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.