Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
Wasco County commissioners rolled through their regular meeting yesterday in just over an hour. The majority of the meeting was devoted to an update from MCCAC – the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council. There are 18 such councils in Oregon, part of a program set up by Congress in 1964. MCCAC provides household utility assistance, weatherization services, shelter and transitional housing, rent assistance to prevent eviction and supportive services for veterans families. The agency is currently working with more than 100 landlords in Wasco, Hood River and Sherman counties, and they have been able to transfer 171 people from homelessness to stable homes.
There was good news for people who had heard about meeting in Portland, last week, to decide where to ship toxic waste from dredging a Superfund site in the Willamette River. Bottom line: It won’t come to The Dalles. Commissioner Phil Brady put it this way:
“It’s not an option. The Wasco County landfill is not certified to receive high level toxic waste.”
He said the decision would be between barging it to the landfill at Roosevelt in Klickitat County or shipping it by train to the landfill in Arlington.
And, after a brief executive session, county council Kristen Campbell told commissioners that Marion County had recently received five subpoenas from ICE – Immigration Customs and Enforcement. This puts the county sheriff there in a quandry between Oregon’s Sanctuary Law and recent presidential executive orders. She said the concern was statewide:
“Sheriff offices throughout the state – 34 of 36 – have written a letter urging the court to issue a detailed opinion giving guidance, not taking a position in terms of which body of laws would apply, just urging the court to issue detailed guidelines.”
Campbell said Marion County was asking all the counties to sign on to a similar letter. On being assured that Sheriff Magill would appreciate having some court guidance on the subject, the county unanimously approved signing the letter.