REGION/3A
Hermiston
students get
down & dirty
SEAHAWKS BACK
TO WINNING WAYS
FOOTBALL/1B
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015
140 Year, No. 6
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
PENDLETON
Plute’s path out of pot-hole
•
•
•
A Very Poplar Run at
Boardman Tree Farm
Day of Service, Saturday
in Milton-Freewater
Free health screenings,
Saturday in Hermiston
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
Marijuana tax could
help pay for roadwork
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Pendleton City Council
has debated nearly every aspect of
medical and recreational marijuana
sales, but Councilor Al Plute hopes
a new equation will convince his
colleagues to consider the positive
impact the tax revenue would have.
Contesting Councilor Chuck
Wood’s
previous
from Colorado, the
estimate that the More inside
state tax distribution
state pro¿ t share for The OLCC is close to
formula and an esti-
recreational marijuana approving its rules on mate over how many
would only bring marijuana sales. 2A
people would live in
$5,900, Plute argued
towns that allowed
that his math showed
marijuana sales, Plute
the city would generate signi¿ cantly projected the city could generate
more money.
$89,250 from the state marijuana tax
Plute provided a copy of his calcu- and $42,000 from a city-imposed 3
lations to the city council on the back percent tax on Pendleton marijuana
of a frequently asked questions sheet retailers.
about marijuana regulations from the
Plute said he didn’t want to “cast
League of Oregon Cities.
aspersions” on Wood, but maintained
8sing ¿ rst-year marijuana sales the councilor made a error in how he
calculated his estimate.
Until July 1, 2017, the state will
disperse its marijuana tax to cities and
counties based on the population of
localities that opted into marijuana.
Plute said Wood compared Pendle-
ton’s population to the state popula-
tion rather than the total population of
cities that opted in.
Wood is on a month-long vacation
and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Plute admitted in an interview
Thursday that his calculations were
See POT/10A
COUNTY COUNSEL:
62/37
59/38
Sheriff is
overstepping
his authority
64/43
Watch a game
vs.
By KYLE SPURR
EO Media Group
Hood River vs. Hermiston
Friday, 7 p.m.,
at Kennison Field
Dave O’Neill and Randy Bracher
are riding high these days.
Two years ago, the pair of
Pendleton Round-Up directors
started selecting the rough stock
animals to burst out of the chutes
each September at the Pendleton
Round-Up. This week, they learned
that the Professional Rodeo Cowboy
Association has honored their
efforts with the Remuda Award for
providing “the best, most consis-
tent pen of bucking horses.” The
Round-Up will collect the award at
December’s National Finals Rodeo
Awards Banquet in Las Vegas.
Grant County’s legal
counsel released an opinion
Wednesday
claiming
Sheriff Glenn Palmer is
overstepping his authority
by creating his own Public
Lands Natural Resources
Plan.
Palmer deputized 11
county
residents
last month
to
write
and adopt
the
plan
to invoke
coordina-
tion with
the U.S. Palmer
Forest
Service
and inÀ uence the manage-
ment of public lands.
Authority
to
create
such a plan belongs to the
county court, not the sheriff,
according to county counsel
Ron Yockim.
“Bottom line is he is
overstepping his authority
and reaching into legislative
land use matters that are the
county court’s role,” Yockim
wrote. “He may have
authority to develop plans
and policies that are within
his statutory authority as
sheriff (e.g. law enforcement
policies) but any coordi-
nation of these plans and
policies is under a different
coordination authority than
the one he cited.”
The legal opinion was
publicly released during a
county court work session
Wednesday. The work
session was scheduled to
discuss concerns about
the working relationship
between the sheriff and the
Forest Service.
Palmer did not attend the
work session. He declined to
comment on why he did not
attend, but did say he believes
the county court should not
be getting involved with
another elected of¿ cial’s
business.
“It’s none of the county
court’s business to interject
themselves into another
elected of¿ cial’s affairs like
this,” Palmer said.
Commissioner
Chris
Labhart said he called for the
work session after reading
Palmer’s comments in a
Blue Mountain Eagle article
earlier this month where he
said, “I ask for things from
the Forest Service to do my
job, and I get the door shut in
my face.”
Labhart hoped the work
session would open dialogue
between the two parties and
See STOCK/10A
See SHERIFF/10A
Ryan to
run for
Speaker
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Rep. Paul Ryan formally
declared his candidacy for
speaker of the U.S. House
Thursday evening, pledging
in a letter to GOP colleagues,
“We have an opportunity to
turn the page.”
“Instead of rising to the
occasion, Washington is
falling short—including the
House of Representatives.
We are not solving the
country’s problems; we are
only adding to them,” he
wrote. It is time, he said,
“to start with a clean slate,
and to rebuild what has been
lost.”
Ryan will face elections
next week in a closed-door
House GOP meeting on
Wednesday and then on the
House À oor Thursday. His
success is assured.
Awaiting him will be a
mess of trouble: a Nov. 3
deadline to raise the federal
borrowing limit or face
unprecedented default, and
a Dec. 11 deadline to act on
must-pass spending legisla-
tion or court a government
shutdown.
Despite initial reluctance,
Ryan told colleagues he was
excited for the opportunity
at hand.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Oregon State Police troopers and school administrators gather in front of McKay Elementary School
after the school was evacuated after reports of a suspicious powder emanating from a student’s backpack
Thursday in Pendleton. Upon further investigations it was determined to be a false alarm and students
returned to their classrooms.
False alarm becomes evacuation drill
McKay students return to school
after powdery false alarm
East Oregonian
McKay Creek Elementary School in
Pendleton was evacuated for about an hour
Thursday.
Initially, there was a report of a possible
explosive device inside a military-style
backpack. That turned out not to be the case.
A 9-year-old third grade student brought
his father’s camouÀ age backpack to school
for show and tell. The boy’s father served with
the National Guard in Iraq and the boy wanted
to bring a picture of his father and the pack to
show his classmates. Also in the bag, unknown
to the boy, was some weightlifting powder.
See MCKAY/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
McKay Creek Elementary School students are loaded onto
buses after the school was evacuated Thursday in Pendleton.
Pendleton Round-Up snags top stock award
Remuda Award
given for selecting
best bucking horses
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Evan Jane of Marseille, France, rides Rapper Margie from the Cal-
gary Stampede Ranch during bareback riding last September at the
Pendleton Round-Up.