STATE
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State approves paying $1.66 million for site
of new National Guard center in Redmond
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
The state has agreed to pay $1.66 mil-
lion to buy 20 acres in Redmond as the site
for a new Oregon National Guard Readi-
ness Center.
The State Land Board — made up
of Gov. Kate Brown, Secretary of State
Shemia Fagan and Treasurer Tobias Read
— voted 3-0 on Tuesday to purchase the
land, which will be assigned to the Oregon
Military Department.
The sale is part of a larger, long-range
plan involving the Department of State
Lands, Oregon Military Department, the
City of Redmond and Deschutes County.
A 945-acre project would allow for
expansion of the county fairgrounds. The
project also includes new industrial parks
and technology centers that supporters say
would bring higher-paying jobs to the area.
The new Readiness Center would
replace Redmond’s 65-year-old armory,
but have an expanded mission of training
National Guard soldiers from around the
state. Officials have said earlier it will be
the most seismically advanced National
Guard facility in Oregon.
The center is also marked as a likely
component of a Bend-area command post
for state government and federal emer-
gency response in the event of major disas-
ter caused by movement of the Cascadia
Subduction Zone, off the coast of Oregon.
Oregon Capital Bureau file photo
The House chamber in the state Capitol in
Salem.
Scientists have predicted a possible
9.0 scale earthquake and subsequent tsu-
nami along the 700-mile subduction zone
that could kill up to 25,000 people in the
Pacific Northwest.
Most areas west of the coastal range
would be inundated by waves, while road,
rail, air, utilities and communications
west of the Cascades would be heavily
damaged.
While the earthquake would be felt in
Central Oregon, areas east of the Cas-
cades are expected to escape with light to
moderate damage.
State surveys found the Redmond Air-
port would likely be the closest airfield
that would still be fully operational fol-
lowing an earthquake. Fixed-wing air-
craft could land supplies from around
the country and then helicopters could
be used to fan out to areas throughout the
Willamette Valley expected to be severely
affected.
Previously, the state had set Salem
as the center of earthquake relief oper-
ations, but studies showed the largest
earthquakes along the fault would make
the airport runways unusable to fixed wing
aircraft.
“When constructed, this new readi-
ness center will be a resilient facility that
is more capable of surviving, and being a
local and state asset, during an earthquake
or other natural disaster,” Stan Hutchinson,
the Oregon Military Department’s director
of installations, said Tuesday.
State plans call for the Oregon National
Guard Youth Challenge Program’s Bend
campus on Dodds Road to also serve as a
fallback site for emergency coordination in
a major earthquake if other facilities in the
Salem area are knocked-out.
The Land Board was established in 1859
to oversee transactions for the state’s Com-
mon School Fund. The board’s adminis-
trative agency is the Department of State
Lands, charged with managing property
and resource to fund schools while protect-
ing wetlands and waterways for the future.
The Oregon Military Department is
the state component for the National
Guard, which can be used for state emer-
gencies or be activated for federal ser-
vice. There are 37 armories and other cen-
ters in Oregon.
Censures and security top agenda in D.C. and Salem
With January’s ceremo-
nial start of the year out of
the way, both Congress and
the Oregon Legislature have
moved on to sometimes tur-
bulent issues, including dis-
ciplinary action against their
own members.
Bentz backs Cheney
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, has confirmed he
backed U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney,
R-Wyoming, in a secret GOP
vote on Feb. 4 to decide if she
should retain her position as
House Republican Confer-
ence Chair.
Cheney was one of just 10
House Republicans to vote
Jan. 13 for impeachment of
then-President Donald Trump
on the charge of “incitement
of insurrection” for agitating
a mob that attacked the U.S.
Capitol on Jan. 6, resulting in
five deaths and injuring over
140 police officers.
The impeachment, the
equivalent of an indictment,
passed 232-197. The trial of
Trump, now out of office,
begins this week.
Angry Trump loyalists
wanted Cheney removed
from the No. 3 post in House
GOP leadership. But she won
the conference vote 145-61.
Cheney, the eldest daughter
of former Vice President Dick
Cheney, did not back down
from her vote.
Asked about the confer-
ence challenge, Cheney said
on Fox News Sunday that she
had no apologies.
“The oath that I took to the
Constitution compelled me to
vote for impeachment, and it
doesn’t bend to partisanship,
it doesn’t bend to political
pressure,” she said. “It’s the
most important oath that we
take.”
During a break in the
debate, House Minority
Leader Kevin McCarthy,
R-California, had signaled
that he backed Cheney.
“Liz has the right to vote
her conscience,” McCarthy
said. “At the end of the day,
we’ll get united.”
Bentz said late Friday,
though he opposed impeach-
ment, he backed retain-
ing Cheney after she told
the conference her vote was
an individual choice, not
as a party leader reflect-
ing the GOP consensus on
the issue.
The tally was secret, but
members were free to make
public how they voted.
Hernandez expulsion
vote possible Feb. 16
Oregon House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said
Monday that Rep. Diego Her-
nandez, D-Portland, would
likely face a Feb. 16 vote to
expel him from the House.
