Wyden, Hoyle and Gomberg answer questions at 90 minute town hall Thursday in Newport

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle 

NEWPORT – About 100 people attended Sen. Ron Wyden’s town hall Thursday to ask a range of questions covering attitudes towards science to local immigration enforcement.

The Thursday event marked Wyden’s 1,164th town hall, a part of his effort to hold at least one town hall each year in each of Oregon’s 36 counties.

During the hour and a half town hall, Wyden, Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore. and Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis spoke about the Epstein files, Iran war, rising gas prices, measles outbreak, the upcoming wildfire season.

“So many people in Congress have their heads down, they don’t want to engage, they don’t want to meet with the public, they don’t want to answer questions,” Gomberg said. “Here in Oregon, the Oregon way people show up, they listen and they answer your questions.”

The crowd inside the Oregon Coast Community College’s library was noticeably smaller than the last time Wyden had held a town hall in November – when the city of Newport was in a battle to stop an immigration detention facility from being built at the airport and raised alarm over the removal of the U.S. Coast Guard’s rescue helicopter.

“We are a model for the country, and I have colleagues from around the country saying, how did Newport stop the ICE facility?” said Hoyle, who accompanied Wyden after joining him at a wildfire briefing earlier Thursday in Springfield.

Hoyle said she believes Oregon has earned a reputation for being problematic because of how the community responded – which included a lawsuit against the U.S. Coast Guard.

The conversation took an even more timely turn when immigration lawyer Kate Sinkins of Lincoln City brought up this week’s immigration arrest outside the Lincoln County courthouse.

“We had a resident in Newport detained by ICE on his way out of the courthouse on Monday. He was actually going to his arraignment like he was supposed to,” Sinkins said. “What would you say to the Latino and other immigrant communities who are shaken by this detention and who are now worried about sending their kids to school and getting groceries?”

Hoyle responded to let her office know as soon as a detention happens to try and get that person connected with a lawyer because they are being moved to the Tacoma detention center within hours.

An audience member brought concerns about funding for scientific institutions such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon Sea Grant.

The scientific research that happens in South Beach isn’t just important for the state or the nation, said Gomberg, it’s important for the whole planet. It houses the Hatfield Marine Science Center, a world class institution that studies ocean science and addresses big issues like ocean acidification and climate change.

“The consistent attacks on science have impacted NOAA and Hatfield in ways that are unconscionable and will affect all of us for generations to come,” Gomberg said. “It’s a very, very serious situation. Two years ago, if someone asked me about NOAA, I would have said. ‘We got them here, we’re going to keep them here.’ Now, I’m just worried about them going away entirely.”

• Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]