NEWS
A3 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, JANuARy 2, 2019
Cities have limited options in addressing panhandling
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The First Amendment protects
Americans’ right to free speech,
and that includes their right to ask
strangers for money.
After receiving complaints
about “aggressive” panhandling,
the Hermiston Police Department
is reminding people that cities are
constitutionally prohibited from
banning panhandling. The law
treats individuals asking for money
for themselves the same as it treats
a Salvation Army bell-ringer or
firefighter collecting donations for
charity.
Police Chief Jason Edmiston
said there are some people who
want to see heavy-handed enforce-
ment to stop panhandling alto-
gether and others who think it isn’t
the government’s place to inter-
fere with a person’s right to ask
for money. Police try to walk a
fine line between not interfering
with free speech rights, while also
addressing instances where people
are being harassed or made to feel
unsafe.
“It’s tricky,” he said.
While anyone can stand on a
public sidewalk with a sign. If
Staff photo by E.J. Harris/East Oregonian
A woman in a vehicle in the parking lot of Walmart gives money to a man on Thursday in Hermiston.
someone is causing a disruption on
private property, such as a store’s
parking lot, the business does have
the option to contact law enforce-
ment and trespass the person from
their property.
“There needs to be some kind
of incident or incidents to justify
that,” he said. “It’s all based on
what’s reasonable.”
The city also has an ordinance
that prohibits people from block-
ing a public sidewalk, so if a pan-
handler’s possessions are piled up
on the sidewalk next to them police
can ask them to move.
While cities’ blanket bans on
panhandling (or other kinds of
“charitable solicitations”) have
been struck down in court, many
cities do have ordinances that
address certain behaviors associ-
ated with panhandling. In 2015,
for example, Umatilla passed an
ordinance banning the transfer
of money or other items between
a vehicle in a highway’s lane of
travel and a pedestrian. While peo-
ple are still legally allowed to stand
on the side of the highway and ask
Governor establishes rural broadband office
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Oregon Governor Kate
Brown has established an
office that will develop
broadband opportunities for
rural and underserved areas
of the state. Brown signed
an executive order to cre-
ate the Oregon Broadband
Office on Dec. 14.
Eastern Oregon Telecom
CEO Joe Franell is chair
of the Oregon Broadband
Advisory Council, a state-
wide committee that backed
the creation of the new
office.
In her proposed 2019-
2021 budget, the governor
allotted $5 million to broad-
band development in rural
Oregon for the Broadband
Infrastructure Fund. Franell
said funding has not been
approved for the office yet.
Franell said he doesn’t yet
know exactly how the office
will be staffed, but said
there are supposed to be five
employees. He said there is
already telecommunications
analyst, Chris Tamarin, who
has provided support to the
advisory council.
He said Brown has
expressed specific inter-
est in helping rural Oregon
communities get broadband
access. Franell said there are
still more than 40 schools
around the state that don’t
have access to high-speed
internet.
But he said there are
more gaps to bridge in
broadband service than just
the urban-rural divide.
“I think once we
dig in we’ll find
out that there’s
a digital divide
along other lines—
Socioeconomic and
cultural lines.”
Joe Franell, Chair, Oregon
Broadband Advisory Council
“I think once we dig in
we’ll find out that there’s a
digital divide along other
lines,” he said. “Socioeco-
nomic and cultural lines.”
He said the second of
two comprehensive stud-
ies by the advisory council
found that Latino commu-
nities around the state had
seen a reduction of broad-
band adoption recently.
“Like water or electricity,
everyone should have access
to broadband,” he said. “I
think the office will be quite
busy.”
The advisory council was
created by the legislature
in 2009, Franell said, spe-
cifically to provide advice
to government officials
on broadband utilities and
availability.
Brown appointed spokes-
persons for several areas,
including representatives for
tribal government, educa-
tion, economic development
organizations,
healthcare
providers, and urban and
rural telecommunications
service providers. Franell
was appointed to represent
the latter. Every two years,
the council gives a full
report to the legislature.
Franell said the concept
for a state broadband office
was spearheaded by State
Rep. Pam Marsh, from Ash-
The Greater Hermis-
ton Community Founda-
tion has reached its goal of
raising $200,000 less than
a year after taking its first
donation.
