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August 24, 2018 Landowners can refile complaint against neighbors By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Capital Press Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press A racketeering lawsuit over marijuana production has been dismissed but the Ore- gon landowners will be able to refile an amended complaint against their neighbors. expenses for firearms, fenc- ing, gates, and security cam- eras.” Such costs arise from an alleged personal injury that’s not covered by RICO “because those losses are derivative of their emotional distress and not a property interest recognized under Oregon law,” McShane said. The reduction in the plaintiffs’ property values is speculative, since they ha- ven’t shown any attempt to “rent, sell or otherwise mon- etize their property inter- ests,” rendering the alleged harm “abstract” and uncom- pensable under RICO, he said. However, the judge will allow the landowners to amend their complaint to make such a claim “in good faith” and he agreed that the marijuana operation was a plausible cause of any al- leged reduction in property value. “If plaintiffs cannot sue to vindicate the federal drug laws and recover for any compensable injuries, it is difficult to imagine a person who could,” McShane said. Capital Press was unable to reach the plaintiffs’ at- torney, Rachel McCart, for comment. Alex Tinker, attorney for the defendants, called the ruling “a very well reasoned opinion” that recognized the facts don’t allow for a RICO case to move forward in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Faced with an indus- try-wide labor shortage, Dia- mond Fruit Growers in Hood River, Ore., is turning to cameras to sort shipments of fresh pears, a job previously reserved for the trained eye of humans. The 105-year-old farmers’ cooperative recently installed a new optical sorting line — the first of its kind, specially designed for pears — which is now up and running just in time for this year’s harvest across the Hood River Valley. Optical sorters are wide- ly used in food processing, though the technology has been slow to adapt to pears. Most sorters roll the fruit along a conveyor past camer- as, but unlike apples and cher- ries, pears are not perfectly round and cannot roll as easily without scuffing. This system, engineered by the Italian company Unitec, instead flips the pears gently and automatically from one side onto the other, min- imizing damage while still allowing cameras to capture the entire fruit. A software program then sorts pears into large 1,100-pound bins based on their size and grade. David Garcia, president and CEO of Diamond Fruit Growers, said the $7.5 million machine will replace two out- George Plaven/Capital Press David Garcia, president of Diamond Fruit Growers in Hood River, Ore., shows a new optic sorting line designed specifically for pears, installed at the co-op’s processing facility earlier this year. dated sorting lines at the main plant in Odell, and in nearby Parkdale. Angelo Benedetti, CEO of Unitec, was on hand to cut the ribbon July 16, and after weeks of testing, the line began sorting freshly picked pears on Aug. 10. “So far, it’s doing what we hoped it to do,” Garcia said. Labor was a major factor in the switch, Garcia said, as the co-op struggled to fill shifts amid a declining work- force. “Often, we were only able to run two of our three pack- ing lines consistently,” he said. Not only was labor tight, but Garcia said the old sorting lines had been converted from handling potatoes, and were rough on pears. He estimat- ed 4-5 percent shrinkage, or lost product, damaged by the equipment. Diamond Fruit Growers is one of the largest shippers of fresh pears in North America, with 2 million boxes annually, but between labor concerns and shrinkage, Garcia said they knew they needed to be proac- tive or risk losing volume. “That wasn’t going to be an option for us,” he said. Garcia said they reached out to two companies in Eu- rope, including Unitec in Italy and Greefa, a manufactur- er based in the Netherlands. Greefa had created an apple line modified for pears, while Unitec wanted to build an en- tirely new system, from start to finish. In the end, Garcia said they agreed it was time for pears to have a line of their own. “We saw the future, and we said, ‘Let’s make the in- vestment,’” he said. It took Unitec three years to design, and the line was finally shipped to Oregon in April. Assembly is nearly fin- ished, though Garcia said they are still working out the last few bugs. The massive 18-lane siz- er whirs to life in an instant, carrying bright green Bartlett pears along an automated conveyor and loading 100 bins per hour. What used to take 70-75 employees to fill a shift now takes just 15, shift- ing more workers to where they are needed on the pack- ing lines. “Labor will continue to be a stress for agriculture,” he said. “We will need to contin- ue to invest in technology that will enable us to handle our volumes with less people. Be- cause they are just not going to be there.” Diamond Fruit Growers represents 85 pear and cher- ry growers in the Hood Riv- er Valley, farming more than 6,000 acres. Garcia said he is getting calls every day from members curious to know when the new line is ready. Organic farms scramble to replace certifier By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press The discontinuation of Stellar organic certification due to compliance problems with USDA has some farmers scrambling to find a replace- ment certifier to maintain their