Albany Democrat-Herald from Albany, Oregon • 7

ALBANY DEMOCRAT HI RALl I DM-SDAY. PTI MBI 12, 2007 17 PetosS er mileage to fffeM TOriiosii If tOI BMNAKO AP ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER GRANTS PASS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that making the United States energy independent is directly connected to combating global warming, and conservation measures such as higher mileage standards for automobiles will help avert climate change. The California Democrat added that she expects the energy bill that Congress sends to President Bush will include the higher mileage standards adopted by the Senate last June, despite the failure of House supporters to get them into their version. "1 believe we have to act within the next few years, that is to say have major agreements reached, protocols in place, standards established," Pelosi said in a telephone interview before flying out of Washington, DC. to take part in a global warming round-table in Portland.

Pelosi said she had just met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and felt that Senate conferees over the energy bill would insist on including new mileage standards, just as House conferees will insist on new energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances. Pelosi added that the public overwhelmingly supports increased gasoline mileage standards, and she hoped the president would sign a bill containing them. The Senate last June adopted energy legislation calling for a 40 percent increase in auto mileage to 35 mpg by 2020. Congress has not changed the federal auto fuel economy standard since it was imposed in 1975. It has been at 27.5 mpg fleet average for cars since 1989, The truck requirements, which include SUVs and passenger vans, recently were raised to 22.2 mpg.

"Conservation is a major asset in this fight against global warming," Pelosi said. "It makes a tremendous difference how people husband their energy resources." Pelosi was to be at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on Wednesday afternoon for a round-table on global warming with Ore gon Democrats Rep. Earl Blume-nauer and Rep. Darlene Hooley, local officials and environmental leaders. "I'm very proud of the work Congress has been doing on global warming and energy independence.

I see those issues as connected," Pelosi said. "I think the impact (of global warming) is very serious if we don't act soon." www democratheralj coin Use Oktoberfest preview Court's migrant ruling confuses N.W. growers 3 1 -L Associate Press Johnson to pay $600 in ethics case PORTLAND (AP)- State Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scap-poose has agreed to pay $600 to settle an ethics case. On annual disclosure forms in 2005 and 2006, Johnson failed to report that she owned 36 acres next to the Scappoose airport.

State law requires legislators to disclose such financial interests. Johnson and her husband bought the land in late 2004 for $635,000 and sold it three months later to developer Ed Freeman for a $119,000 gain. Johnson says she and her husband cleared $45,000 after expenses. After The Oregonian newspaper asked Johnson about the land deal this year, Johnson filed amendments to her disclosure forms in May to include the land ownership. Johnson could have been ordered to pay up to $1,000 for each of the two reporting violations, according to agreement documents to be considered Friday by the state ethics commission.

The settlement calls for $300 per violation. Johnson said she was "profoundly sorry" for what she called a failure to be diligent about paperwork. "I take full responsibility for the thing I did, which was a filing error, and I didn't do anything else wrong," she told The Oregonian. Ron Bersin, the commission's executive director, said penalty amounts reflect whether a public official cooperates with the commission's investigation and whether there's been financial harm to LAURA SALGADO AND OTHER YOUNG DANCERS perform the May pole dance at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on Tuesday. Several dancers came out to give onlookers a taste of the coming Oktoberfest.

The annual event, which is held in Mt. Angel, startsThursday and runs through Sunday. Wyden, Smith propose creating wilderness area in Coast Range Social Security problems within 90 days, the em-" ployer would have to assume he is undocumented and fire him or face penalties. But plaintiffs cited a report from the Office of the Inspector General saying that 12.7 million of the 17.8 million discrepancies in the Social Security Administration's database about 70 percent involve native-born U.S. citizens, not undocumented workers.

For years many employers generally ignored the no match letters, which have been advisory. Others do not. "Many employers who get a letter noting discrepancies don't wait, and boom, the person is fired the next day," he said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Restaurant Association and other employer groups worried about a diminished work force support the lawsuit, Gutentag said.

Dave Carlson, who heads the Washington Appfe Commission, said Tuesday that several lawyers who read the ruling came to different conclusions. "The difficult thing is that the government can't enforce its own laws so it's passing (the responsibility) on to the employers," said Carlson, who also is a major apple grower. Carlson said verification can sometimes take longer than the 90 days a worker would be given to resolve his issues with Social Security. By then, he said, the employee may be gone and show up later with a new name and new BY JOSEPH FRAOER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER PORTLAND A court order temporarily blocking a rule intended to shift more burden on farmers to show they are not hiring undocumented workers has some Northwest growers and farm organizations wondering what's next. Plaintiffs say that with massive Social Security Administration discrepancies, many American citizens as well as undocumented workers could be affected, with firings weakening labor pools already stretched thin in sectors such as agriculture.

