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East Oregonian
Saturday, March 21, 2015
POLICE: 0HDVXUHJRHVLQWRHIIHFW-XO\
Continued from 1A
drop from 344 in 2013 to 285
in 2014.
Measure 91 goes into ef-
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one 21 or older to have up to
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8 ounces and four marijuana
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miston said that means more
people are going to be driving
while high.
Beyond the obvious public
safety problem, he said there
also will be a greater need
for drug recognition experts,
or DREs in cop lingo — of-
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through Oregon State Police
to catch high and drunk driv-
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now, he said, but some small-
er departments have none.
And there is no requirement
for a department to have any.
Trying to determine if a
driver is drunk, Edmiston
said, is an arduous process
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pects to jump through a lot of
hoops. “It’s gonna get worse
from impaired drivers due to
marijuana,” he said.
The chances will be slim
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stop is a DRE, he said, so that
means sending the expert to
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cops for one stop eats resourc-
es, he said, and drug stops can
mean waiting for search war-
rants for urine and blood. “It’s
going to get very cumbersome
very quick,” Edmiston said.
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people for possession of less
than an ounce will not make
this situation a wash, he said.
A cop spends 30-45 minutes
processing a typical posses-
sion citation, including lock-
ing up marijuana in evidence,
Edmiston said, while the av-
erage stop for driving under
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takes closer to two-and-a-half
to three hours.
Umatilla County District
Attorney Dan Primus said he
also expects a spike in stoned
drivers. Washington and Col-
orado have seen driving under
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increase with the implemen-
tation of their recreational pot
laws, he said, and it is fair to
anticipate Oregon will follow
that trend.
Measure 91 also could
have a teeter-totter effect in
diversion programs, Primus
said. Courts offer diversion
for offenders dealing with a
charge of possession of less
than an ounce of pot, and
adults will be able to have
that much under Measure 91.
But the increase in people
driving while stoned, he said,
will result in a corresponding
increase in prosecutions and
duii diversions.
And beyond that, he said,
no one knows what is coming
because regulations for recre-
ational pot won’t be in place
until 2016. There also is no
bead on how much marijuana
is in the community already.
Pendleton police Chief
Stuart Roberts said police
usually discover grow sites
when neighbors report seeing
marijuana growing in some-
one’s back yard or through
calls for service at grow
properties. But the Oregon
Medical Marijuana Program
protects growers’ right to pri-
vacy and does not provide a
list of grow operations. Po-
lice can call a hot line with
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he explained, and receive a
yes or no answer concerning
whether or not the person/
property is registered with the
state. But that number works
only 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday.
Local police also do not
track or map the legal grows
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such a list could be valuable,
but would mean violating
people’s rights. “Law en-
forcement in general is often
accused of being too ‘Big
Brother,’” Edmiston said,
“so tracking something that
has been legal by the voters
is not something I am willing
to dedicate limited resources
on.”
Police said there is prob-
ably no way to measure how
much pot is out here, but
Measure 91 means there will
be more of it.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
MARIJUANA: Draft ordinance prohibits dispensaries
from being within 1,000 feet of the Pendleton Library
Cemetery and land southeast
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The draft removes lan-
The Planning Commis-
guage prohibiting dispensa- sion is scheduled to vote on
ries and retailers from being an ordinance April 2, with a
within 1,000 feet of licensed city council vote to follow on
daycares because daycare fa- April 7. All of these votes will
cilities tend to be temporary in be ahead of the expiration of a
nature.
moratorium on marijuana dis-
³,W¶VGLI¿FXOWWRUHJXODWHD pensaries.
moving target,” MacKenzie
Councilman Chuck Wood
said.
said the city could buy some
The draft ordinance also time by refusing to issue busi-
prohibits dispensaries and ness licenses to marijuana fa-
stores from being within a cilities because they would be
1,000 feet of the Pendleton in violation of federal law, a
Public Library and would set tactic he’s heard many smaller
store hours from 9 a.m. to 5 cities will take.
p.m.
But interim city attorney
A city also provided a map Nancy Kearns advised against
showing where dispensaries investing in that strategy due
and stores could be located to the lawsuits it could attract.
if the draft ordinance were
Kearns also recommended
passed.
against the suggestion that city
Areas in Pendleton where council members testify at the
marijuana facilities could be upcoming Planning Commis-
located includes the south- sion meeting, saying it would
eastern portion of town sur- VHWXSDFRQÀLFWRILQWHUHVW
rounding Interstate 84, a
To research the topic,
smaller area east of Olney :RRGVDLGKHYLVLWHG+Z\
Continued from 1A
Cannabis, La Grande’s sole
medical marijuana dispensary.
