MAY 2025 | CONFEDERATED UMATILLA JOURNAL
O C T OB E R 2 0 2 5
CONFEDERATED UMATILLA JOURNAL
NEWS DAILY @ CUJ ONLINE
VOLUME 33 • ISSUE 10
THE MONTHLY NEWSPAPER OF THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE UMATILLA INDIAN RESERVATION
Oregon bipartisan duo seek ban on law enforcement masking SHAANTH NANGUNERI Oregon Captial Chronicle An Oregon Republican and Democrat have joined forces to introduce legislation to block immigration officers and other law enforcement covering their faces, despite concerns that the untested idea would invite legal vulnerabilities for the state. Reps. Cyrus Javadi, R-Tillamook, and Tom Andersen, D-Salem, announced Sunday that they plan to ask voters to amend the Oregon Constitution to ban what the lawmakers call “secret police,” or law enforcement officers wearing face coverings to conceal their identity. The lawmakers are planning to introduce the bill in the 2026 short session with the hopes of placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters later in the year. Oregon law already considers impersonation of a peace officer a low-level felony. In the wake of 2020’s nationwide racial justice protests, state lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 mandating that local law enforcement like sheriffs and police officers working crowds in large cities must display their first and last name along with their identifying numbers. Sunday’s measure, however, does not delineate between local, state and federal law enforcement. It requires all officers to wear uniforms with their names and identifying badge numbers, exempting SWAT teams and undercover officers. MASK CONTINUED PAGE 18
CTUIR and Cairnspring Mills officals announced the groundbreaking of the Blue Mountain Flour Mill for Oct. 1. CTUIR
Cairnspring Mills breaks ground on site STAFF REPORTS MISSION – Officials with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and Cairnspring Mills broke ground on Oct. 1 at the future site of the Blue Mountain Flour Mill. The CTUIR is leasing nearly 6 acres of trust land at its Coyote Business Park South to Cairnspring Mills to build and operate the Blue Mountain Flour
Mill, states a memorandum of agreement among the CTUIR, Cairnspring Mills and several federal agencies. According to a story on Morningstar.com, with demand outpacing its Burlington, Washington, mill’s 7 million pounds of annual output, Cairnspring Mills looked beyond the Skagit Valley for its second facility. Built in partnership with the CTUIR, the new mill will
replicate Cairnspring’s smallbatch, European-style stone milling while leveraging advanced technology to expand capacity twelvefold, the story states. Major buyers including Patagonia, leading national bakeries and institutional foodservice partners have already secured significant volume at the new facility, with additional MILLS CONTINUED PAGE 3
Senators: U.S. complicit in Gaza ethnic cleansing DANELI ATILANO The CUJ High on top of a three-story building, peering over the ledge to find the city below in ruins, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley did not see a normal war picture as he stared down at what had become of Rafah, Egypt. “This is a deliberate destruction of every single abode to make it impossible for people to return,” said Merkley. “And this is one of the two main strategies of the Netanyahu government’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.”
From Aug. 24 to Sept. 1, Sen. Merkley and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to Israel, the West Bank, the border of Gaza, Jordan and Egypt. The two senators investigated the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and found an undeniable truth– the Israeli government is weaponizing food and aid to forcibly remove and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people in Gaza. Following their return home, the two released a joint report, “The Netanyahu Government is
Implementing a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians. America is Complicit. The World Must Stop It.” The report explains Israel’s tactic in making Gaza unlivable for Palestinians, driving them from Gaza using two methods. One being relentless bombings that they report have damaged “92% of housing units, 94% of the Strip’s hospitals, 92% of schools and university buildings, and 86% of water and sanitation facilities.” Second being the GAZA CONTINUED PAGE 5
Pendleton Round-Up 2025 Recap on Page 13 in B Section CTUIR 46411 Timine Way Pendleton, OR 97801
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