be done about the
same time.”
Oregon legislative Democrats fl oat
a $17 an hour minimum wage
By MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
SALEM — Five Demo-
crats in the Oregon Legis-
lature have fi led a bill that
would increase the state’s
minimum wage from as low
as $11.50 an hour in some
places to $17 an hour state-
wide.
That works out to a little
more than $35,000 a year for
someone working 40 hours a
week, beginning next year.
The bill would do away with
existing regional differences
in Oregon’s minimum wage
that were created to insu-
late businesses from higher
expenses in rural areas where
the cost of living is lower.
Although the proposed
minimum wage hike has fi ve
co-sponsors, they are all in
their fi rst year in the Legisla-
ture, and Democratic leaders
have not listed the bill among
their priorities. That proba-
bly means it has little chance
of passing — especially if
Republicans were to threaten
another walkout to block the
bill.
Just 1 in 15 Oregon jobs
pay the minimum wage,
according to the latest state
data.
The hourly minimum
goes up every year under
provisions of a bill passed in
2016, rising to $14 an hour
this summer in the Portland
area. It will increase to $12.75
an hour in Deschutes County
and to $12 in Crook, Jefferson
and other non-urban counties
around the state.
Oregon’s minimum wage
is due to increase to $14.75
an hour in 2022 in the Port-
land area, $13.50 an hour in
Deschutes County and $12.50
in Crook, Jefferson and other
non-urban counties. As of
July 1, 2023, it would be
adjusted annually based on
the consumer price index.
House Bill 3351 would do
away with regional differ-
ences and set a $17 minimum
as of July 1, 2022. Annual
increases based on infl ation
would continue thereafter.
Economists have long
debated the effect of higher
minimum wages on infla-
tion and employment. The
conventional wisdom that
higher minimums would lead
to major job losses was tested
over the past several years,
as Washington, Oregon and
many other states raised their
minimum wages while unem-
ployment fell to an all-time
low in the period before the
pandemic.
However, the nonparti-
san Congressional Budget
Offi ce concluded last month
that a Democratic proposal to
increase the federal minimum
wage from $7.25 to $15 an
hour over the next fi ve years
would reduce employment by
1.4 million jobs. The research-
ers also found that raising the
federal minimum would lift
900,000 out of poverty and
raise incomes for as many as
27 million Americans.
Democrats had hoped to
include the federal minimum
wage hike in the coronavirus
relief package now working
its way through Congress, but
that appears unlikely. Senate
rules would require at least 60
votes to accomplish that and
Republicans — who control
half the chamber — are unan-
imous in their opposition to
raising the minimum that
high.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 90° in Kingsville, Texas Low -9° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Schools spent most of federal
aid on virtual learning
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ice
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