"Our guess is that it is temporary, but you can never second-guess what a judge will do," said Don Schellenberg, legislative affairs director for the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation. "We have to keep planning as if it will move ahead and make members aware of legal and ethical obligations." A federal judge in San Francisco last month put a temporary restraining order on the so-called "no match" letters that would have shifted responsibility for verifying that Social Security numbers presented by workers matched those in federal files. Another hearing is set for Oct. 1. The Department of Homeland Security rule would have had the Social Security Administration send letters this month to employers with 10 or more employees whose Social Security numbers could not be verified.

If an employee or employer could not solve his PORTLAND (AP) Oregon members of Congress are proposing wilderness protection for the headwaters of the Elk River near Port Orford. The legislation introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio would protect 13,700 acres of coast forest and salmon streams. Wilderness designation prevents logging, mining and road building, but hunting and fishing could continue.

With Democrats in power, DeFazio said, the prospects for new wilderness areas have improved. Richard Pombo of California, a Republican representative defeated last year, was the gatekeeper for wilderness bills, and he "hated wilderness with a passion," DeFazio said. The Copper Salmon Wilderness bill could be passed along with the proposal for protecting an additional 125,000 acres around Mount Hood as new wilderness, DeFazio said. The Copper Salmon region is part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, and its centerpiece, the Elk River, is considered one of the healthiest and most productive salmon streams in the Northwest. It has generally escaped logging and development, and its protection is vital to maintaining a healthy fishing and tourism industry on Oregon's south coast, Port Orford Mayor Jim Auborn said.

"It's really very important to our local economy to protect that area," he said. "There's virtually no local opposition." The proposed Copper Salmon Wilderness has steep slopes and old-growth forests of Douglas fir and Port Orford cedar, a native tree that has been stricken by disease in much of its range. The arefl provides prime habitat for Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead and rainbow and cutthroat trout. It lies next to the existing Grassy Knob Wilderness area of 17,200 acres, according to U.S. Forest Service records.

Big tobacco agrees to change Oregon ads Salem. The campaign started a $227,000 statewide ad blitz a week ago. Nelson dismissed the flap as "much ado about contributed more than $1.7 million to Oregonians Against the Blank Check, which is headed by Mark Nelson, the tobacco company's chief lobbyist in Measure 50, which is on the November ballot, would boost the cigarette tax by 84.5 cents a pack to extend health care to uninsured children in Oregon. rpSTl 928-4544 PiO Mike Martin tSftS 2nd Main Albany www.SAC.to CCB 40591 we come I MONTEITH RIVER I I nj i nil mm mm PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A tobacco company has agreed to make it more clear that it is paying for the commercials opposing an increase in Oregon's cigarette Under federal rules, all political advertising must include a tag line that says who paid for the spot.

The tag line on the commercials opposing Measure 50 originally read: "Paid for by Oregonians Against the Blank Check and Reynolds Ameri-'can Inc." Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J, Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Oregonians Against the Blank Check is the campaign that it funds. Revised commercials that started airing Tuesday say they were paid for by Reynolds American and authorized by Oregonians Against the Blank Check. Supporters of the cigarette tax increase were delighted with the switch. "Big Tobacco is trying to make it sound as if somebody else in Oregon is standing alongside them," said Cathyr Kaufmann, spokeswoman for the campaign.

At least three stations refused to air the original ad, saying the tag line was not accurate in light of a 1996 Federal Communications Commission ruling that requires on-air financial disclosure. Cary Jones, manager for KMVU (26) in Medford, said it did not air tobacco-backed ads scheduled for Monday; the station planned to make up the lost time on Tuesday. Mark Metzger, manager for KLSR (34) and sister station KEVU (23) in Eugene, also said the stations will make up time lost. Reynolds American has G3E SUCSE mm 3 Matthew Lindberg, MD Dr. Matthew Lindberg joins the Samaritan Heart Vascular Institute from the University of California at Davis, where he trained as a Fellow in Cardiology.

He earned a medical degree from the University of Washington and completed an internal medicine residency at Oregon Health Science University. -Dr. Lindberg has bachelor's degrees in history and biology from Stanford University. Dr. Lindberg is board certified in internal medicine and worked as a hospitalist at Providence St.

Vincent Medical Center in Portland. Outside of medicine, Dr. Lindberg has interests in outdoor activities and wine production. He is married with one son, a cat and a pug dog. Dr.

Lindberg joins cardiologists Timothy Atha, MD; Randall Bream, MD; Rodger Dreiling, MD; Thomas Marker, MD; Jeffery Watkins, MD, and a team v. of physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other specialists. Together they provide high-quality cardiology care to the community as part of the Samaritan Heart Vascular Institute. 630PM LL ARE WELCOME 7. QUESTIONS? CALL: 752-9035 itill dinners.

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