Page 8A
East Oregonian
MARIJUANA: Roberts
said he has seen more
pot-related DUII arrests
on that to make a difference?
I don’t know.”
in November 2016.
Councilman Al Plute
There is a drawback if said banning recreational
the city decides to opt out of marijuana sales would cost
any of the four recreational the city money because of a
marijuana retail categories product that’s already being
— producer, processor, bought and sold on the black
wholesaler and retailer. If market.
just one of those categories
“The bulk of the state,
are banned by the council or regardless of what Eastern
voters, the city wouldn’t be Oregon voted, the state voted
able to impose a tax of up to go forward with that,” he
to 3 percent of local sales or said. “So if ... we block it,
have access to the state tax we don’t get the money for
revenue sharing system.
the problems we’re going to
Councilman Chuck Wood have anyway.”
said medical marijuana
Roberts said he has seen an
wouldn’t be taxed under increase in marijuana-related
House Bill 3400.
DUII arrests in the month
Some councilors were recreational marijuana has
skeptical that taxes derived been legal. Roberts said one
from recreational marijuana of his concerns was the local
would be enough to cover drug task force would lose
the potential increased cost the $130,000 it gets from the
of public safety from mari- federal government because
juana-related crimes.
of Measure 91’s passage.
Police
Chief
Stuart
City Attorney Nancy
Roberts said he was unsure Kerns suggested the council
how much funding it would wait to take action until after
take to address the issue.
the League of Oregon Cities
“We operate with a staff releases a guide to the new
level, for the most part, marijuana laws later this
that’s minimally adequate,” month.
Roberts said. “Any dollars
———
are precious as far as I’m
Contact Antonio Sierra at
concerned. But is there asierra@eastoregonian.com
HQRXJK IRU VXI¿FLHQW UHWXUQ or 541-966-0836.
Continued from 1A
FAITH: Committee provides
volunteers to staff a number
of city and school projects
Continued from 1A
sensitive about separation of
church and state, avoiding
proselytizing and sticking
to nonreligious projects like
neighborhood
clean-ups.
But the faith of the seven
committee members — which
includes city councilman
Rod Hardin and leaders of
various local denominations
— inevitably shines through.
Most of Fraley’s stories about
the work of the committee
include the words “and then
he said he would pray about
it and get back to me.”
Fraley said he understands
that some people are very
sensitive about any connec-
tion between church and
state, but he thinks having a
committee of leaders from
the faith-based community
plays a valuable role in
passing city information on
to local congregations while
also allowing the city to tap
into a demographic that tends
to include a high number of
ready and willing volunteers.
“It’s a place to touch base,
where before there was no
connecting point,” he said.
The
committee
has
provided the volunteers to
staff a number of city and
school projects, including the
city’s free recycling day in
April.
In one of its ongoing
projects, each local school
was “adopted” by a local
congregation. Fraley said his
congregation adopted Desert
View Elementary, where the
church provides volunteers
for events and occasionally
brings treats for the staff.
“We reach out to the
teachers there to one, let
them know we care, two, let
them know we’re not there
to proselytize and three, let
them know they can call on
us when they need anything,”
he said.
The committee’s latest
project is called Family
Promise. During Tuesday’s
committee meeting Pastor
James Lafolette of Oasis
Vineyard explained that
joining the national Family
Promise program would
provide the committee an
opportunity to match trained
volunteer mentors with
families that are homeless or
in similarly disadvantaged
positions.
“What we’re proposing is
a mentoring program, where
“I think the longterm
implications are
incredibly promising
for our community.”
— Craig Fraley,
chair of the Faith-Based
Advisory Committee
we would take them by the
hand and walk them through
how to become more self-re-
liant,” Lafolette said. “... We
want to help individuals and
families become independent,
self-sustaining members of
the community.”