Five women have accused
Hernandez of using his posi-
tion as a state lawmaker to
sexually harass them. The
House Conduct Committee
voted 4-0 last Friday to sus-
tain 18 findings of violation
of House rules.
As of Monday, Gov. Kate
Brown, Treasurer Tobias
Read, Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, Kotek
and 26 of 37 House Democrats
have called on Hernandez to
resign, which he has refused
to do. The Feb. 16 vote would
require votes of two-thirds
of the House — 40 members
— to expel him. Hernandez
was seen as a potential polit-
ical star when he was elected
to the House in 2016 at
age 29.
Salem security under
discussion
inauguration of President Joe
Biden in Washington, D.C.,
are being removed.
The boards were put up
after a Department of Home-
land Security alert to states
that right-wing groups that
back Trump might attack state
capitols. The Oregon Capitol
was assaulted by groups on
Dec. 21 during a special ses-
sion of the Legislature. They
used lower level side doors
and windows in an attempt to
enter the rotunda area. After
fighting with state police, they
were ejected.
Hardware is being installed
to make it easier and faster to
put up the boards if necessary
in the future.
Nearman investigation
continues
The Marion County Dis-
trict Attorney’s office has
been sent the Oregon State
Police investigative report on
the alleged role of Rep. Mike
Nearman, R-Independence, in
aiding the Dec. 21 rioters to
enter the Capitol, Kotek said
Monday.
A9
PSU: 90,000 Oregon
COVID evictions loom,
at $3 billion cost
By Zane Sparling
Oregon Capital Bureau
A new report from Port-
land State University shows
that an avalanche of loom-
ing evictions across Ore-
gon could come with an
eye-popping cost to society:
$3.3 billion.
According to a new
report, researchers with
PSU’s
Homelessness
Research & Action Collab-
orative believe that number
“is likely an underestimate.”
“We’re talking about
a scale of disruption that
we’ve never seen before,”
said Associate Professor Lisa
K. Bates, the study’s co-au-
thor. “We haven’t turned the
corner on the virus, let alone
gotten into a place of eco-
nomic recovery.”
Bates’ analysis of U.S.
Census pulse data suggests
some 89,000 families state-
wide owe back rent. An ear-
lier PSU survey of 460 Ore-
gonians extrapolated that
more than a third of Ore-
gon’s renters — and more
than half of renters of color
— have skipped rent checks.
That money is coming
due fast. While state law-
makers approved a new
moratorium on evictions
for nonpayment of rent in
December, the partial ban
ends June 30. Repayment is
legally required by July 1.
Plugging that hole in
landlords’ wallets could cost
as much as $378 million, per
a September report by finan-
cial advisory firm Stout.
But if government stimulus
money can’t cover the gap,
the strain to the social safety
net will be far greater, the
report concludes.
“With a combination of
state and federal funds, this
is of a size that one could
wrap their arms around,”
said Bates. “The alternative
is really stark.”
The six-page report relies
on a cost calculator devel-
oped by the University of
Arizona College of Law.
Shelter expenses alone could
cost as much as $1.98 bil-
lion, assuming 62% of those
to be evicted stay in shelters
an average of 130 days.
The high-end projected
costs also include $613 mil-
lion for in-patient medi-
cal care, $239 million for
emergency room care, $318
million for foster care and
$191 million for child delin-
quency services.
Using the most optimis-
tic estimates, the total cost
drops from $3.3 billion to a
mere $1 billion, though the
report cautions that many
externalities are excluded
from the final price tag.
“The estimate does not
include costs due to lost
income, increase in pub-
lic assistance, gaps in edu-
cation, or the long-term
impact to health, education,
and earnings,” according to
the report. “Neither does it
capture the costs of build-
ing new shelters and cre-
ating new emergency sup-
port as a result of exceeding
current system capacity”
or costs associated with
increased spread of the
novel coronavirus.
Bates’ recommendations
to policymakers include cre-
ating mediation, repayment
planning and tenant edu-
cation programs, boosting
funding for affordable hous-
ing and rental assistance
programs, as well as pro-
viding public legal advisers
for defendants in eviction
courts.
The professor, who holds
a Ph.D. in city and regional
planning, notes that the vast
majority of those facing
the boot lost employment
through no fault of their
own.
“We have a dire situation
caused by a public health
emergency that is caused by
all types of policy failures,”
she said.
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The plywood boards that
covered the lower level win-
dows of the Oregon Capi-
tol in case of violent demon-
strations around the Jan. 20
Grant County Victim
Assistance Program
Heart of
Grant County
541-575-4026
541-620-1342
This฀project฀was฀supported฀by฀Grant฀No.฀2019-WR-AX-0027฀awarded฀by฀the฀Office฀on฀Violence฀Against฀
Women,฀U.S.฀Department฀of฀Justice.฀The฀opinions,฀findings,฀conclusions,฀and฀recommendations฀
expressed฀in฀this฀publication/program/exhibition฀are฀those฀of฀the฀author(s)฀and฀do฀not฀necessarily฀reflect฀
the฀views฀of฀the฀U.S.฀Department฀of฀Justice.
S229080-1
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
S226603-1