THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2021 A3
TODAY
Today is Wednesday, Feb. 10, the
41st day of 2021. There are 324
days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
In 1967, the 25th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution, dealing
with presidential disability and
succession, was ratified as Min-
nesota and Nevada adopted it.
In 1763, Britain, Spain and
France signed the Treaty of Paris,
ending the Seven Years’ War
(also known as the French and
Indian War in North America).
In 1933, the first singing tele-
gram was introduced by the
Postal Telegram Co. in New York.
In 1936, Nazi Germany’s Reich-
stag passed a law investing the
Gestapo secret police with abso-
lute authority, exempt from any
legal review.
In 1959, a major tornado tore
through the St. Louis area, killing
21 people and causing heavy
damage.
In 1962, the Soviet Union ex-
changed captured American
U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for
Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by
the United States.
In 1992, boxer Mike Tyson was
convicted in Indianapolis of rap-
ing Desiree Washington, a Miss
Black America contestant.
In 1997, a civil jury heaped $25
million in punitive damages on
O.J. Simpson for the slayings of
his ex-wife and her friend, on top
of $8.5 million in compensatory
damages awarded earlier.
In 2005, Britain’s Prince Charles
announced he would marry his
divorced lover, Camilla Parker
Bowles, in April. North Korea
boasted publicly for the first
time that it possessed nuclear
weapons.
In 2006, Dr. Norman Shumway,
who performed the first success-
ful U.S. heart transplant, died in
Palo Alto, California, at age 83.
In 2014, former film star and
diplomat Shirley Temple Black,
85, died at her home near San
Francisco.
In 2015, the parents of Kayla
Jean Mueller and U.S. officials
confirmed the death of the
26-year-old aid worker who had
been held captive by the Islamic
State group (IS said Mueller
had been killed in a Jordanian
airstrike). NBC announced it
was suspending Brian Williams
as “Nightly News” anchor and
managing editor for six months
without pay for misleading the
public about his experiences
covering the Iraq War. Jon
Stewart announced he would
step down as host of “The Daily
Show” on Comedy Central later
in the year.
Ten years ago: Egyptian Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak refused to
step down or leave the country
and instead handed his powers
to his vice president, stunning
protesters in central Cairo who
waved their shoes in contempt
and shouted, “Leave, leave,
leave.” (Mubarak resigned the
next day.)
Five years ago: Senate Demo-
crats and Republicans united be-
hind tougher sanctions on North
Korea for violating international
law by pursuing nuclear weap-
ons. For the 15th time, officials
denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan,
the assassin of Sen. Robert F.
Kennedy.
One year ago: U.S. health offi-
cials confirmed the first case of
the novel coronavirus among
the hundreds of people who’d
been evacuated from China
to military bases in the United
States; it was among the 13 con-
firmed cases in the U.S. Britain
declared the new coronavirus a
“serious and imminent threat to
public health” and said people
with the virus could now be
forcibly quarantined. U.S. prose-
cutors charged four members of
the Chinese military with break-
ing into the computer networks
of the Equifax credit reporting
agency and stealing the person-
al information of tens of millions
of Americans.
Today’s Birthdays: Opera
singer Leontyne Price is 94. Actor
Robert Wagner is 91. Rock musi-
cian Don Wilson (The Ventures)
is 88. Singer Roberta Flack is 84.
Rock musician Bob Spalding
(The Ventures) is 74. Olympic
gold-medal swimmer Mark Spitz
is 71. Walt Disney Co. executive
Robert Iger is 70. Rock musician
and composer Cory Lerios (Pablo
Cruise) is 70. World Golf Hall
of Famer Greg Norman is 66.
Movie director Alexander Payne
is 60. ABC News correspondent
George Stephanopoulos is 60.
Political commentator Glenn
Beck is 57. Writer-produc-
er-director Vince Gilligan (TV:
“Breaking Bad”) is 54. Actor
Elizabeth Banks is 47. Actor Julia
Pace Mitchell is 43. Actor Barry
Sloane is 40. Rock singer Eric Dill
is 39. Actor Trevante Rhodes is 31.
Actor Emma Roberts is 30.
— Associated Press
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
Williams resigns as top federal prosecutor
BY PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Billy Williams has resigned
after six years as the top federal
prosecutor for Oregon.
He was one of 56 U.S. attor-
neys appointed by President
Donald Trump and confirmed
by the U.S. Senate who will re-
sign at the request of President
Joe Biden. The resignations usu-
ally are routine upon a change
in administrations, but they can
have political overtones.
The Department of Justice
has 94 U.S. attorneys. Some
states are divided into districts.
Oregon is a single district.
Williams has been the U.S.
attorney for Oregon since May
2015. He originally was ap-
than a dozen years.
pointed by President
Mike Krantz, then
Barack Obama, and
Bend’s newly ap-
was re-appointed by
pointed police chief,
President Donald
cited city policy and
Trump.
Oregon law against
Williams made a
assisting federal im-
controversial decision
migration enforce-
in August when he
ment actions that did
authorized sending a
Williams
not include evidence
federal tactical squad
of an active criminal investiga-
to Bend to end a 12-hour
peaceful demonstration block- tion against the targets. Bend
police monitored the situation
ing the ability of two Immi-
to ensure activities remained
gration and Customs Enforce-
peaceful.
ment buses to leave the city.
At 10 p.m., Krantz went to
ICE had detained two men,
the demonstration site and
identified by immigration
told the crowd that federal
rights activists as Josué Arturo
agents were coming to break
Cruz Sanchez and Marco Ze-
the blockade. A federal tactical
ferino, who activists said had
lived in the Bend area for more squad in riot gear arrived soon
after and dragged demonstra-
tors out of the way, using tear
gas on the crowd. The buses
departed and the two men
were taken to Washington state
prior to a federal court hearing.
