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City of Tillamook to purchase pavement patcher equipment
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Tillamook County Fair Board hosts 5th Annual Bulls & Broncs
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Headlight Herald
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020
VOL. 133, NO. 10 • $1
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
County commissioners oppose state cap and trade legislation Cody Mann headlightnews@countrymedia.net
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Disinfectant products are being cleaned out.
Cody Mann/Headlight Herald
Oregon identifies third presumptive position case of COVID-19 Disease is likely fairly widespread in Oregon
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regon health officials have identified a third presumptive positive case of COVID-19 among state residents. The third case is an adult Oregon resident from Umatilla County who is hospitalized in Walla Walla, Washington. State and local health officials are moving quickly to contact people who may have been in close contact with the individual who tested as a presumptive positive case. The third case is not linked to travel to a part of the world with known cases of COVID-19. It is considered a case of community transmission. “State and local health professionals are working around the clock to identify, treat and contain each case of this disease,” said Gov. Kate Brown in a statement. My commitment to Oregonians is that our state agencies will be as accurate, transparent, and swift as possible in conveying the information we have to the public, especially when new cases of the coronavirus are identified.” Preliminary reports indicate the Oregon resident attended a youth basketball game at a gymnasium at Weston Middle School, in Weston, Oregon, on Saturday, Feb. 29.
“I think that having three cases in Oregon, none of which seem to share commonality and seem to have stemmed from community transmission can indicate this disease is likely fairly widespread in our community, as it is in many other communities as we’re seeing from our neighbors in Washington and California,” said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state health officer, according to reporting from the Register-Guard. Under federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, other spectators who may have been in a closed environment with the individual would be considered “low-risk” exposures. Athena-Weston School District officials have closed the gym and will conduct a deep cleaning out of an abundance of caution. The gym is physically detached from the rest of the school. Health officials do not consider the separate school building to pose any risk of exposure. The test on the sample was performed by Washington’s public health laboratory. The case was one of Oregon’s pending
n See COVID, Page A10
he Tillamook County Board of Commissioners heard lengthy public testimony regarding cap and trade legislation this past Wednesday, Feb. 26. The commissioners were slated to vote on a resolution opposing Oregon Senate and House bills, drawing a crowd of interested citizens. The meeting room was filled to capacity with several people left standing in the back. Prior to the vote, commissioners heard an hour of public comments – most of it opposing the bills that sparked a walkout of Oregon Senate and House Republicans, who said Senate Bill 1530 and House Bill 4167 would be harmful to the state’s economy. Tillamook County Resolution No. 20-003 states that Tillamook County’s 26,000 citizens include many employed in farming, forestry and fishing industries, and that SB 1530 and HB 4167 would directly increase fuel costs, affecting how products are hauled into and out of the county, driving up product prices and cutting into revenue for locally owned businesses, possibly resulting in lost jobs. The resolution highlights
Tillamook County officials heard from proponents and opponents of cap and trade legislation before voting on the resolution. Cody Mann/Headlight Herald Tillamook County’s copious forest land and output of wood products as significant carbon sequestration assets for the state, claiming that the county might already be carbon neutral. It questions the use of the quick-fix oriented short legislative session to address complex cap and trade bills and calls for a public vote on the matter. Citing the county’s hous-
ing crisis and the subsequent number of workers who commute from outside the area, the resolution states that increased fuel costs would cause a negative impact on local business. It also states increased costs would add to the difficulties faced by already rentburdened residents of the county. Commissioners David
Yamamoto, Mary Faith Bell and Bill Baertlein voted unanimously in support of the resolution. Yamamoto said he feels strongly that the issue should go to Oregon voters. He noted an amendment package for SB 1530 that was received just before it passed out of committee, saying that was not
n See CAP, Page A9
Tillamook native invents device for Air Force Cody Mann headlightnews@countrymedia.net
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orn in Tillamook and a class of 2008 Neah-Kah-Nie graduate, Tech. Sgt. Brett Kiser is serving in the Air Force. He enlisted in 2010 and is currently stationed on a year-long deployment to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Kiser specializes in logistics and mobility airlift operations. He holds a Transportation Management Associate Degree and an Occupational Safety and Health Bachelor’s Degree, and he is working towards a Master of Business Administration in Project Management. He has served on three deployments including a 2017 combat tour in Baghdad, assisting in the liberation of Mosul from ISIS.
The inventor of a device known as the K-Wedge, Kiser recently competed in an annual competition called the Air Force Spark Tank, sort of a spinoff on the popular TV show Shark Tank. The KWedge was one of six entries to reach the final round of competition, held this past Friday, Feb. 28, and broadcast on the AFWERX Facebook page. You can find the full event on YouTube. The K-Wedge is meant to protect critical aircraft components during cargo loading operations on the C-17 Globemaster III. Kiser said the K-Wedge would save the Air Force (and taxpayers) $2.3 million dollars
a year in wasted airlift and aircraft damage for the comparatively low cost of $111,000. The return on investment would be achieved in less than a month. On Spark Tank, Kiser had three minutes to pitch his idea and convince a panel of judges his idea was best. The panel was comprised of the Secretary of the Air Force, Air Force Chief of Staff, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Submitted photo Force, as well as surprise celebrity judges. This past
n See WEDGE, Page A12
Appeals Court upholds Trump administration’s ‘Protect Life Rule’ Hilary Dorsey headlightreporter@countrymedia.net
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he Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Feb. 24 upheld the Trump Administration’s ‘Protect Life Rule,’ which enforces the Title X rule banning taxpayer funds from being used to promote or provide abortion as family planning. Last year, 21 State Attorneys General, led by Oregon and New York, sued the Trump Administration to prevent the rule from going to effect. “Today’s decision by the Ninth Circuit in the national Title X Gag Rule case is disappointing – but our
fight to keep abortion access legal and safe will continue,” said Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in a statement released Feb 24. “The grant funds at the heart of this program are a safety net for low income women and families in all Oregon counties.” A proposed rule regarding the Title X program was published in the Federal Register on June 1, 2018, with a 60-day public comment period. The department received and reviewed more than 500,000 comments and made certain changes to the final rule as a result. “Abortion is not ‘family planning’ and a strong majority of Americans
oppose taxpayer funding of abortion,” said the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a press release. “President Trump’s Protect Life Rule honors their will and the plain language of the Title X statute by stopping the funneling of Title X taxpayer dollars to the abortion industry, without reducing family planning funding by a dime.” The Title X program annually serves around four million people, and the updated rule seeks to ensure a holistic and health-centered approach, safeguarding the short and longterm family planning needs of more
women, men and adolescents. “With this ruling, the Ninth Circuit would allow the Trump Administration to deprive Oregon women and families of access to the family planning, reproductive and preventative health care services they need to make critical decisions about their own health,” said Gov. Kate Brown in a statement. “Yet again, this administration has put the federal government where it doesn’t belong – between women and their doctors.” Key elements of the final rule include requiring clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded projects and programs or
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facilities where abortion is a method of family planning and prohibiting referral for abortion as a method of family planning, among others. Any organization that provides or refers patients for abortions is ineligible for Title X funding. Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote in an opinion for the case that the United States Department of Health and Human Services explained that its rules requiring physical and financial separation were supported by audit and report findings that Title X projects were violating rules and the lack of separation led to confusion as to whether federal funds were being used for abortion services.
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