Oregon/Idaho briefs:
Thursday, January 8, 2009 10:34 AM PST
Teen driver cell phone law tough to enforce
PORTLAND (AP) — The chances that a teenager will be cited for talking on a cell phone while driving are pretty much zero in Oregon, despite the best intentions of a state law that went into effect last year to help prevent accidents.
Only a handful of tickets have been written in major cities around Oregon because police say it is so difficult to enforce.
In Portland, police could find no record of any citations, so far.
It was pretty much the same story in suburban Beaverton, and in Eugene, Medford, Bend and Pendleton.
Part of the problem lies in the wording of the law, allowing police to cite 16- and 17-year-olds only if they have committed some other traffic violation.
‘‘It’s a swing and a miss as far as we’re concerned,’’ said Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts, whose officers have not issued a single citation.
Rain, winds close Ore. highways
PORTLAND (AP) — A winter storm sent heavy rain and strong winds into Oregon’s northwest corner, but the area managed to avoid the mudslides and severe flooding that battered neighboring Washington on Wednesday.
But Oregon’s luck might run out. The rain intensified in the evening and was expected to continue until 4 a.m. Thursday, dumping another 2-to-3 inches of precipitation on the Coast Range.
The National Weather Service posted flood warnings for the Wilson River, lower Nehalem River and Trask River in Tillamook County, meaning flooding is imminent or in progress, and a flood watch for all of northwest Oregon. The rivers had already been rising because of the rapid snowmelt, said Chris Collins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. High wind warnings were in effect and the threat of landslide remained. Though Oregon didn’t get hit like its neighbor to the north, there were problems Wednesday. High water on the highway closed U.S. 101 to passenger cars just south of Seaside, and flooding closed some less popular roads.
Abusive Ore. couple sentenced to long prison terms
SALEM (AP) — An Oregon mother and father convicted of beating their children with pipes, 2-by-4 boards and other objects were both sentenced to spend at least two decades in prison.
Marion County Judge Thomas Hart sentenced Graydon Drown on Wednesday to 29 years in prison. Robyn Drown got 20 years. The sentences were longer, by at least two years, than what was recommended by prosecutors.
‘‘God did bless you with these children,’’ Hart said when sentencing Robyn Drown, 42. ‘‘And you did not do for your children what God did for you.’’
The children were taken by state welfare authorities after the Drowns were arrested June 19 at their rural home in Turner. The nine kids are now under the care of six different foster homes. At the time of the arrests, they ranged in age from 6 weeks to 16 years old.
The abuse became known after two teenage boys confided in a rabbi.
The parents appeared as co-defendants, but had separate attorneys.
Idaho dairymen held cash cow status in ’08
BOISE (AP) — Idaho may be called the potato state, but when it comes to agricultural sector sales, the milk cow is queen.
University of Idaho agricultural economists say cash receipts from milk sales rose by 5 percent in 2008 to more than $2.1 billion, making up more than a third of all of Idaho’s agricultural sales.
According to the report by Ben Eborn, Paul Patterson and Garth Taylor, potato sales rose to $800 million in 2008, a 13 percent jump over the previous year. Wheat sales totaled $707 million, and hay sales totaled $673 million.
The total cash receipts from Idaho’s farms rose 11 percent to a record $6.3 billion, according to the report.
Still, the sales didn’t do enough to boost income for many Idaho farmers. Net farm income slipped 5 percent to $1.68 billion, hampered by high fuel prices and other expenses, the economists said.
In 1998, milk accounted for about a quarter of the state’s total cash receipts. Last year, it accounted for 34 percent of the total.
Idaho Court of Appeals retains teen’s guilty plea
BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Court of Appeals has declined to withdraw the guilty plea of a teen who was charged as an adult with lewd conduct with a minor.
The appellate court found that although much of the illegal conduct began when Micah Nathaniel Wegner was just 12 — and therefore, unable to be automatically charged as an adult — at least some of it occurred after he turned 14, making him eligible for adult court.
Wegner was 17 in 2001 when he was charged in juvenile court with two counts of lewd conduct with a minor under sixteen. For the first count, he was accused of lewd conduct with a girl committed between 1995 and 1998 — when Wegner was between 12 and 14 years old. In the second count, Wegner was accused of lewd conduct with a boy committed between 1996 and 1998, when he was 13- and 14-years-old.
The charges were waived into Jerome County’s 5th District adult court, and in an agreement with prosecutors, Wegner pleaded guilty to one count of lewd conduct with a minor under 16, alleging 13 separate acts occurring between 1995 and 1998.
