A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015
LOCAL NEWS
Police chiefs applaud Obama’s gun safety reform proposals
Hermiston chief
attended annual
conference, shook
president’s hand
after address
By SEAN HART
Staff Writer
President Barack Obama
addressed a large crowd
at the annual International
Association of Chiefs of
Police conference last week
in Chicago, and Hermiston
police chief Jason Edmis-
ton was sitting in the ¿fth
row.
Edmiston was lucky
enough to be in the right
place to shake the presi-
dent’s hand as he left after
the speech.
“I don’t necessarily
agree with everything this
president has done,” he
said. “However, I don’t dis-
agree with some of what
he said, speci¿cally at this
conference. I really do re-
spect the of¿ce of the pres-
ident. I think that’s about as
thankless of a job as a po-
lice of¿cer.”
Obama focused on three
main topics: ensuring of-
¿cers had the necessary
resources to perform their
job, making criminal justice
reforms to “make the sys-
tem smarter and fairer” and
reducing risks to of¿cers
through “common-sense
gun safety reforms.”
Edmiston said while
federal resources for local
police agencies sounds ap-
pealing, the real dif¿culty
for smaller, rural agencies
is the bureaucratic red tape.
While larger agencies have
people dedicate time to
grant writing, he said, the
process is time consuming
and can be counterproduc-
tive for smaller agencies.
He said the process should
be simpli¿ed so smaller
agencies can actually ac-
quire those resources.
Obama also said invest-
ments in early childhood
education pay off through
reduced crime. Edmiston
said addressing education
and mental health needs
would be extremely helpful
for police, who must re-
spond to situations that may
have been avoidable.
On the topic of gun safe-
ty reforms, Edmiston said
the president struck a chord
with many of¿cers in atten-
dance.
“This was not a room
full of people that were
just shaking their head and
agreeing with everything
the president said. Having
said that, when he talks
about smart ways to try to
PHOTO COURTESY JASON EDMISTON
President Barack Obama greets people after speaking at
the 122nd annual International Association of Chiefs of
Police Conference Oct. 27 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Hermiston police chief Jason Edmiston attended the speech
and shook the president’s hand after.
limit the wrong people from
having access to weapons,
there was overwhelming
applause in the room,” he
said.
In particular, Edmis-
ton said most in atten-
dance seemed to support
Obama’s suggestion that
military-style assault weap-
ons should not be sold to
civilians.
“It’s just a simple propo-
sition — cops should not be
out-armed by the criminals
they’re pursuing,” Obama
said.
Edmiston,
however,
said he believes the issue
is more complex. He said
he believes comprehensive
reforms are necessary to
reduce gun violence, but
focusing solely on assault
weapons without address-
ing family, education and
mental health issues miss-
es the broader point. He
said he appreciated that the
president brought up some
of these other issues but
that he did not believe an
assault weapon ban alone
would solve the problem.
“Trying to target one is-
sue is almost like putting
the entire issue into individ-
ual silos, and I think that’s
where the federal govern-
ment itself has become
ineffective because every-
body’s got their own little
slice of the pie,” he said. “I
think it leads to additional
inef¿ciencies if you’re only
focused on one issue.”
Obama said the IACP
supported a ban on the sale
of assault weapons to civil-
ians, as well as his plan to
require national criminal
background checks for the
purchase of ¿rearms.
Edmiston said, in gener-
al, he prefers local control
rather than federal over-
sight because the situations
of¿cers face differ between
Hermiston and Pendleton
— let alone an urban me-
tropolis such as Chicago.
He said, however, at anoth-
er session at the conference,
a young police chief was
speaking about the need for
national use of force stan-
dards and Edmiston agreed.
Edmiston admitted, if
national standards seem
appropriate regarding use
of force, they might be
for background checks as
well — if they were done
correctly. The dif¿culty,
he said, is that people lack
trust in the government and
question the motives of pol-
iticians.
Edmiston said if people
on both sides of the issue
come together, he believes
steps can be taken to im-
prove gun safety.
“I do think that there
needs to be some com-
prehensive reform, or at
least discussion asking the
question: Why are these
(mass shooting) events tak-
ing place?” he said. “Is the
weapon that is involved a
factor? Yes. Is the mental
health status of the indi-
vidual committing the act
a factor? Yes. It is a very
broad discussion that will
need to take place, and
there may need to be some
compromise on both sides
of the issue to try to ¿nd
some common ground.”
Edmiston, who signed
up for the conference for
executive training long
before it was announced
Obama would be there, said
it was a “unique, probably
once-in-a-lifetime opportu-
nity” to shake the hand of a
sitting president — and that
Obama’s hands were quite
soft.
Treats on Main features family costumes
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Plenty of kids wouldn’t
be caught dead wearing
matching clothes with their
brother or sister, but some-
times the sibling rivalry is
suspended in the name of
Halloween.
During the Treats on
Main event in Hermiston
on Friday there were plenty
of examples of siblings in
coordinated costumes.
Riley Campbell, 9, was
gathering candy dressed
as Princess Leia, complete
with the Star Wars charac-
ter’s signature “cinnamon
roll” hairstyle. Her brother
Tyler Campbell, 7, accom-
panied her as Darth Vader.
Riley said it was her
idea to dress as rival Star
Wars characters, because
Star Wars is “really cool.”
She and her brother have
come up with coordinated
Halloween costumes from
movies before, including
the Wizard of Oz.
“We were Scarecrow
and Dorothy,” she said.
Sometimes the coor-
dination is the parents’
idea. Twins Zoey and Av-
ery Timmons, age 2, were
dressed as a chicken and
an egg, with Zoey sporting
yellow chicken feet impro-
vised from a pair of rubber
gloves.
“They were in vitro, so
you don’t know which came
¿rst, the chicken or the
egg,” Karen Timmons said,
explaining how the two cos-
tumes went together.
Lindsey Hector said she
dressed Evelyn Christensen,
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Siblings Tyler Campbell, left,
and Riley Campbell decided
to go as rival Star Wars
characters at Hermiston’s
Treats on Main.
4, and Landry Christensen,
3, up as peanut butter and
jelly because the two of
them are best friends, the
kind that go together “like
peanut butter and jelly.”
“Last year they were
presents. This year I though
‘I should dress them up as
peanut butter and jelly be-
cause they do everything
together,” she said.
JaCory Harris, 4, and his
brother JaQuan Harris, 2,
were dressed as Mario and
Luigi, representing their fa-
vorite Nintendo video game
characters. And real-life
sisters Hailey and Whitney
McKay, ages 5 and 7, were
dressed as sisters Elsa and
Anna from the movie Fro-
zen.
In some cases mom and
dad got in on the act. Jacob,
Hannah and their son Jaden
Galbraith were a family
of minions from the mov-
ie Despicable Me because
Jaden loves the movie.
“I got him the minion
costume and then thought,
‘Why not have us all be
minions?’” Hannah said.
As they passed another
small minion accompanied
by her own parents some-
one shouted “Look, I found
your family!”
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Evelyn Christensen, left, and
Landry Christensen dressed
as peanut butter and jelly for
Hermiston’s Treats on Main.
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STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Twins Avery and Zoey Timmons, 2, dressed as “the chicken and the egg” for Halloween.
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