Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian BMCC: Ready to start turning plans into reality Continued from 1A I want to thank all of our supporters, including our employee associations, Board of Education, students, the Friends of BMCC, business partners and countless community members who came out to support our efforts. Without you, we would not be cele- brating right now.” Preus spent much of the past few months on the road in Umatilla and Morrow Counties, answering questions about the capital improvement bond, often making multiple appear- ances in a day. She is taking Friday off. “I plan to be standing in a stream and hopefully catching a ¿sh,” she said. She can ¿nally relax, something she hasn’t done too often since an earlier $28 million bond failed in November 2013 by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. After months of listening sessions to discover why more voters didn’t back the bond, college leaders whittled the measure into a package they considered a more palatable product. One voter who would have joined in the cele- bration, but couldn’t, was Roberta Anderson, who ¿lled out her ballot from her hospital bed only days before she died Friday at age 103. Anderson, a retired educator, cast her last vote in support of the bond. The Pendleton centenarian loved to read about politics and didn’t miss any opportunity to vote. She was of sound mind, said her daughter Carolyn Frasier, and adamant about participating despite being in her ¿nal days. “She considered every election important,” Frasier said. According to state elec- tion law, Anderson’s vote will count, even though she died before Election Day. Proceeds from the 15-year capital improvement bond will launch a precision agriculture program in Hermiston and a Workforce Training and Early Learning Center in Boardman. Proceeds will also renovate the Agricultural Center where supporters held their Tuesday night celebration. “I’m just really looking forward to bringing our plan to fruition,” Preus said. “We’ve talked about it for so long, and it will be exciting to see it come to life, ¿nally.” The president said the college is ready to start turning plans into reality. “We’ll be able to move quickly,” she said. Taber typed on his phone, trying to make sure of the numbers and ¿nally put it in his pocket. He said he’d had no idea whether the bond would Ày or go down. “We put in the time. We put in the effort. We put out the information,” he said. “All we could do was hope people would see the bene¿t of what we wanted to do.” Tomorrow, Taber said, he will drive around Pendleton and pick up yard signs. Including partial Morrow County returns, 5,233 voters were in favor of the bond and 4,740 were opposed. ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. MARIJUANA: ‘It’s a very subjective standard’ Continued from 1A marijuana since January, which has forced him to take extra measures to keep the odor from his car and house. “We normally open our windows in the early evenings to cool our house down in order to save energy,” he said. “The prevailing winds bring the odor from my neighbor’s house to my house. We will not be able to open our windows. It’s going to increase our energy bill.” Despite maintaining the grow for ¿ve years, Woods said Arbogast has only been complaining about the grow for the past several months. Woods said he has ¿lters installed into his ventilation system that dampen the smell. He added that there are stronger ¿lters on the market for commercial grows, but they are prohibi- tively expensive. Woods said he replaces ¿lters every four to ¿ve months and dries his medical marijuana every four months. Roberts said ¿lters could be used to mitigate the smell, but marijuana can emit odors even when its not in the drying process. “I’m not going to talk about the intensity,” he added. “It’s a very subjective standard in terms of whether people are offended by it or not.” Included in the amend- ment was also a provision that bans marijuana grows from public view. City Attorney Nancy Kerns said the provision was a public safety issue. “If I have a great bumper crop of marijuana in my backyard, I may have neigh- bors that don’t approve of marijuana and don’t want to have to look at it,” she said. “I may have people who see it from the street and think ‘I think I’ll sneak up there in the middle of the night and harvest some of that.’” Councilman Chuck Wood said there’s already a state law that requires marijuana be screened from public view. Mayor Phillip Houk said the provision could be considered a housekeeping measure. Ultimately, the amend- ment passed 6-1, with Coun- cilwoman Jane Hill voting against and Councilman Al Plute absent. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. EOTEC: Increased boardroom from 482 square feet to 600 Continued from 1A outside money and keep the Hermiston Conference Center for use by local groups; however, “there are three de¿nite community events that have outgrown the conference center.” “This building will be able to hold larger confer- ences,” she said. After examining plans drawn up by LRS Architects and G2 Construction, the authority did make a few changes while trying to stay within the building’s $2.7 million budget. Vijay Patel convinced the other board members that a long hallway stretching the length of the exhibition hall needed to be expanded from 12 feet to 15 feet wide so the hall could be used to locate commercial vendors, displays, buffet tables or other items. “Those corridors are becoming dead space other- wise,” he said. The group also agreed that they could do with less ground-level storage in order to increase the size of the boardroom from 482 square feet to 600. At the same time they asked the architect to swap the location of the board room and restrooms so that the restrooms were located directly off the front lobby instead of down the hall. A second 12 foot by 14 foot overhead door was added to the exhibition hall and the size of a mezzanine storage area was decreased to cut costs. Project manager Gary Winsand said after the blueprints were adjusted it would be about ¿ve or six weeks before G2 Construc- tion started work on the building. EOTEC’s next regular meeting is Friday, May 29 at 7 a.m. at the Stafford Hansell Government Center. The authority will go over the 2015-2016 budget and requests for proposals for construction of the livestock barns. ——— STUDENT OF THE WEEK Amie Zitterkob U MATILLA H IGH S CHOOL Amie is a senior with a 3.74 cumulative GPA. Amie is an outstanding young lady, who leads by example in the classroom and on the athletic field. Amie has competed in 2 years of volleyball, 1 year of cross country, 3 years of track and 1 year as football manager. Last year Amie placed 2nd at state in the 100 meters and 2nd In the 200 Meters. This year at the state track meet Amie will be competing in the 100 Meters, the 200 meters, the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay. In her free time Amie likes to read and hang out with friends. Amie’s favorite