The committee was
hoping to hire a coordinator,
paid for by seed money the
city recently promised the
committee, by the end of July,
but won’t be ready for at least
another month. Lafolette said
the coordinator would help
train volunteers on connecting
families with resources and
recognizing the line between
helping and enabling.
Families would be in the
program, which will likely
begin in the spring, for about
a year before ideally being
able to carry on without it.
Lafollete also shared
information about getting
F QRQSUR¿W VWDWXV IRU
the program and said that
Dave Hughes of Martha’s
+RXVHKDGRIIHUHGIUHHRI¿FH
space for the Family Promise
coordinator.
Fraley said he is “abso-
lutely jazzed” about Family
Promise.
“This has so much poten-
tial for the community of
Hermiston if we do it right,”
he said.
He said forming connec-
tions with Hermiston School
District during his work on
the Faith-Based Advisory
Committee has really opened
his eyes to the number of
families in the community
struggling with poverty and
dysfunction.
He said focusing on getting
some of those families into a
more stable position in the
community is his top priority
for the Faith-Based Advisory
Committee right now.
“I think the longterm
implications are incredibly
promising for our commu-
nity,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
Friday, August 7, 2015
OFF PAGE ONE
JAPAN: Group will depart from Oregon August 18
Continued from 1A
host families.
The relationship between
the two cities started in 1998
when they began hosting
each other’s exchange
students. Pendleton took a
break in 2011 after a magni-
tude 9 earthquake unleashed
a tsunami that killed more
than 18,000 people and
damaged a nuclear facility
in the Fukushima Prefecture
where Minamisoma is
located.
A contingent of six
Pendleton students returned
recently from Minamisoma
with stories to tell. For those,
be sure to read next week’s
story in the East Oregonian.
On the Japanese students’
¿UVW GD\ LQ WKH 5RXQG8S
City, the Pendleton police
hosted them at the depart-
ment’s training range near
the airport. Besides shooting
a Taser gun, the students
ZDWFKHG FDQLQH RI¿FHU -RQ
Lehman put a drug-de-
tecting dog named Lucy
through her paces. They
REVHUYHG RI¿FHUV WUDLQLQJ
in a use-of-force scenario.
They shot a beanbag gun.
They learned how to use
D EDWRQ ¿UVW SUDFWLFLQJ RQ
a rubber dummy named
“Bob” and then facing
2I¿FHU -' /DPEHUW ZKR
wore a padded body suit.
The students attacked him
one by one. One of the
girls, apologized before she
commenced.
“I’m sorry,” she told
Lambert. “I’m sorry.”
The contingent from the
)DU(DVWVSHQWWKH¿UVWSDUWRI
the morning at the Pendleton
Woolen Mills. They donned
headphones and walked into
the world of weaving. The
hum of high-speed looms
enveloped them as guide
Lacie Schilling described
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ena Kanazawa, an exchange student from Pendleton’s sister city of Minamisoma,
Japan, uses a foam baton to strike a practice dummy while learning about police
tactics at the Pendleton Police Department’s firing range on Thursday in Pendleton.
what they were seeing as
they followed the process
from wool to yarn to blanket.
Schilling stopped every few
sentences to let the group’s
leader and translator, Tak
Haneda, paraphrase what
she had just said.
At 11 a.m., the students
trooped into the Pendleton
City Hall for a formal
welcome by city councilors.
On the way in, most stopped
in the hallway near the City
Council Chambers to look at
a framed letter from Mina-
misoma Mayor Katsunobu
Sakurai and the formal sister
city agreement.
In the chambers, City
Councilor
McKennon
McDonald read a letter
of welcome from Hiroshi
Furusawa, of the Consul
*HQHUDO &RQVXODU 2I¿FH
of Japan in Portland. He
advised them to express
appreciation
for
“this
precious opportunity” and
said “people from Oregon
ZHUH VRPH RI WKH ¿UVW
people to go to the Tohoku
(region where Minamisoma
is located) area after the
earthquake and tsunami four
years ago to volunteer and
offer support.”