Williams’ successor will be
nominated by Biden, presum-
ably after the Senate confirms
Biden’s nomination of Merrick
Garland as attorney general.
Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sens.
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
are setting up a panel to screen
potential nominees to recom-
mend to Garland and Biden.
The eventual nominee is sub-
ject to Senate confirmation.
A statement released jointly
Tuesday by Wyden and Merk-
ley reads:
“Senators Wyden and Merk-
ley are working to assemble a
selection committee that will
consider all applicants inter-
ested in filling the job of U.S.
attorney for Oregon and then
recommend finalists to for-
ward to the Biden administra-
tion for its selection.
“Both senators thank Billy
Williams for nearly six years of
service to Oregon in this post
as the state’s chief federal law
enforcement official.”
The process is similar to what
the senators use to screen and
recommend potential nomi-
nees for federal judgeships.
e e
e e
Gary A. Warner contributed to this
report.
pwong@pamplinmedia.com
Motel to house wildfire victims
and homeless to open in Ashland
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
O
regon’s first motel-
turned-apartment
complex will open for limited
occupancy in March, five
months after the state allocated
$65 million to buy and convert
motels into temporary homes
for wildfire victims and others
experiencing homelessness.
A nonprofit, Options for Helping
Residents of Ashland, will receive
$4.2 million from the state through
Project Turnkey to purchase and
transform a Super 8 motel in Ash-
land into a new resource center and
apartment complex for wildfire vic-
tims and others experiencing home-
lessness.
Cass Sinclair, senior director of
program services for the nonprofit,
said she expects between 64 and 74
people will eventually be housed in
the converted 50-room motel. The
nonprofit plans to open an initial
block of 20 rooms in March before
the other 30 rooms open following
a remodel in April.
The organization supports vulner-
able adult populations, so families
with children will not be housed at
the motel, Sinclair said.
The Oregon Community Founda-
tion, the organization administering
the funds, is continuing to review
another 19 applicants from nonprof-
its and government agencies in 15
counties and remains hopeful that
it will eventually be able to provide
grants to between 18 and 20 orga-
nizations statewide to purchase and
convert motels into shelters, accord-
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
Seventeen families called the San Rogue Trailer Park home before it was destroyed by the Almeda Fire in 2020. Some had lived
in the Medford mobile home park more than a decade.
ing to Megan Loeb, associate pro-
gram officer at the foundation.
The city of Bend is among the ap-
plicants hoping to receive funding
through Project Turnkey. Last week,
the Bend City Council approved a
purchase and sale agreement to ac-
quire the Old Mill & Suites to con-
vert it into 64 units for people expe-
riencing homelessness. The proposal
still needs to be approved by the Or-
egon Community Foundation, Loeb
said.
The Multnomah County Joint
Office of Homeless Services is also
among the applicants being consid-
ered by the foundation. Denis Theri-
ault, a spokesman for the county,
said the office has identified a prop-
erty to convert into a shelter and is
currently in negotiations with the
seller, but he declined to provide ad-
Man pleads guilty for
mailing pesticide to
4 former co-workers
The Associated Press
A Klamath Falls man has
pleaded guilty to sending cards
to former co-workers contain-
ing a white powdered pesticide
threatened to be anthrax, prose-
cutors said.
Kelly Michael Burns, 71,
pleaded guilty Monday to eight
counts of mailing threatening
communications, according to
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Oregon.
In December 2019, Burns
mailed four Christmas cards,
postmarked in Medford, to
former co-workers contain-
ing a white powder pesticide
later identified as carbaryl, a
known pesticide toxic to hu-
mans, court documents said.
The cards were addressed to
the victims’ workplace and
contained violent threats.
Three people including a
pregnant woman at Burns’ for-
mer workplace were exposed to
the carbaryl, had to go through
a decontamination process, and
were given a high-dose antibi-
otic, authorities said.
In February 2020, Burns
again mailed cards containing
carbaryl to the same four victim
recipients. This second wave
of cards also contained violent
statements with added threats
directed at the victims’ families.
In March 2020, FBI agents in
a search of his residence found
handwritten notes including
one in which Burns threat-
ened to kill a former co-worker.
Agents also recovered several
books including, “The Poison-
er’s Handbook.”
ditional information on the property
being considered.
In October, Oregon lawmak-
ers allocated $30 million toward
turning motels into apartments for
wildfire victims and an additional
$35 million into converting motels
into housing for those experiencing
homelessness. Backers said at the
time that the funding could be used
for up to 1,000 new shelter units. The
state hoped that some units would
be available by winter.
But it’s now clear that the vast ma-
jority of motel rooms won’t be ready
before the end of winter, and it could
take several months for many to be
up-and-running. Loeb also said last
month that the foundation now an-
ticipates that between 600 to 700
new units, rather than 1,000, will
eventually be available.
It’s also unclear whether all the ap-
plicants under review will ultimately
be able to move forward with their
proposals.
The Clackamas County Housing
Authority has already hit snags with
two properties it proposed purchas-
ing.
Loeb did not say whether other
applicants were facing similar hur-
dles. The foundation has until the
end of June to allocate all $65 million
in Project Turnkey grant money. If
funds remain unused at that time,
they will have to be returned to the
Oregon State Treasury.
“It is our continued hope that
Clackamas County can identify a
suitable property soon,” said Loeb,
“so that due diligence can begin and
their project can be considered for
an award.”