A group of community
members began the charita-
ble foundation in the spring
with the goal of providing a
sustainable fund from which
to draw grants to support
local community enhance-
ment projects.
Because grants will be
awarded using the money
generated from interest
earned on the account, and
never from the donations
themselves, the foundation
board agreed to not begin
awarding grants until it had
$200,000 for a year.
“Surpassing this first
major milestone will allow
the GHCF to award its first
grants in early 2020,” board
president Greg Harris said
in a statement.
The Greater Hermis-
ton Community Founda-
tion board is made up of
Harris, Nate Rivera, Cindy
Middleton, Dennis Barnett,
Roe Gardner, Greg Juul and
Jeff Snell. It is a tax-exempt
501(c)3 nonprofit with a
mission to “encourage, pru-
dently manage and distrib-
ute charitable contributions
to improve the quality of
life for our community, now
and in the future.”
For more information,
visit greaterhermiston.com.
WORSHIP
COMMUNITY
First Christian Church
“Proclaiming the Message of Hope,
Living the Gospel of Love”
Sunday School 9:15am
Worship Service 10:30am
567-3013
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
Sunday School........10:00 am
Worship...................11:00 am
Evening Service........7:00 pm
Wednesday Service..7:00 pm
“Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you.”
1 Pet. 5:7
First United
Methodist
Church
Greater Hermiston
Community Foundation
reaches $200,000 goal
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
land. Marsh is also on the
advisory council.
“She brought it up
because there were federal
funds we’d been missing out
on,” he said. “The council
decided it was something we
needed to put in our report.”
Earlier this month, when
he testified before the House
Interim Committee on Eco-
nomic Development and
Trade on behalf of the advi-
sory council, Franell talked
about digital inclusion
— giving all Oregonians
access to high-speed inter-
net in order to bridge edu-
cational, medical and safety
gaps.
At 84.9 percent Oregon
has a higher rate of internet
adoption than the national
average, 81.4 percent. But
Franell said changing broad-
band standards mean that
coverage is less than ideal.
“The definition of broad-
band is a moving target,” he
said in his presentation.
for money, anyone who wants to
donate must find somewhere to
legally park their vehicle first.
Edmiston said there has been
a definite increase in panhandling
recently in Hermiston, particularly
with panhandlers who aggres-
sively approach people. In some
cases, he said, the people have a
“sob story” that police know for
a fact isn’t true, such as a person
with no children asking for money
for a hotel room for their children.
He said the department has had
some conversations about whether
such a false story constitutes “theft
by deception,” but have not chosen
to charge anyone so far.
There are some people who
truly do need the money and are
being honest about their circum-
stances, Edmiston said, but giv-
ing to the organizations that serve
the area’s low-income and home-
less populations is generally a bet-
ter way to make sure the money
is used efficiently to help people
in real need. If people do want to
give money or food to someone “in
the field,” he said, they should find
somewhere safe and well-lit to do
so.
“I would just say, be smart,” he
said.
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Working within the community of Pendleton, our clinic provides a variety of
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Sunday School - 9:30 AM
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Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM
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t. PH: 567-6672
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LANDMARK BAPTIST
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Family service 9am Sunday
NEW BEGINNINGS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Sun. Bible Classes...................10:00am
Sun. Worship Service..............11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship..............6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study......6:00pm
Worship Service 10:30 AM
Sunday School 9:00 AM
Pastor J.C. Barnett
Children’s Church &
Nursery Available
700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
www.hermistonlmbc.com
541-567-8441
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
1520 W ORCHARD AVE
Sunday Worship Service
10:30 am Classes for Kids @ 9:15 am
SEEKING JESUS, SHARING LIFE,
SERVING PEOPLE
www.hermistonnazarene.org
Pam Wagenaar,
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Sunday Worship 11am • 541-567-3002
Nursery available Check us out on Face Book
WE HEAR YOU!
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Grace Baptist Church
Saturdays
Sabbath School........9:30 a.m.
Worship Service......11:00 a.m.
English & Spanish Services
567-8241
Hermiston Jr. Academy
1300 NW Academy Lane, • Hermiston
Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
...............................English 7:00 am
Thursday...............Spanish 6:00 pm
SATURDAY:.........English 5:00 pm
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SUNDAY:..............English 9:00 am
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