After
statements
of welcome, the teens
introduced
themselves,
one by one. One of them,
16-year-old Akari Yamazaki,
said, “I’m very happy. I love
Pendleton.”
City Councilor Jane
Hill alluded to the somber
anniversary of the U.S.
dropping an atomic bomb
on
Hiroshima,
Japan,
70 years ago to the day.
She said she preferred to
remember another anniver-
sary - 20 years ago when
WKH ¿UVW IRUPDO FRQWLQJHQW
from Pendleton, that year’s
Round-Up Court, visited
Minamisoma.
This year, Pendleton
students delivered a gift
to Minamisoma leaders
of a crystal vase bearing
the Round-Up logo. On
Thursday, Haneda bestowed
Minamisoma’s gift to Pend-
leton, a carving of a samurai
horseman.
7KH ¿UVW GD\ DOVR
included lunch and video
games at Big John’s Pizza,
ride-alongs with Pendleton
SROLFHRI¿FHUVDFRROGULQN
DWWKH*UHDW3DFL¿FDVWUROO
down Main Street with
historian Keith May, a visit
to the Pendleton Center for
WKH$UWVDQGVHO¿HVZLWKWKH
“Sisters in Spirit” statue.
In the coming days, the
group will visit Walla Walla,
stay in cabins at the Bar M
Ranch and explore more of
Pendleton. Before their Aug.
18 departure, they will visit
Multnomah Falls, the Nike
World Headquarter and the
Oregon Zoo.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
DEBATE: Bush defended his call for path to legal immigration
Continued from 1A
of the contenders standing
alongside him clamored for
their piece of the spotlight
without
engaging
him
directly. They quarreled over
immigration, terrorism and
gay marriage, each casting
himself as the strongest to
take on Democratic front-
runner Hillary Rodham
Clinton. They also assailed
President Barack Obama and
his nuclear deal with Iran.
The closest former Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush, a favorite
of the party’s moderate,
establishment wing, came
to tangling with Trump
was a gentle critique of the
businessman’s over-the-top
rhetoric.
“Mr. Trump’s language is
divisive,” Bush said. “We’re
not going to win by doing
what Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton do every day
— dividing the country.”
On immigration, one of
the main topics of the night,
Bush defended his call for a
path to legal status for some
of the people living in the
U.S. illegally, an unpopular
position among some Repub-
lican voters who equate legal
status with amnesty.
Trump in particular has
pushed the issue of immigra-
tion throughout the summer,
drawing criticism for saying
Mexican immigrants are
rapists. He said Thursday that
he had been told that by border
patrol agents, and he took
credit for immigration being
an issue in the campaign.
Trump’s blunt style was
in line with the approach
he’s taken to his campaign
throughout the summer,
appealing to voters frustrated
with career politicians and
perplexing his rivals. He
HQWHUHGWKH¿UVWGHEDWHOHDGLQJ
WKHSROOVLQD¿HOG¿OOHGZLWK
governors and senators.
Seventeen Republicans
FACT CHECK
GOP candidates veer from the truth in 1st debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the
claims in the Cleveland debate and how
they compare with the facts:
DONALD TRUMP: “If it weren’t for
me, you wouldn’t even be talking about
illegal immigration.”
THE FACTS: Republicans have been
talking about immigration for at least 30
years, including former President George
: %XVK DQG WKH 5HSXEOLFDQ ¿HOG LQ WKH
2008 and 2012 presidential elections. In
2013, an immigration overhaul seeking
to address illegal immigration passed the
Senate with strong Republican support,
although the House never took it up. And
Republican debate about immigration has
RQO\ LQWHQVL¿HG LQ WKH ZDNH RI 3UHVLGHQW
Barack Obama’s sweeping executive action
shielding from deportation millions of
immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
JEB BUSH, on his goal of 4 percent
economic growth: “We can do this.”
