REVELATIONS
VOLLEYBALL VICTORY
Chief tells of NSA tracking procedures, A6
Southwestern tops Umpqua, B1
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
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Dunes are a victim of shutdown BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
COOS BAY — The federal shutdown has resulted in the closure of public ATV access points leading to the Oregon Dunes, generating new business for some and sour grapes for others. Visitors to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website Wednesday were greeted with a plain white page, stating only that the website is closed due to lack of funding. The department houses the By Lou Sennick, The World U.S. Forest Service, which Staging areas inside the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area are closed due to the federal govern- administers the Oregon Dunes ment shutdown. Access to the dunes themselves, such as the Bull Run access on the left, is open. National Recreation Area as
part of the Siuslaw National Forest. Under the shutdown — which took effect at midnight on Monday — the Forest Service has closed ranger stations, visitor centers and recreation sites throughout the country. Andrea Gross, whose family owns and operates Oregon Dunes KOA on U.S. Highway 101 near Hauser, said the closures have left many riders without a way to access the dunes. “Per the sheriff’s department, all the staging areas and the campgrounds are closed,” Gross said. She said that off-road
enthusiasts are still being allowed to ride the dunes — if they can find an access point on private land. Some public access points remain open,but without parking for vehicles and trailers. The KOA campground is the only campground actually located within the boundary of the national forest, and shares dunes access with Steve’s ATV Rental next door. Gross said the campground has started selling day passes to people who want to use the property solely to access the dunes. SEE SHUTDOWN | A8
Oregon Special Session
Circle of Friends
Lawmakers back pension, tax changes BY JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
A new metal sculpture created by students in the metal shop class at Marshfield High School was installed in front of the gym Tuesday afternoon. Using metal scraps donated to the class for projects from American Bridge, the sculpture to promote togetherness on the campus was designed by shop teacher Tom Hull and built by 15 students. Shop teacher Tom Hull, left, and Duane Anderson guide a new metal sculpture created by students in the metal shop class at Marshfield High School was installed in front of the gym Tuesday afternoon. In the back guiding the boom crane is Joe Anderson.
SALEM — The Oregon Legislature on Wednesday approved a series of bills on pensions, taxes and genetically modified crops, then adjourned a special session after three days of work. The decision delivered a hardfought victory to Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who has been working for a year to convince lawmakers to stem the growing costs of public-employee pensions. To gather support in the Legislature, the pension cuts were packaged with changes to the tax code and a bill prohibiting local governments from banning genetically modified crops. After days of tense negotiations, five bills cleared the House and Senate, most of them by the narrowest of margins. “We were able to do what I think a lot of people thought was impossible,” Kitzhaber told reporters afterward. He — and many in the Legislature — compared Oregon favorably with the partisan battle in Congress that’s led to a partial shutdown of the federal government. Kitzhaber, business leaders, education advocates and other
supporters say the rising cost of pensions is contributing to large class sizes and shortened school years and making it difficult for local governments to reinvest in services that were cut during the Great Recession. Critics took issue with all parts of the package. Some said it’s unfair and potentially illegal to take retirement benefits promised to public employees. Others objected to tax breaks for businesses or to the inclusion of an agriculture measure in a package that initially was targeted at budget matters. “Trading away environmental protections in unrelated legislative negotiations is an all too common practice that’s bad for not just democracy but also the people of Oregon,” six environmental groups wrote in a statement following the votes. Kitzhaber first proposed pension cuts in his budget released in December. Several attempts to marry them with a tax increase fell apart during the regular legislative session, which wrapped up in July. The agreement just approved was negotiated last month by Kitzhaber and the top Republicans and Democrats in the House and SEE OREGON | A8
Oregonian report: State is a haven for sex offenders
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Clatsop County and was sentenced to life for aggravated murder and assault eight months ago in Multnomah County. Among The Oregonian’s findings: ■ Oregon is two years behind entering names into its electronic database of registered sex offenders. It’s so out of date that local police don’t rely on it. “We don’t like where we’re at,” said Capt. Calvin Curths, commander of the State Police criminal investigation division. “We’re trying to fix it.”
The registration unit has 12 people, but retirements and job changes last summer turned over three quarters of the staff. Only one person is now qualified to log in more than 1,200 offenders registering for the first time since 2011. Also in the queue: More than 13,000 updated change-ofaddress or annual registrations. ■ Oregon is among four states that have done the least to comply with registration and community notification guidelines under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act passed seven years ago
Deadly fire on ship Possibly hundreds of migrants from Africa have been killed when their ship caught fire and sank. 94 are confirmed dead, hundreds are missing.
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or someone reports them, The Oregonian reported Wednesday. “Most of these cases, to be blunt, are dumb luck,” said Josh Marquis, the Clatsop County’s district attorney who handled one of the state’s most notable cases, that of sex offender Mark D. Beebout. Beebout moved from California to Oregon, never telling police where he was living as required. Once in Oregon, he beat up one woman and killed two others. He still isn’t in the state registry, even though he was convicted of failing to register in March 2012 in
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PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon has, per capita, more registered sex offenders than all but one other state. It also has one of the worst records in the country for following federal standards intended to keep sex offenders from moving to avoid supervision, and it has become a haven for offenders dodging stricter rules elsewhere, a newspaper investigation has concluded. Often, officers came across sex offenders violating the terms of their sentences only because the offenders commit another crime, they’re pulled over for a traffic stop
to tighten a patchwork of state laws. Only 19 states have substantially met the standards. A study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office showed Oregon has completed eight of the 14 guidelines. States that don’t comply either lose 10 percent of an annual federal crime-fighting grant or, as in Oregon’s case, must use the 10 percent in compliance efforts. ■ The names,photos and criminal SEE HAVEN | A8
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