Wood said he was pleased
with the store exterior and
interior appearance and the
owner’s professionalism.
According to Wood, the
owner said 135 of her regular
customers came from Pendle-
ton.
Whatever the outcome of
the city’s ordinance, the status
of the state’s marijuana laws
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Police Chief Stuart Rob-
erts said the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission won’t
formulate rules on recreation-
al marijuana retailers until
2016 while the rules govern-
ing medical marijuana from
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could still be changed.
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tion’s outright ban of med-
ical marijuana dispensaries
is being challenged by the
state in court, the outcome of
which could have bearing on
statewide marijuana laws.
FOOD: Could be years before average customer can buy them
ment,” Carter said.
The apples are dubbed
Arctic Apples, and Carter said
he wants them to be labeled
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eties will be Granny Smith
and Golden Delicious. Carter
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plantings until 2017.
Simplot calls its potatoes
Innate and the varieties se-
lected include Ranger Russet,
Russet Burbank and Atlantic.
“We’re trying to improve
potatoes so everyone gets a
Continued from 1A
convenient snack with its
non-browning version. The
company says bagged apples
wouldn’t have to be washed in
antioxidants like they are now,
a process that can affect taste.
Company founder Neal Carter
said Okanagan wants to see
bagged apples become as pro-
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“We know that in a conve-
nience-driven world, a whole
apple is too big of a commit-
better experience, just like it’s
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ven Baker, vice president of
plant sciences for Simplot.
But it could be years be-
fore the average customer is
able to buy one. The compa-
ny has about 400 acres of In-
nate potatoes in storage from
the 2014 harvest that it plans
to deliver to growers, pack-
ers and shippers to be sent to
a tightly-controlled network
for use in small-scale test
markets.
Pepsi Primetime
@ the Museum
“ The
Lost Fish ”
Documentary film and
Speaker Aaron Jackson
March 28, 1pm
FIRST FRIDAYS ARE FREE!
Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm
541.429.7700
www.tamastslikt.org
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Walk-Ins Welcome!
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Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown launches a Oregon National Guard RQ-7B Shadow un-
manned aerial vehicle Friday at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton.
AIRPORT: Brown has long
been aware of Pendleton’s
need for airport hangar space
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Senate very supportive
of the project
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
drone business to establish a location in Pendle-
ton.
In an interview after her speech, Brown said
she has been aware of Pendleton’s need for han-
gar space for some time.
Brown said she sat down with Steve Chris-
man, economic development director and airport
manager, over a beer a year ago and discussed the
needs of the range.
When she assumed the governorship a month
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package was one of her top priorities.
Before the speech, Brown held a brief meeting
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for the state’s three test ranges.
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vens will soon join SOAR Oregon as chief oper-
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Stevens was employed by Peak 3 Technical
Services, an Anchorage, Alaska-based company
contracted by Pendleton to develop and manage
the range.
Stevens is the latest Peak 3 employee involved
with Pendleton’s range to leave the company.
Both Peak 3 Vice President Brian Prange and test
range operations manager Ian Mortensen have
departed for other positions in recent months.
Brown concluded the event by launching an
Oregon National Guard drone into the sky.
The governor said she merely pressed the
launch button while ceding control of the vehicle
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“It’s a long way from your toy plane,” Brown
said, “but it’s pretty cool.”
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-966-0836.
by the Ways & Means Committee.
Brown, who replaced Kitzhaber on
Feb. 18, said the biggest hurdle to
getting the development fund ap-
proved would be if the fund becomes
a bargaining chip. She said she is
encouraging leadership to pass the
funding early in the session and let
other pieces of the budget be decided
from there.
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na) said the Senate is very supportive
of the project and willing to carve out
the dollars early, but he’s not so sure
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visit east is a show of support, and
he hopes that when she returns to
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funding.
The $51.6 million would help
fund a three-phase plan developed
by the Northeast Oregon Water As-
sociation that would allow farmers to
pump extra water from the Columbia
Basin and also fund upstream proj-
ects that would help restore native
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acres of farmland into production in
Umatilla and Morrow counties.
Richard Whitman, who served
as Kitzhaber’s top natural resourc-
es advisor, has continued his role
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the governor this week and said he
has a high level of comfort in the
policy that has been presented to
lawmakers.