THE FACTS: Most economists say
the U.S. under any president is unlikely to
grow consistently at even close to 4 percent,
ODUJHO\GXHWRWKHGLI¿FXOW\RIRYHUFRPLQJ
decades-long trends.
Current forecasts put growth averaging
half the rate of Bush’s goal. To grow the
economy faster, the country must either add
PRUHZRUNHUVRULQFUHDVHWKHLUHI¿FLHQF\VR
their time on the job generates more income.
The retirement of the baby boom generation
will shrink the number of workers in the
economy, making a huge increase of new
employees unlikely.
Only four of the 16 presidential terms
since World War II have experienced annual
economic growth averaging more than 4
SHUFHQWDIWHULQÀDWLRQDFFRUGLQJWRUHVHDUFK
published last year by Princeton University
economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson.
are seeking the party’s
nomination, but only 10 were
invited by debate host Fox
News to participate in the
main event based on their
showing in recent polls. The
remaining seven were rele-
gated to a pre-debate forum.
On stage in his home
state, Ohio Gov. John Kasich
BUSH: “You get rid of Obamacare
and replace it with something that doesn’t
suppress wages and kill jobs.”
THE FACTS: According to the Labor
Department, the unemployment rate was
9.9 percent in March 2010, when Obama
signed the Affordable Care Act. In June of
this year, it had fallen to 5.3 percent. The
economy has added more than 12 million
jobs since March 2010.
While the health care law doesn’t
seem to have had a major impact on jobs,
some lesser consequences are likely. The
&RQJUHVVLRQDO %XGJHW 2I¿FH SURMHFWHG
that having government subsidized health
insurance will prompt some people to
leave the labor market, since they can get
coverage without a job.
And although Republicans may be able
to repeal Obama’s law, it’s unclear if and
how they would replace it. The party has
yet to rally behind a plan of its own, partly
because of internal ideological differences.
Some Republicans say it would be the
2016 presidential nominee’s job to forge a
consensus.
TRUMP: “We’re giving them (Iran)
$150 billion plus” in sanctions relief under
the nuclear deal.
THE FACTS: That might be an exag-
geration.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has said
Iran has $100 billion in foreign reserves
that it’s been unable to access. After
sanctions relief, Treasury estimates that
Iran will be able to freely access about half
of that $100 billion. He said more than
$20 billion is inaccessible because it is
committed to projects with China and tens
of billions of other restricted funds are in
non-performing loans to Iran’s energy and
banking sector.
VRXJKWWRUDLVHKLVSUR¿OHE\
striking an optimistic tone
on the economy, saying
all Americans need an
opportunity to “share in this
great American dream.” He
said that while he favored
traditional marriage, he had
recently attended a same-sex
wedding and would support
his children if they were gay.
A raucous crowd cheered
the candidates on throughout
the debate in Cleveland, the
same city where Republicans
will nominate their general
election candidate next
summer. No Republican
has ever won the presidency
without winning Ohio.
ANNOUNCEMENT .... ANNOUNCEMENT
Smiley RV Sales
proudly announces that two longtime service
techs are taking over the RV repair and parts/
accessory store. The new business name is
K and K RV Center
Music John Macbeth & Nick Berg
on the
Lawn
Mandi Miller &
FRIDAY, AUG. 7
SATURDAY, AUG. 8
Margaret Mayer
6:00-9:00 PM
H AMLEY S TEAK H ouse & S aloon
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
Kirk McDonald and Keith Jenkins bring a
combined 35 years of experience with them.
This change-over will be in August 2015.
Come in and say hi to Kirk, Keith and Roxane,
who will be running the parts store. They will
gladly help you with any of your RV needs.
Same location, same faces, same great service-
-just a new name!
541-938-6562, voice mail 509-586-4140
Smiley RV Sales will still be open, doing late-
model RV sales & consignments.
1-800-338-6562, smileyrv@gmail.com