B
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Small-business & Ag
HAPPENINGS
Construction safety summit
coming to Central Oregon
SALEM — The 19th annual Mid-
Oregon Construction Safety Summit, a
two-day conference in Central Oregon
that will focus on the safety and health
of workers in residential, commercial
and industrial construction, will take
place Jan. 27-28 in Bend. Fall protection,
personal protective equipment silica haz-
ards and electrical safety are among the
included topics.
Training sessions, from Oregon OSHA
training for construction to work zone
safety and fl agging will be available to
those who attend, and they will be able to
attain certifi cations or recertifi cations. An
opportunity to earn continuing education
credits through Oregon’s Construction Con-
tractors Board and Landscape Contractors
Board will also be offered.
Matt Pomerinke of Longview, Washing-
ton, will deliver the keynote presentation,
“Accidents are Forever,” Jan. 28. Pomerinke,
who at 21 years old had his arm amputated
below the elbow following a lumber mill ac-
cident, shares his story now to help prevent
similar accidents.
Other workshops include:
• Excavation safety and soil classifi cation
• Fall prevention
• Safety leadership and culture
• Cool tools and apps for construction
• What to expect from an Oregon OSHA
enforcement inspection
• Multi-employer worksites
• Heat stress and Total Worker Health
• Safety meetings
• Marijuana and the workplace
Registration for pre-conference work-
shops on Jan. 27 is $50. The Jan. 28 confer-
ence is $85. Registration for the OSHA
10-hour training for construction is $140
for both days. And the cost of attending the
silica competent person workshop on Jan.
27 is $75.
To register, go to http://safetyseries.cvent.
com/summit20. For questions or help reg-
istering, call the Oregon OSHA Conference
Section at 503-947-7411.
Oregon taxpayers changing
their state withholding must
use Oregon’s OR-W-4 form
SALEM — Oregon taxpayers who are
making changes to state withholding must
use a form OR-W-4, according to the Oregon
Department of Revenue. The new federal
Form W-4 cannot be used for Oregon with-
holdings as it doesn’t use allowances, and
Oregon withholding is calculated using
allowances.
Prior Oregon or federal withholding
statements used for Oregon withholding
can remain if the taxpayer doesn’t change
their withholding elections.
“We encourage Oregon taxpayers to
check their withholding for tax year 2020,”
Personal Tax and Compliance Division
Administrator JoAnn Martin said in a
press release from ODR. “Not withholding
enough during the year could lead to an
unexpected tax bill in 2021.”
A Form OR-W-4 should be provided by
employers to employees when an employee
gives them a new federal Form W-4.
Taxpayers who are more at risk for with-
holding too little include those who:
• Started a new job in 2019 or later.
• Updated their federal Form W-4 in
2018 or 2019.
• Previously claimed federal deductions
that were impacted by federal tax law
changes, such as the employee business
expense deduction.
• Live in a two-earner household.
Taxpayers can fi nd Form OR-W-4 and
determine the correct amount to withhold
by using the online withholding calcula-
tor on the department’s website at www.
oregon.gov/dor.
Tax season offi cially opens
Jan. 27
LA GRANDE — The IRS has confi rmed
Jan. 27 as the fi rst day the tax agency will ac-
cept and begin processing 2019 tax returns.
The deadline to fi le tax returns for 2019
and pay any owed taxes is April 15, which
this year fall on a Wednesday.
More than 150 million individual tax
returns are expected to be fi led, according
to a press release from the IRS.
Taxpayers may prepare returns through
the IRS’s Free File program or tax
software companies and tax profession-
als before the start date, but processing
returns will begin after IRS systems open
later in January.
Photo by Tim Hiatt
Washington beekeepers are shown harvesting honey. A new honeybee nemesis, the Asian giant hornet, has buzzed onto the
scene in Washington state — an invasive species capable of decimating honeybee populations.
Hornets’ presence cause
for concern for beekeepers
By Sierra Dawn McClain
Capital Press
BLAINE, Washington — As if life wasn’t
hard enough for the honeybee, things just
got worse with the appearance of a new
hornet that can decimate hives.
While honeybees in North America face
many foes such as lethal varroa mites, a new
nemesis buzzed onto the scene in Washing-
ton state — an invasive species capable of
decimating honeybee populations, reducing
crop pollination and stinging humans.