subject is history. In the future Amie plans on running in college and studying to be a nurse. Proudly Sponsored by Working Every Day for a Healthy Community 541-667-3400 • 610 NW 11 th • Hermiston Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Impeachment amendment passed by Oregon House By PETER WONG Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon would join the other states where legislators could remove the governor and other statewide of¿cials if a proposed constitutional amendment passed Tuesday by the House is eventually approved by voters. The 47-12 vote moved the proposed amendment to the Senate. If cleared there, voters would decide the matter in the November 2016 general election. The issue arose after inÀuence-peddling allega- tions that led to the resigna- tion of Gov. John Kitzhaber on Feb. 18. Kitzhaber could be removed from of¿ce otherwise only through a recall election — which under the Oregon Consti- tution could be initiated after six months into his new term — or through a felony conviction. A federal investigation is continuing of Kitzhaber and ¿ancpe Cylvia Hayes. “Most people in Oregon feel we already have the power (to impeach), and we do not,” said House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene. Impeachment would apply to the governor, secre- tary of state, state treasurer, attorney general and labor commissioner. The constitutional amendment would require a 60 percent vote by the House (36 of 60 members) to impeach an of¿cial on grounds of malfeasance, corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate would then conduct a trial. A 67 percent majority (20 of 30 members) would be required for removal of an of¿cial. Impeachment is a polit- ical process, and does not preclude criminal charges. “This resolution is not a weapon and should never be used as such,” said Rep. Jodi Hack, R-Salem, the other Àoor manager. “It is a tool for accountability of the executive branch and should be exercised for only that purpose.” But Rep. Mitch Green- lick, D-Portland, was one of a dozen opponents of the measure. He said the recall elec- tion, which is a century old, has served Oregon well. No statewide of¿cial has faced an actual recall election, although several attempts were mounted against Gov. Barbara Roberts in the 1990s. None obtained the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot. “I have watched the federal Congress make a mockery of the impeachment process,” Greenlick said in reference to the Republican effort to remove Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1998 and 1999. The House voted to impeach Clinton in connection with his affair with a White House intern, but the Senate fell far short of the two-thirds majorities required to convict him. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was the most recent governor to be impeached. He was removed by the Illinois Legislature in 2009, ahead of his conviction on federal criminal charges. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. HERMISTON: New charter takes effect July 1 Continued from 1A term has been expanded from two years to four. Mayor David Drotzmann’s current term, which began at the beginning of 2015, still will expire in two years. But after that the election for mayor will be held every four years. The new charter expands the list of reasons the city council can choose to remove a councilor or mayor from of¿ce, including unauthorized release of executive session material, absence from 50 percent of council meetings in a calendar year, conviction of a crime “punishable by loss of liberty” and moving out of the ward the councilor was elected to represent. The city manager also must now reside in the city. Provisions with speci¿c dollar amounts — that the city has to go out to bid on any project that costs more than $500, for example — were taken out of the charter so they could be speci¿ed by a more easily-updated ordinance instead. When the city crafted the new charter it originally put in language that would have changed the municipal judge to an appointed position, but after hearing concerns from some citizens the council voted to make it a separate amendment so that it didn’t damage the charter’s chances of passing. Smith said going into the election he wasn’t sure if the amendment would pass or fail, but the reasoning behind it was that it would add professionalism to the process if the judge had to be interviewed by the city council instead of campaigning. “The council would have seen it more as hiring for a position,” he said. Ultimately, however, Smith said the city heard from citizens who didn’t want to give up the oppor- tunity to choose their judge directly. “They felt it could have evolved into cronyism,” he said. Even though the amend- ment failed, the municipal judge position is still affected in one way by the new charter. The charter speci¿es that the judge must be licensed to practice law in the state of Oregon. Thomas Creasing, Hermiston’s current municipal judge, is a licensed attorney but Smith said the city has had at least one elected judge in the past who wasn’t. The new charter takes effect July 1. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. BUTTE CHALLENGE THANK YOU A special thank you to everyone who helped with the East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald 16th Annual Butte Challenge 5 & 10k Walk & Run. Each of you had a part in the success of this event. We should all be proud to be living in such a wonderful community! PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO THE HERMISTON HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY TEAM A & W Space Age Advanced Orthopedics Affordable Family Eyewear American Printing Banner Bank Big 5 Big River Golf Course Cell Fix Chuckwagon Cafe City of Hermiston Club 24 Columbia Court Club Columbia State Bank Community Bank Corp of Engineers Cottage Flowers, LLC Desert Lanes East Oregonian Eastern Oregon Physical Therapy Echo Hills Golf Course Express Employment Professionals Fiesta Foods Good Shepherd Medical Center Greg’s Sleep Center Hermiston Herald Jones, Greg D.D.S. Kopacz Nursery & Florist Larson, Jeremy D.D.S. Les Schwab, Hermiston Lucky Endz Gifts Oregon First Comm. Credit Union Papa Murphy’s Pendleton Country Club Pheasant Cafe & Lounge Rick’s Car Wash Runner’s Soul Safeway Sanitary Disposal Sears 60 Minute Photo Third Day Creations Tom Denchel’s Ford Country Umatilla County Fair Umatilla Electric Cooperative Westwinds Nursery Wieseler, Ryan D.D.S. Ye Olde Pizza Shoppe Thank you to our technical T-Shirt sponsors: Eastern Oregon Physical Therapy and Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute. Thank you to Inflatable Fun Gym for donating a bounce house. Also, thank you to our volunteers: Stacey & Colby Lerten, Kathy Bei, Steve, Audra & Natelie Workman, Cheri Montee, Dana Tassie, Kathy Otnes, Sam & Leslie Weimer and Payton & Jaydon Hoffert for donating their time to make this such a great community event. The Hermiston High School Cross Country team is very grateful.