Sheriff says he won’t enforce new gun laws — An Oregon sheriff has written Vice President Joe Biden to say his department won’t enforce any new gun laws it considers unconstitutional. In his letter, Sheriff Tim Mueller of Linn County said politicians are “attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims" by supporting laws that would harm law-abiding Americans. Mueller says he took an oath to support the Constitution, and laws preventing citizens from owning certain semi-automatic firearms and ammunition magazines would violate their rights. Though the letter might add fuel to an already hot topic, Mueller told The Associated Press he wishes people could have a civilized discussion about the issue, rather than resort to threats and name-calling.
Wave energy test site — Newport has been selected as the site for what its backers call a utility-scale wave energy test site. The city on Oregon’s central coast beat out Reedsport to the south for what’s called the Pacific Marine Energy Center. A statement from Oregon State University says a site yet to be selected about five miles from shore will be used to test devices’ generating potential and environmental impacts. Completion is expected to take several years. Plans call for four “test berths," open spaces of water dedicated to testing individual devices or small arrays of devices. Cables are to transmit power to the electric grid and data to scientists and engineers onshore. The project has received substantial federal funding.
Bazooka training round found in ditch —A Marion County sheriff’s spokesman says traffic on a road near Salem was blocked for about three hours after a worker clearing roadside debris found an inert World War II-era anti-tank projectile in a ditch. Officer Don Thomson says the Bazooka training round found Tuesday afternoon was about 22 inches long. The device was identified with help from explosives experts at the Oregon Army National Guard. The Bazooka is the common name for the portable rocket anti-tank weapons widely used by the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. Thomson says it was one of the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. Thomson notes that while it was harmless, it’s important to report anything that looks like a weapon or explosive.
— From wire reports