The pest is the Asian giant hornet. Ac-
cording to entomologists, it is indigenous to
Asia, where it has many names: commander
wasp, yak-killer hornet and tiger head bee.
The hornets are distinguishable by their
yellow heads, long bodies and three-inch
wingspans.
The hornets prey on other insects, feeding
pulped bugs to their larvae.
Where similar species of hornets are
established in Europe, they have wiped out
30% of beehives, reduced honey production
by two-thirds and dramatically slashed
crop production due to lack of pollination,
according to Washington State Department
of Agriculture public engagement specialist
Karla Salp.
A typical Asian giant hornet is fi ve times
the size of a honeybee and can kill up to 40
bees per minute, according to Tim Hiatt,
commercial beekeeper and a member of the
Washington State Beekeepers Association.
“No one knows what triggers it, but some-
times they literally go into slaughter phase,
decapitating bee after bee and eating their
bodies,” said Salp. “It takes 20 hornets to kill
an entire hive in one to six hours.”
PROBABLE SIGHTINGS
The fi rst Asian giant hornet sightings
recorded in the U.S. were Dec. 8 by a resi-
dent of Blaine, Washington, just south of
the state’s border with Canada. They had
previously been confi rmed at three sites in
British Columbia.
Since then, WSDA has received 80 new
sighting reports, three of which they deem
probable. One was from a Bellingham
beekeeper.
“Since these hornets are normally dor-
mant in the winter, it’s unusual to fi nd them
active this time of year,” said Salp. “It’s prob-
ably because the winters are milder here, so
they’re surviving better. It seems the Pacifi c
Northwest is their ideal environment.”
HITCHHIKING HORNETS
All it takes to establish a new colony is
one mated female, said Salp. And to invade a
new location, a queen hornet just needs to do
a little hitchhiking.
“Honeybees are mobile,” said beekeeper
Hiatt. Bees are shipped across the U.S. to
pollinate crops. Three-quarters of all man-
aged beehives are shipped to California in
February to pollinate almonds.
At the border, California Border Protec-
tion Stations, or as Hiatt calls them, “bug
stations,” inspect for pests. In summer,
fi nding stowaway hornets would be easy,
said Hiatt. But in winter, when hornets are
dormant, fi nding one tucked inside a pallet
is nearly impossible.
Experts say it will take everyone working
together to stop the spread.
“This is a good citizen-scientist moment,”
said Laura Lavine, chair of Washington
State University’s entomology department.
“Everyone can pitch in.”
IF YOU’RE A BEEKEEPER
According to entomologists, Asian
honeybees have developed natural defense
instincts. When a hornet invades, honeybees
See Hornets / Page 3B
Idaho lawmakers plan legislation on hemp
By Ximena Bustillo
Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — It was 2018,
and after years of running a
successful business in the Boise
area — Same Day Electric —
Patty Fletcher and her hus-
band, Randy, wanted a change
of pace.
They landed on what might
seem like an odd choice: farm-
ing. And then landed on hemp,
which they found to be one of
the most versatile options.
“We have lived in Boise
for about 25 years. We still
have a home in Boise,” Patty
Fletcher told the Idaho States-
man. “... We looked at different
places and what kind of crop we
wanted to grow, and found out
about hemp.”
There was just one big prob-
lem: Idaho doesn’t allow the
cultivating or selling of hemp.
But its next-door neighbor,
Oregon, does.
So the Fletchers sold their
Garden City electric business,
found a 30-acre farm in Vale
and began working by hand
to ensure a harvest for this
fall.
“It was really challenging be-
cause it is a new industry, but it
EO Media Group fi le photo
Hemp hangs in a Quonset hut at a farm east of Joseph. Some Idahoans are crossing the border
to Oregon to farm hemp as Idaho is one of just three states that doesn’t allow the crop’s cultiva-
tion, though lawmakers are considering a change.
has been great. We found a buy-
er who was interested in all of
it,” Patty Fletcher said. “Hemp
is a profi table product, so it is
twofold: We could buy the farm,
make it work fi nancially; plus
we’re growing something that
we really believed in.”
If the state of Idaho starts
believing in hemp, people like
the Fletchers might not have to
See Hemp / Page 2B