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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2022)
THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2022 A3 LOCAL, STATE & REGION 2 supermoons to brighten night skies this summer BY JAMIE HALE The Oregonian Full moon watchers will want to circle two dates on their calendars if they haven’t already: June 14 and July 13, dates of the two supermoons in 2022. The pair of especially large full moons are coming just in time for the summer solstice on June 21, each rising just after dusk on some of the lon- gest days of the year. And while the term “super- Background Continued from A1 Advisers to Kitzhaber at the time said the governor’s direc- tive stemmed from a desire to ensure police were enforcing existing gun laws. The gover- nor, they said, saw the move as a way to push for additional gun-related restrictions. That meant following up when someone who shouldn’t have a gun tried to buy one. The unit focused on the misdemeanor crimes of lying on the federal background check form and trying to buy a gun illegally. State police assigned five troopers to field offices in Portland, Salem, Springfield, Roseburg and Bend — among the busiest regions in the state for gun sales. When background checkers with state police denied a gun purchase over a violent misde- meanor or stalking conviction, an outstanding warrant or any one of a dozen other disqual- ifiers, they sent the cases to the unit. Guns Continued from A1 Given the bipartisan sup- port, “there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House,” he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly — they hope this month — be- fore the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language re- main to be completed, mean- ing fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential devel- opment, 20 senators, includ- ing 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the moon” conjures up fanciful images, it simply means that the moon will be a little closer to the Earth when full, making it a little larger and brighter than normal. The moon will appear the biggest as it rises over the horizon, which is perhaps the best time to look for it. The June 14 full moon, also known as the “straw- berry moon,” will rise at 10:01 p.m. in Portland, ac- cording to Time and Date, while the July 13 full moon, or the “buck moon,” will rise at 9:41 p.m. Look for both moons over the southeastern horizon. The supermoon phenom- enon occurs as the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in a given annual cy- cle. Because the moon follows an elliptical path around the Earth, its closest distance from our planet (known as the per- igee) varies throughout the year. William Rosen, managing director of state policy and government affairs for Ev- erytown for Gun Safety, a na- tional gun control advocacy organization, said following up on denied gun sales is im- portant work that most states don’t bother to tackle. Ten other states have laws or policies requiring police to follow up on denied gun sales, he said. Pennsylvania reported nearly 5,000 convictions of people who tried to buy guns illegally over a two-decade pe- riod starting in 1999. Rosen pointed to one 2008 federally funded study show- ing that up to 30% of people who try to buy a gun and fail a background check are arrested within five years. “Not in every case does it mean that someone is going to commit a crime but certainly every case warrants an inves- tigation, a knock on the door, some questions about what is going on here,” Rosen said. In Oregon, the troopers’ in- vestigations typically involved a time-consuming process of poring over federal and out-of-state court records for criminal convictions that in some cases were so old they were archived, Swift said. He would track down the person to ask if they knew they were prohibited from buying a gun — interactions he said sent a message that po- lice took seriously any attempt to circumvent state and federal gun laws. “Not only would he not have gotten a gun,” Swift said, “there would have been a fol- low up knock at the door by a state trooper.” But state police leaders questioned the unit’s value given the agency’s chronically stretched staffing, its mandate to patrol the state’s highways and the generally low prose- cution rates for the low-level crimes the troopers focused on. A 2018 federal report spot- lighted how three states, including Oregon, handle denied gun sales. Some pros- ecutors told the U. S. Govern- ment Accountability Office usual 60-vote threshold for approval. “Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities,” the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agree- ment after two weeks of closed-door talks. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 avail- able when they undergo back- ground checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teach- ers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years’ mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier to tempo- rarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health pro- grams. Some people who infor- mally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers’ licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domes- tic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buy- ing firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for some- one who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unre- solved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. ❝ I have been working with The Bulletin for over 3 months and they continue to impress me with their hard work, innovative ads, and amazing reels. I look forward to continuing work with The Bulletin and Makenna Cervelli in particular. In my opinion every company that’s wanting to grow and take their marketing to the next level should use their amazing services. Makenna Cervelli C: 425-622-3186 P: 541-633-2184 mCervelli@bendbulletin.com ❞ — Sean McDonell Owner, C4K Coffee Roasters www.coffee4kids.org Arrests Continued from A1 Jamie Hale/The Oregonian file A full supermoon rises over the Oregon Dunes on the Oregon Coast near Reedsport in April 2021. The 2022 supermoons will be this Tues- day and July 13. This year’s July full moon will be the closest of the year, at 221,993 miles from the earth. The June full moon will be 222,098 miles away. The new moon on Dec. 23 will also be “super,” with a perigee of 222,619 miles. that the cases require signif- icant effort and in turn “may offer little value to public safety compared to other cases involving gun violence.” Prosecutors in Oregon said the crimes were typically dif- ficult to prove since the pro- spective buyer may have not intentionally tried to skirt the law. As a result, the unit found itself on the chopping block over the years and in 2020, Davie eliminated the team, re- turning the troopers to patrol and referring those investiga- tions to local police. That year, troopers referred 297 cases to local prosecutors for review. Last year, the num- ber dropped to four. It’s unclear the extent to which local police picked up where the state police left off. State police track the data but required a public records request before they would re- lease the numbers; the agen- cy’s review of The Oregonian’s request for the information has been pending for more than a week. A spot check of prosecutors offices shows a drop in cases referred for review. In Clackamas County, for instance, prosecutors say the referrals related to the denied gun purchases made about 5% of the office’s misdemeanor caseload through the end of 2020. The office has received one referral so far this year. The Lane County District Attorney’s Office saw a similar pattern. In 2020, the office saw 75 cases related to denied gun purchases. Last year, prosecu- tors received a total of seven. Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said his of- ficers review reports of gun purchase denials and follow up when warranted. But he said he’d prefer the work be returned to the state police. He said troopers have the expertise and statewide reach and his agency is already juggling competing demands for officers’ time. “We are struggling with homelessness, drug addiction, theft, domestic violence is through the roof,” he said. Police learned about the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that “it looked like a little army was loading up into the vehicle” in the park- ing lot of a hotel, White said. Officials spotted the truck soon after and pulled it over, he said. Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Police led the men, one by one, to the front of patrol cars, took off their masks and then brought them to a police van.Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Ore- gon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wy- oming, Virginia, and Ar- kansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho, he said. The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the Coeur d’Alene Pride in the Park event. Po- lice had stepped up their presence in the area during the event. “It appears these people did not come here to en- gage in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a Coeur d’Alene Press reporter. 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