WEEKEND EDITION
REGION:
Pendleton
stars hit the
dance floor
Federal funds
available to
drought
counties 3A
LIFESTYLES 1C
MAY 30-31, 2015
139th Year, No. 162
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
PENDLETON
Council
to look at
marijuana
business
license
Odor ordinance
has Pendleton
grower worried
Will also look at utility
master plans, budget
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The draft ordinance for a special business
license for Pendleton medical marijuana
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tions marks.
The Pendleton City Council will begin
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a special work session before its regular
meeting Tuesday.
In a report to the city council, City
Attorney Nancy Kerns wrote the council
needed to address questions about mari-
juana cultivation, background check
criteria, business license renewal, licensing
fees, signage limitations, limiting licenses
and product labeling.
While any language in the draft can still
be changed, some wording featured in the
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Rules proposed in the draft include:
• No dispensaries can open earlier than 8
a.m. or close later than 6 p.m.
• All windows, doors and openings have
to be screened from the public.
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“objectionable odors” to the facility “to the
greatest extent feasible.”
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judging objectionable odors as “that of an
average, reasonable person with ordinary
sensibilities after taking into consideration
the character of the neighborhood in which
the odor is made and detected.”
• A dispensary can display an identifying
sign no larger than 10 square feet, but
cannot display any other promotional or
advertising materials outside the facility.
• Marijuana or tobacco products cannot
be consumed at a dispensary.
• The city manager or a designee can
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records of a dispensary “at any reasonable
time.”
The ordinance also included a provision
that limits the percentage of THC medical
marijuana could contain, although the exact
percentage is at the discretion of the city
council.
There was no price attached to a business
license fee either, which would need to be
passed in a separate resolution. The draft
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Medical marijuana has been legal in Oregon for more than seventeen years after voters passed Measure 67, the Oregon
Medical Marijuana Act, in 1998.
Police chief says no intent to inspect every smell
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Bobby Woods has grown and processed medical
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A new city law, though, could put an end to that.
Woods and others questioned the fairness and legality
of the nuisance ordinance passed by city council with a
6-1 vote on May 19. That ordinance prohibits the smell
of marijuana from escaping a property.
Woods said from his home on Southwest Marshall
Avenue that he watches people burn trash and tires in
the valley below, but no one seems to be going after
those folks for tainting the air with smoke and stench.
He also said he feared the new law would allow police
to harass him and others whenever someone believes
they smell pot. Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts
said that is not that intent of the ordinance.
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the marijuana odor ordinance was an unwarranted/
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Dry winter could mean early start to fire season
“People need to be safe and responsible, and realize they could
have fi nancial responsibility if they start a fi re.”
around July 4. But unless
June brings rain — and lots of
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be longer and hotter for local
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“Our powers that be are
looking at us to have an
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Williams said.
Fire danger is expected
to rise dramatically with the
— Mitch Williams, wildland protection supervisor for the Oregon Department of Forestry
See FIRE/12A
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season on public and private
lands.
With barely any remaining
Drought
conditions
in
Eastern Oregon are affecting snowpack, forests are drying
more than just the region’s out weeks ahead of schedule
IDUPV DQG ¿VK LW FRXOG PHDQ and crews have already
responded to several human-
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Mitch Williams, wildland
protection supervisor for the
Oregon Department of Forestry
in La Grande, said the district
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By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
See COUNCIL/12A
Student
shuffle
Proposed changes to the Pendleton School
Proposed boundaries
District’s elementary school boundaries.
37
North
gate
U ma
t illa
R
ve
i
Westgate
N. Main St.
30
395
Washington
Sherwood Heights
McKay Creek
Washington
Elementary
Lincoln Primary School
N.W. 10th St.
West Hills
Intermediate
School
84
See GROWER/12A
Bobby Woods has been growing medical marijuana for patients at his
Pendleton home for the last fi ve years.
East Oregonian
r
11
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urt A
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McKay Creek
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oad
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S.W. Perkins Ave.
11
84
N
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Sherwood Heights
Elementary
r.
.
Ave
Sou
thga
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PENDLETON
St.
S.W
. 28
.
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30
Pendleton releases
boundary proposal
2,000 feet
Source: Pendleton School District
Antonio Sierra and Alan Kenaga/
EO Media Group
In anticipation of North
Hill’s
two
elementary
schools
closing,
the
Pendleton School District
unveiled a new boundaries
proposal Tuesday.
The proposal sends
almost all North Hill students
to Washington Elementary
School.
The boundary between
Washington and Sherwood
Heights elementary schools
is divided by Highway
37, with the exception of
Northwest 21st Street and
the surrounding area, which
has been drawn into the
Sherwood Heights boundary.
The area between Court
Avenue
and
Interstate
Highway 84 is within the
Sherwood Heights boundary,
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South Hill. The Sherwood
boundary ends to the east at
Garner’s Sporting Goods on
Court.
Sherwood
Heights’
boundaries also include
an area east of Southgate,
between Interstate Highway
84 and Southwest 37th
Street, including Southwest
See BOUNDARY/12A