Legislature winds down - LC budget hits rural areas hardest

Legislature moving towards completion of session…

The final pieces are falling into place for Oregon's next two-year budget. State lawmakers will vote today on spending plans for prisons and the state police, along with other measures that would slightly boost funding for courts and people with developmental disabilities. Budget negotiators say they'll balance the budget in part by extending for two more years a 60-day cap on prison sentences for probation violators. House Co-Speaker Arnie Roblan says since convening in January lawmakers… and their staff… have accomplished a great deal.
Roblan -- "I think people will be amazed. When we came in we had about $2.5-billion less than what we had this last biennium to spend, and our people have just moved mountains and worked exceptionally hard."

The Coos Bay Democrat wouldn’t predict when adjournment might come, but capitol watchers expect it could come as early as tomorrow afternoon. Roblan admits he hopes both chambers… the House and the Senate… can call it quits at the same time.
Roblan-- "It is preferable and that's what we like to work toward so we can get to a point where we can actually open the doors from both ends of the building and look at each other and sine die at the same time. It's kind of a nice event when that happens."

Some of the significant accomplishments that Roblan mentioned: changes to Oregon’s historic Bottle Bill; providing more money for education than the Governor had originally asked for; and a transformation of Oregon’s Medicare/Medicaid system.

The Lane County Board of Commissioners wrapped up work last week on their budget for the coming year. Lane County had about $7-million less to work with this year than last. That meant cuts across the board, many of which will impact rural areas more than those closer to the Eugene/Springfield area.
Stewart -- "cuts that we were making in patrol, in prosecution of, uh, to the District Attorney's office and in the youth services, there's less money and less services in general and that impacts the rural communities the hardest."

Commission Chair Faye Stewart says the Sheriff’s office will lose two full time patrol deputies, taking that force from 16 to 14 and limiting the amount of time they’ll be available.
Stewart -- "When you're talking about 24 hour patrol to 20 hour patrol that means you may not get a response from the Sheriff's patrol, or it could mean that instead of a 30 minute response time in a best case scenario, it could turn into an hour."

$3.8-million in spending reductions are dependent on approval by the county’s seven labor unions. Two have already approved a deal to switch to switch to a less expensive health care plan. The alternative, says Stewart, would be 15 unpaid furlough days over the next year. He didn’t like that choice however because it further reduced services available to residents… and would amount to about a 5 ½ percent wage reduction for employees.

The Heceta Water District Board will be holding a special meeting at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon to take action on a request to circumvent regular bid procedures. District Manager Scott Meyer says they need a quick ‘turnaround’ on bidding for a project to move about 260-feet of water line on Mercer Lake Road. Part of the road, two miles off Highway 101, slid out over the winter and Lane County will begin a project in August to move the road, rather than fill the slide.
Meyer -- "They've given us a deadline, later on in August, if we go through our normal bid process we can't get it done, so we're going to go through what is called emergency procurement. We'll basically hand deliver bid packets to our contractors."

Water commissioners will also discuss Meyer’s contract and benefits package during a special Executive Session.

Prices at the pump continue their slide as the holiday weekend approaches… at least in most places. The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded, as measured by Triple-A, plummeted 9-cents this past week to $3.55; Oregon’s average fell by four cents and is at $3.79. But, in Florence, the average actually increased by three-cents from last week and is at $3.67. That’s still ten cents a gallon less than the average prices recorded in Portland and Eugene. Motorists in Southern and Central Oregon pay even more… the average prices in Bend and Medford are at $3.83.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon jury has convicted a man of
murder after he was accused of strangling his wife, stuffing her
body in a duffel bag and dumping it off a remote forest road south
of Portland. The Oregonian reports a Multnomah County Circuit Court
jury yesterday found 38-year-old Brian Cole guilty of murdering
Heather Mallory in 2008 after an argument at their Portland
apartment.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - An investigation is under way into a 911
service disruption for central Lane County. That disruption
yesterday morning left a Eugene woman scrambling to find help for
her father, who was having trouble breathing. The man was later
reported in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a
hospital. Qwest says the outage lasted 15 minutes; Central Lane 911
says it was 40 minutes.

NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) - A judge in Newport has convicted the woman
who crashed her car into a Lincoln County creek, endangering the
lives of three of her children. The Oregonian reports 28-year-old
Amber Gandy could get up to 18 months in prison tomorrow when she
is sentenced. She was found guilty yesterday of drunken driving,
assault and reckless driving.


