By HOLLY DILLEMUTHH&N Staff Reporter

Keep it simple.

That’s the motto the city of Klamath Falls is trying to use as it reviews its Community Development Code.

Flipping through a 2 1/2-inch thick binder containing the

ordinance Wednesday morning, City Manager Nathan Cherpeski spoke about the city’s involvement in an effort to simplify the code.

Cherpeski and a group of community leaders met Tues-day afternoon at City Hall to formulate a mission statement and set up a timeline for revi-sions to the Community Devel-

opment Ordinance (CDO). Pub-lic meetings are planned week-ly on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. in the City Hall Annex building until revisions are complete.

And the sooner, the better, according to Cherpeski.

“It isn’t going to be six months,” Cherpeski said. “Hope-fully, it will be faster. Even if it’s still as thick, I would like it to be more understandable.”

The ad-hoc review group outlined an effort Tuesday to encourage investment in properties, improve safety and promote affordable livability through the code review.

Klamath County Chamber of Commerce Executive Direc-tor Charles “Chip” Massie emphasized the group’s mission to boost property values and affordability.

“We want it to be something that preserves our community,” Massie said.

While most residents may not notice the CDO in everyday life, Cherpeski said they can attribute it to general aesthet-ics throughout the city, such as landscaping in city parking lots for example.

START NOW:Regular screening can often ind breast cancer early when treatments are more likely to be successful. Staying at a healthy weight, being physically active, and limiting how much alcohol you drink can help reduce your risk of breast cancer.

Go to healthyklamath.org to learn more.

COMMON BUT PREVENTABLEBreast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women. Klamath County lags far behind the national benchmarks for women who receive mammography screenings.

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THURSDAY

Jan. 15, 2015

empowering the community ❘ www.heraldandnews.com — Klamath Falls, Oregon — $1

House votes to undo Obama’s policies on immigrationAmendments would affect millions of illegal residents

Morris Turner, 60

Joyce Wells, 68

— See page A4

Annie’s Mailbox........................A8 Obituaries...................................A4City/Region........................... .....A2Classified................................C4-7Comics, crossword.........................C8Forum.........................................A6Law enforcement.......................A4Lotteries.....................................B3Sports.....................................B1-4

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Visitor numbers rise at Crater Lake, Lava Beds

Unofficial figures show a record 294 million people visited Nation-al Park Service sites, including Crater Lake and Lava Beds, in 2014, a 20 million increase over 2013. See page A2.

Commission backs water storage study

The Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District is moving forward on its idea to use Clear Lake, just over the California bor-der, to store irrigation water for the Klamath Basin. See page A7.

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CONGRESSIONAL ACTION

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shunning a White House veto threat and opposition within their own party, House Republicans approved legislation Wednes-day to overturn President Barack Obama’s key immi-gration policies and expose hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants to expulsion from the U.S.

The 236-191 vote came on a broad bill that would pro-vide $39.7 billion to finance the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the bud-get year, legislation that lawmakers of both parties said was sorely needed to pay for counterterrorism, cybersecurity and other priorities at a moment when the Paris terror attacks have under-scored dire threats.

Democrats accused Republicans of putting that money at risk by attach-ing veto-bait amendments on immigra-tion, and some Republicans voiced the same concern. But House GOP leaders and most of their rank and file accused Obama in turn of reckless and unconsti-tutional actions on immigration that had to be answered.

“This executive overreach is an affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution itself,” said House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. “The people made clear that they wanted more accountability from this president, and by our votes here today we will heed their will and we will keep our oath to protect and defend the Constitu-tion.”

But Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Cau-cus, said the Republicans were simply pandering to the far right.

See IMMIGRATION, page A3

Boehner

Ad-hoc group reviews Klamath Falls development codesCherpeski speaks on revisions, simplification

See CODE, page A3

Changes in HavanaLawyer from Klamath Falls observes

Cuban political shift during visit

By TRISTAN HIEGLERH&N Staff Reporter

hen Klamath Falls-based lawyer

Phil Studenberg visited Cuba at the end of Decem-ber, he was greeted with joy by the locals.

“People were really excited, as soon as we told them we were from the United States we got a lot of hugs, a lot of hand-shakes and a lot of high fives,” Studenberg said.

His visit to the island nation started just after Christmas, mere days after President Barack Obama announced the U.S. would seek a resump-tion of diplomatic relations with Cuba. President

Raul Castro made a simi-lar announcement in his country on the same day.

Studenberg said he was able to travel freely and talk with whomever he wished.

The policy shift began after 18 months of secret talks in Canada. Pope Francis is reported to have been personally involved in brokering a more amicable relationship between the two longtime Cold War enemies.

Official diplomatic ties could signal an end to 50 years of Cold War-era ten-sions and trade embargoes.

W

See CUBA, page A3

Photo courtesy of Phil Studenberg

High school wrestling

>> See page B1

Henley takes 70-12 victory over Mazama in Skyline Conference