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Wednesday, August 17, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Inaugural Oregon cannabis fair held
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
photo provided
A hiker was airlifted off the McKenzie highway due to a medical
emergency.
HIkER: It’s been a
busy summer for local
Search & Rescue units
Continued from page 1
is very poor, so Vandehey
resorted to requesting numer-
ous different hikers in the
area to call 911 when they
obtained reception.
Two Deschutes County
Sheriff’s Office Search and
Rescue Hasty Team members
were deployed to the PCT
trail just west of Dee Wright
and ran up the trail to assess
the hiker’s condition. Five
other SAR members fol-
lowed after with a wheeled
litter.
Upon the Hasty Team’s
arrival at about 2:45 p.m., it
was determined that Releford
needed to be transported to a
hospital as soon as possible
for a potentially life-threaten-
ing condition.
Life Flight was dispatched
to the location. The clos-
est landing zone was on
Highway 242, just a little
west of where SAR members
were deployed on the trail.
Releford was transported
by wheeled litter back to the
location where DCSOSAR
vehicles had staged. The pro-
cess was slowed down by
the narrowness of the trail
through a section of lava.
Releford was transported by
a DCSOSAR vehicle to Life
Flight’s location, after which
Life Flight departed at 4:31
p.m. to St. Charles Medical
Center.
SALEM (AP) — From
seed providers to a com-
p a n y o ff e r i n g m e c h a -
nized bud trimmers, those
involved in the once-illicit
marijuana industry in the
Pacific Northwest got ready
on Friday for the first-ever
Oregon Cannabis Growers’
Fair.
Reggae music thumped
from Savant Plant
Technologies’ display as
owner James Knox, 38, of
Corvallis, set up his do-
it-yourself grow package,
including peat and microor-
ganisms to stimulate plant
growth, among more than
80 exhibitors registered for
the two-day fair that started
Saturday.
Oregon is one of four
states to have legalized
marijuana, along with
Washington, D.C.
“It’s nice for us to be
stepping across the line and
say, ‘Here we are, and we’re
ready to do business,’” he
said. “For those of us who
have been doing this a long
time, this is a breath of
fresh air because we’re able
to work openly and in the
light.”
Winning entries of a pot-
plant competition at the fair
will be displayed in two
weeks at the Oregon State
Fair, the first time canna-
bis will be exhibited at a
state fair anywhere in the
United States, organizers
said.
“It is an historic event.
It’s a great opportunity to
meet these growers that typi-
cally were underground,”
said fair organizer Mary Lou
Burton. “We’re trying to get
people connected up and
networking.”
Nine winners of the
pot-plant competition will
showcase their plants at the
Oregon State Fair — along-
side more traditional items
like tomatoes, hogs and
horses — in two weeks. They
will be under display in a
small greenhouse amid tight
security, she said.
Oregon voters legalized
recreational marijuana in a
November 2014 ballot ini-
tiative, Measure 91. Medical
marijuana was legalized
years earlier. The Oregon
Liquor Control Commission
is in the process of issuing
licenses for recreational mar-
ijuana production.
The business is boom-
ing. Oregon’s Legislative
Revenue Office in May
quadrupled its estimate of
net state tax revenues, from
$8.4 million to $35 million,
expected from recreational
marijuana through June 30,
2017.
But with marijuana still
illegal under federal law, the
industry can’t use banks to
do their business.
Jerry Fee, owner of
NorthWest Safe Sales of
Oregon City, uses the bank-
ing impediment as a business
opportunity and was setting
up a display at the growers’
fair including four formida-
ble-looking safes. His prices
range from $800 to $15,000.
“People like to lock up
what’s important to them,
whether its money or prod-
uct,” he said.
Business names at other
booths being set up included
Pruf Cultivar, My Urban
Greenhouse, Half Baked and
Greener Futures.
Donald Morse, execu-
tive director of the Oregon
Cannabis Business Council
and the person who thought
up the fair, said it aims to
“demystify” marijuana.
“It’s not to tempt people to
use marijuana,” Morse said.
“It is to educate. Cannabis is
Oregon’s newest farm crop.”
Quilt Drawing
for
FURRY FRIEND S
501 ( c )( 3 )
FOUNDATION
100% of the proceeds go to Furry Friends Foundation.
“Friends of Furry Friends” quilt was pieced by
Valerie Fercho-Tillery. The bold colors and
incredible detail make this a spectacular quilt.
The quilt is currently on display at
The Nugget offi ce, 442 E. Main Ave.
Bring your pup by for a dog cookie and have a look!
Tickets may be purchased at The Nugget offi ce
or online at our website
www.furryfriendsfoundation.org.
Tickets are $1 each, six for $5 or
go for it, 25 for $20.
Info: 541-549-9941
“Friends of Furry Friends” - by Valerie Fercho-Tillery (46"w x 59"h)