organic status. Stellar Certification Ser- vices began certifying organic farms about 16 years ago and most recently served as the certifier for about 200 farms in 29 states, according to USDA records. The company shared a certification staff with Deme- ter USA of Philomath, Ore., which certifies farms as “bio- dynamic” — an ecological- ly-oriented system of alterna- tive agriculture. Stellar shut down certi- fication services at the end of July, which means that its clients have until Sept. 30 to find a new certifier, who will then review their organic sys- tem plans and conduct inspec- tions. A year ago, Stellar brought in two auditors to review its Wine & Brew TASTING EVENT SATURDAY Sept. 22, 2018 12 NOON - 5PM POWERLAND HERITAGE PARK Brooks, OR Tasting in 11 Heritage Museums www.PowerlandHeritagePark.com Buy Tickets Online at PowerlandHeritagePark.com & Powerland Museums 34-3/106 $40 for Two $20 for Singles operations, identifying prob- lems the company had since sought to correct, said Eliza- beth Candelario, president of Demeter USA. One of the company’s cli- ents filed a complaint with “false and misleading” allega- tions to USDA’s National Or- ganic Program, which Stellar denied, she said. Nonetheless, the compa- ny did disclose that “quality systems” related to policies, procedures and recordkeeping were out of compliance with USDA standards, Candelario said. For example, the compa- ny hadn’t maintained proper confidentiality of certain re- cords. The USDA sent notice that it planned to suspend or revoke Stellar’s status as an organic certifier, which con- vinced the company to surren- der its accreditation and stop operating, she said. Stellar is sorry for the in- convenience to its clients and has sought to make the tran- sition easier by connecting them with other certifiers, she said. Farmers who used Stel- lar were able to obtain two certifications — organic and biodynamic — for the price of one, but the downside was that Demeter USA was ef- fectively in competition with organic certifiers, Candelario said. With Stellar no longer op- erating, Demeter USA plans to work with four to five organ- ic certifiers who can provide a “dual inspection,” she said. “Now that we’re not compet- ing with them, it’s going to be a lot easier to have those col- laborative partnerships.” Re-applying for new or- ganic certification took “a lot of work” shortly before harvest is to begin at Cooper Mountain Vineyards, a winery in Beaverton, Ore., said Gilles de Domingo, its winemaker. “It was a mess,” he said. Dropping organic certifi- cation wasn’t an option be- cause the company wants to support the organic cause and because it already has labels printed identifying the wine as organic, de Domingo said. Oakhill Organics, a farm near McMinnville, Ore., was certified by Stellar but is now leaning toward allowing its organic certification to expire until next year. Submitting a new organ- ic system plan and getting a new inspection doesn’t seem worthwhile just to maintain organic status for the final two months of the growing season, said Casey Kulla, the farm’s owner. LEGAL Military Vehicles, Halftracks, Tanks & Dodge Power Wagons 34-3/102 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI A federal judge has dis- missed a racketeering law- suit filed by Oregon land- owners against neighbors who allegedly produce mar- ijuana but the plaintiffs can refile their complaint. Last year, several peo- ple filed a lawsuit accusing neighboring property own- ers near Lebanon, Ore., of growing marijuana in viola- tion of the Racketeer Influ- ence and Corrupt Organiza- tion Act. U.S. District Judge Mi- chael McShane has now ruled that the injuries al- leged by the plaintiffs, in- cluding unpleasant noises, foul odors and reduced property values, aren’t the kind that can be compensat- ed under RICO. The 10 plaintiffs — Rob- ert Ainsworth and Tami Ainsworth, Karl and Lu- cinda Frink, Gordon and Elaine Griswold, John and Linda Lindsey and Wil- liam and Suzanne Whitak- er — claimed they’d been adversely affected by a “persistent stench,” traffic, greenhouse fans and guard dogs. According to the com- plaint, because marijuana remains illegal under federal law regardless of its legal- ization in Oregon, RICO has been violated by the defendants: Mark Owenby, Michelle Page, Jenny Silvei- ra, Howard Brown, William Templeton, Elisha Temple- ton and Bryan Philp. Whether or not the mar- ijuana is still grown at the site is a point of dispute — the defendants say it’s hasn’t operated since October 2017 while plaintiffs claim it’s still functional. Though the judge found that the plaintiffs have con- stitutional standing to file the lawsuit, he has decided that diminished “use and enjoyment” doesn’t qualify as an “injury to property” under RICO, even consid- ering their “out-of-pocket Oregon co-op launches first optical sorting line for pears & pick up at your location 707-486-2882 Email: rattlecanjohnny@gmail.com PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 98 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 9/4/2018. The sale will be held at 10:00am by B.C TOWING INC 2140 TURNER RD SE SALEM, OR 2017 NISSAN VERSA 4DR VIN = 3N1CN7AP1HL807292 Amount due on lien $5,540.00 Reputed owner(s) JERRY WAYNE MONTGOMERY JR SANTANDER CONSUMER USA 34-2-3/999 Marijuana racketeering case dismissed for now .COM MFG OF BRUSH MULCHERS | STUMP GRINDERS | DRAINAGE PLOWS BOOM MOWERS | PTO GENERATORS | AUGER BITS & DRIVES TRENCHERS | TREE SPADES | TREE SAWS | LIMB SHEARS AND MORE ELLIS EQUIPMENT 800-949-2336 31-5-3/102 CapitalPress.com 34-3/106 4