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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2015)
WEEKEND EDITION NORTHWEST: NAACP leader lied about her race 2A ENTERTAINMENT: Goonies nostalgia never dies 3C Going electric OREGON NATIONAL CHAMPS TRACK/1B LIFESTYLES 1C JUNE 13-14, 2015 139th Year, No. 172 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Broadcaster awarded BMCC’s fi rst honorary degree $1.50 Top employers take different approaches to drug testing Wildhorse to allow hiring workers who test positive for marijuana By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian state testing. Hansell acknowledged that ZDVD³PDMRUFRQFHUQ´GLVFXVVHG by the Senate Thursday, but he felt the bill’s sponsors convinc- ingly vetted the concern by arguing that the federal govern- ment wouldn’t actually pull that much money from a state’s education system, especially not with the state’s Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., dedicated to making sure that Measure 91 will change many things on July 1, but it won’t change a common practice among many large employers — drug screening. Although marijuana possession and consumption will become legal this summer, Oregon legislators will continue to give employers the discretion to block a hire or terminate an employee based on a positive marijuana test. Based on the changing landscape, two of Pendleton’s largest employers are taking different tacks when it comes to screening for marijuana. 7RP <RXQJ WKH ¿QDQFH PDQDJHU IRU Keystone RV Co., said the city’s second largest employer won’t change its drug “Personally, testing policy. I don’t see any In addition to marijuana, difference Keystone tests for between other narcotics and alcohol. marijuana Young, who’s also a member and alcohol.” of the Pendleton — Gary George, City Council, Wildhorse CEO said Keystone initiates tests in three different situations — a pre-employment screening, after work-related accidents and in ³SUREDEOHFDXVH´LQFLGHQWVZKHUHWKHFRPSDQ\ suspects an employee is impaired. Young stressed that Keystone’s policy wasn’t anti-marijuana, but rather anti-im- pairment — the company wants to use drug tests to avoid work related mishaps that could endanger employees. ³:HGRQ¶WQHHGSHRSOHORSSLQJRII¿QJHUV EHFDXVHWKH\¶UHLPSDLUHG´KHVDLG There are a few exceptions to the rule. Young said employees and candidates can pass a drug test with the presence of prescription drugs in their system as long as they inform the tester ahead of time and show proper documentation. That exception doesn’t apply to medical marijuana. Young said any type of marijuana is still grounds for termination because it’s against federal law. Marijuana and other mind-altering substances have kept many potential employees IURP¿QGLQJZRUNDW.H\VWRQH²<RXQJVDLG 40 percent of Keystone candidates are rejected because they couldn’t pass the pre-employment drug screening. While marijuana regulations are loosened in Oregon and other states around the country, Young doesn’t anticipate Keystone changing its policy any time soon. See TESTING/12A See MARIJUANA/12A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Radio host and keynote speaker Butch Thurman receives the fi rst honorary Associates of Arts degree from BMCC President Cam Preus after speaking during the graduation ceremony on the BMCC campus in Pendleton. Thurman honored more that three decades after leaving school that allowed for honorary degrees. The honor blindsided Thurman. On graduation night, the XQVXVSHFWLQJ 7KXUPDQ ¿UVW VSRNH WR WKH Butch Thurman was dubious when Blue graduates who make up the school’s largest Mountain Community College President graduating class ever. He admitted that his Camille Preus asked him to give this year’s failure to graduate “haunts me from time to WLPH´DQGH[KRUWHGWKHJUDGVWR³SXVK\RXUVHOI commencement address. ³,¶GEHKRQRUHG´7KXUPDQWROG3UHXV³EXW to take risks — and don’t take no for an answer LILW¶VVRPHWKLQJ\RXUHDOO\EHOLHYHLQ´ &DP,GLGQ¶WJUDGXDWH´ After the applause came the surprise from Thurman, who attended BMCC from 1979 to 1981, had detoured into a career in radio Preus, who came to the microphone and broadcasting instead of graduating. On Friday presented the honorary degree. “The fact that Butch is the 2015 BMCC evening, however, more than three decades after leaving academia, Thurman received BMCC’s Commencement speaker brings his success full FLUFOHWRZKHUHLWDOOVWDUWHGEDFNDWWKHFROOHJH´ ¿UVWHYHUKRQRUDU\GHJUHH In order to make this happen, the school’s Preus said. “He deserves to leave commence- board of education had to add policy language See BMCC/12A By KATHY ANEY and ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian BMCC student body Gender: about even between male and female White: 60 percent Hispanic: 25 percent Younger than 18: 24 percent 18-21: 24 percent 22-26: 12 percent 27-35: 14 percent 26-45: 11 percent 46-61: 12 percent Older than 61: 3 percent Credit students: 1,053 full- time and 1,650 part-time Non-credit students: 1,784 Legislature passes testing opt-out bill By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian A bill headed to Governor Kate Brown’s desk could decrease the number of students taking state tests next year. House Bill 2655 would allow parents to opt their student out of the Smarter Balanced tests for any reason, not just medical or religious ones, and requires school districts to mail the opt-out forms to parents with a notice explaining their ability to exempt their child from the tests. Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) voted in favor of the bill Thursday. He said he has heard concerns from constituents and lobbyists about the new tests and wanted to support parents’ rights to have a say in their child’s education. “This will allow parents to PDNHGHFLVLRQV´KHVDLG In addition to making it easier to opt out of standardized testing, HB 2655 also keeps the state from penalizing schools that have less than 95 percent of their students participate in the tests. The Oregonian reported Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Deborah Delisle emailed Oregon school super- intendent Rob Saxton that Oregon schools stood to lose their federal Title I funding if the state violated the part of its No Child Left Behind waiver requiring at least 95 percent of each student group (including racial minorities and special education students) participate in 13 states to share $10M WRUHGXFHZLOG¿UHULVNV ects support our efforts to protect our nation’s landscapes for this DQGIXWXUHJHQHUDWLRQV´ Eight of the states are in the BOISE, Idaho — Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has West, with projects in conifer announced $10 million for land forests and sagebrush rangelands, restoration projects in 13 states in ZKHUH ZLOG¿UHV KDYH EHHQ a strategy to reduce catastrophic especially destructive in the last decade. Sagebrush also is habitat ZLOG¿UHV Jewell said Friday making land for sage grouse, an imperiled bird PRUH UHVLOLHQW WR ¿UH LV HVVHQWLDO under consideration for federal for vulnerable species and for protections. To the east, Georgia, Florida, healthy rangelands, forests and Virginia and North and South watersheds. “These projects will restore Carolina are receiving $770,000 critical landscapes, which is essen- to help restore longleaf pine tial for mitigating the impacts of forests, home to the endangered ¿UH DQG FOLPDWH FKDQJH´ -HZHOO See FIRE/12A said in a statement. “These proj- By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press James Quigg/The Victor Valley Daily Press via AP, File Firefi ghters battle a wildfi re in The Mojave Narrows Regional Park March 31 in Victorville, California. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Friday announced $10 million for projects to restore health and fi re resilience in mainly Western states but also two states in the East.
