PENDLETON Wind knocks
PAIR GOES
out power,
DIVISION 1
closes I-84
Irrigon
man still
missing
49/38
SPORTS/1B
REGION/3A
PAGE 8A
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015
140th Year, No. 24
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Pot sales ban hits second stalemate
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
A lot can change in a month.
Pendleton City Councilor
Chuck Wood, who voted to draft
a marijuana sales ban Oct. 20,
changed his position and voted
Tuesday not to support a ban
without letting voters have the ¿ nal
say in November 2016, creating a
4-4 stalemate.
Without the requisite ¿ ve votes,
More online
For video of the city
council meeting visit
eastoregonian.com
the Pendleton City Council was
forced to extend consideration of
the ban to the Dec. 1 meeting.
Mayor Phillip Houk opened the
public hearing by saying he would
only allow members of the public
who had not already spoken at the
Brown:
State will
continue
taking
Syrian
refugees
revenue from marijuana sales.
Hamby said Pendleton could
put regulations in place that
ensured marijuana businesses did
not overtake the city, like the caps
some Colorado cities put on the
number of marijuana retailers that
could be located in their towns.
If the council wasn’t in favor of
full-on marijuana sales legaliza-
tion, Hamby said a referring the
See MARIJUANA/8A
Irrigon institutes ban
Irrigon City Council voted
Tuesday to ban the sale and
production of marijuana in the
city, including medical
marijuana dispensaries and
recreational marijuana shops.
The vote was 4-2, with
councilors Margaret Anderson
and Michelle Hagen opposing
the ordinance.
LAB CAN’T
TEST DRUGS
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown announced on Twitter
Tuesday that Oregon will
continue to accept refugees
after a suspect in the Paris
attacks was found to possess
a Syrian passport.
The governor had declined
to comment Monday on
her position on accepting
refugees from the war-torn
Middle Eastern country,
where ISIS has taken a foot-
hold.
“Clearly, Oregon will
continue to accept refugees,”
Brown tweeted. “They seek
safe haven, and we will
continue to open the doors
of opportunity to them. The
words of the Statue of Liberty
apply in Oregon just as they
do in every other state.”
Brown’s position contrasts
with that of at least 27
governors, mostly Republi-
cans, who say they want to
block more Syrian refugees
from entering their states,
according to several media
reports.
Governors
have
no
authority to reject Syrian
refugees but could seek to
reduce state services provided
to the newcomers. The
federal government decides
immigration policy. President
Obama recently announced
that the United States would
accept 10,000 Syrian refu-
gees in the next year
Only one Syrian refugee to
date has settled in Oregon, to
according to the state Depart-
ment of Human Services.
last meeting to voice their support
or opposition to the ban.
Two people spoke against the
ban, bringing the running total of
opponents and supporters to 12-4
— in favor of ban opposers.
Pendleton resident Vaughn
Hamby said he went door-to-door
to collect opinions on the proposed
marijuana bans, with many people
he talked with critical of the city’s
campaign to pass a 5-cent gas
tax while potentially denying tax
Pendleton crime lab voluntarily
stops testing while former
employee is investigated for theft
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The Oregon State Police crime lab stopped processing drug evidence after a forensic analyst came under suspicion for stealing pills.
Labs in Pendleton, Bend also forfeit accreditation
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Oregon State Police crime
labs in Pendleton and Bend lost
their accreditation to analyze drug
evidence. The Pendleton lab has
not been able to do such work since
July.
Forensic analyst Nika Larsen,
who worked at both locations,
remains under criminal investiga-
tion for stealing pills.
Larsen worked on 1,354 cases
for Umatilla County, according to a
Sept. 28 letter from District Attorney
Dan Primus, hundreds more than he
initially estimated. Morrow County
District Attorney Justin Nelson now
pegs the number Larsen worked on
for his of¿ ce at 130, 50 more than
his previous assessment.
The East Oregonian obtained
copies of letters the two district
attorneys sent to local defense
lawyers in early October revealing
the state police Forensic Services
Division opted to suspend drug
testing in Pendleton on July 28 and
in Bend on Sept. 3. Larsen trans-
EO fi le photo
Oregon State Police crime lab director out of Pendleton, Keith Kerr,
gestures while talking about the chemistry testing area at the
Pendleton crime lab in 2011.
ferred between the two labs from
2012 until state police placed her on
administrative leave on Aug. 27.
Primus and Oregon State Police
did not return phone calls seeking
comment.
State police Capt. Theodore
Phillips, the interim director of
the Oregon State Police Forensics
Division, began an inspection of
drug evidence at the Pendleton lab
on July 20 “in response to a report
of missing controlled substances
from that laboratory,” according to
a copy of a Sept. 9 sworn statement
he made. The Pendleton lab stopped
taking drug evidence July 30, Phil-
lips reported, and transported it all
to the Portland crime lab or sent it
back to police agencies.
Phillips “established there was
probable cause to believe a crime had
been committed on Aug. 26” after
an examination of drug evidence
in Klamath County. He questioned
Larsen on Aug. 27, and that led to
her paid suspension pending the
outcome of the investigation.
Phillips also reported changes to
some lab policies.
The lab used a key lock system
to track state police employees,
including forensic analysts, who
accessed the main evidence
locker. But now, “[u]nder normal
operations” only the lab support
specialist and supervisor have direct
access to that room. In addition, at
least two staff members must be
involved whenever anyone accesses
drugs. Other changes require more
information about who uses drug
See LAB/8A
HERMISTON
Lack of public transportation hinders some residents
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Dale Orem, of Hermiston, climbs inside a Umatilla Cab Company
taxi for a ride to Loneys Martial Arts Center on Main Street. Taxi
driver Mickey Trujillo stands by to close the door.
Every time Dale Orem leaves his
house, it costs him.
Orem is one of many Hermiston
residents who deals with the daily
challenges of not owning a car in a
city with no public transportation
system. If he walks, he might use an
hour of his day to make the round
trip. If he uses a taxi, the fare chips
away at his limited ¿ xed income.
“This town is not big, but it’s
huge when you think of it in terms of
walking,” he said.
Orem has a driver’s license, but
looking at his budget he said if he got
together the money to buy a car he
wouldn’t be able to pay for insurance,
gas, maintenance, DMV fees, tires
and other costs.
“It’s doable to live with
just the taxi system in
town, but it’s just not
cutting the mustard.
It’s an existence but it’s
not a happiness.”
— Dale Orem, Hermiston resident
Instead, he buys $32 worth of
tickets — 16 one-way trips — a
month from the city’s senior and
disabled taxi program.
“Thankfully I’ve got friends who
will take me if I need to go to the
Tri-Cities or Walla Walla, but when
I moved here I didn’t know a soul,”
See TRANSPORTATION/8A