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An American flag that is believed to be
the first one sewn in Oregon is going on display at the Oregon
Historical Society in Portland. Officials say Oregon pioneer Ann
Elizabeth Bills was asked to sew the flag to celebrate Independence
Day 150 years ago. The flag has been well preserved since it was
first flown in Portland on July 4, 1861. It's going on display at
the Oregon Historical Society for the first time beginning Friday,
and will be available for viewing all of July.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Hundreds of hostile calls and emails poured
into Eugene City Hall after yesterday's city council vote to recite
the Pledge of Allegiance at four meetings a year. City spokeswoman
Jan Bohman told The Register Guard more than 90 percent were from
out of state, generated by a Fox News report she called misleading.
It characterized the vote as against saying the pledge on a regular
basis.

SEATTLE (AP) - Brian McCann tormented Seattle pitching again
with a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh inning, part of a
four-hit night by the Atlanta catcher, and the Braves rallied from
a three-run deficit to beat the Mariners 5-4 last night. The Braves
took advantage of late control problems by Seattle and the
Mariners' inability to come through with a clutch hit early against
Tommy Hanson.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon jury has convicted a man of
murder after he was accused of strangling his wife, stuffing her
body in a duffel bag and dumping it off a remote forest road south
of Portland. The Oregonian reports a Multnomah County Circuit Court
jury yesterday found 38-year-old Brian Cole guilty of murdering
Heather Mallory in 2008 after an argument at their Portland
apartment.

OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon woman has pleaded guilty to
embezzling money from two youth sports leagues and a school parents
club and agreed to repay more than $135,000. Renae Marlee Mason of
Lake Oswego could face a maximum six years in prison when she is
sentenced Aug. 11. The 45-year-old woman pleaded guilty in
Clackamas County Circuit Court to seven theft counts.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon House is scheduled to vote today
on curbing the growth of hookah lounges that allow customers to
smoke flavored tobacco. The measure would impose tough new
restrictions on smoke shops, including a requirement that new they
have no more than four seats, don't serve food and allow smoking
only for sampling purposes.

HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) - Hermiston's decrepit Victory Square Park
is badly in need of repair. There are only two swings left, a
bathroom building is rusting from the ground up and someone poured
concrete in the toilets. The park has been the subject of
vandalism, fires and even looting - all the copper wire was stolen
from the park's mechanical room. But a federal grant is coming to
the rescue with $149,000 for a much-needed makeover.

NEW YORK (AP) - San Diego Padres prospect Donavan Tate has been
suspended 50 games following his second positive drug test. The
commissioner's office announced the penalty yesterday. He will be
given credit for 25 games already served while undergoing
counseling for substance abuse. The rest of the suspension begins
immediately. The 20-year-old is on the roster at Class A Eugene
(Ore.)

BEND, Ore. (AP) - A Portland-area couple who got lost near
Hosmer Lake in central Oregon say they waited hours in the rainy
cold to call for help, telling rescuers they didn't think crews
would respond overnight. KTVZ-TV in Bend reports that Deschutes
County sheriff's deputies got a call around 4:30 a.m. yesterday
from 51-year-old John Harris and his 55-year-old wife Terri of
Milwaukie. Deputies using enhanced 911 responded and later found
the couple about five miles from the Lava Lake trailhead.


(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


Taking a look at Coast Radio Sports…

The Eugene Emeralds extended their win streak to seven last night with an 11-run shutout of the Salem Keizer Volcanoes last night at PK Park in Eugene. The Ems posted runs in each of the first seven innings and put up 11 hits, capitalizing on three Volcano errors. The two teams meet again tonight in Eugene for game two of their three game series.

Action for the Three Rivers Sandblasters was postponed yesterday because of the rain and field conditions. The triple-A Legion team will be on the diamond tomorrow in Salem against Post 9.


For Florence and the Central Oregon Coast…

Cloudy skies with a 40-percent chance of showers by midday… today’s high near 60 degrees along with a southwest wind five to 13 miles an hour gusting to 20.
Cloudy skies with a chance of showers overnight… tonight’s low around 52.
Tomorrow, there’s a 20-percent chance of showers and mostly cloudy skies… and a high near 60.

Mostly sunny and 63 on Friday, mostly sunny Saturday, partly sunny Sunday and then mostly sunny on the Fourth.

The marine forecast is showing a southwest marine wind five knots rising to ten to 15 knots this afternoon and then swinging to the west at ten to 15 knots overnight. Low tide was at 6:44… High tide at 1:15 this afternoon.