WEEKEND EDITION
300 DEAD
IN HAITI;
U.S. SOUTH
THREATENED
HURRICANE/9A
NINJA WARRIOR DREAMS 1C
TRUMP, CLINTON SCRAMBLE
OVER NEW LEAKS 10A
OCTOBER 8-9, 2016
140th Year, No. 256
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Visit the Pendleton
Round-Up Gift Shop
for a free keychain
r
Snake R i ve
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1 2
3 4
5 Colum b i a
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Hood
Kennewick
ash.
River W
84 Ore.
River The
Dalles
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8 9 12
10 Walla Walla
Umatilla 11
Pendleton
N
395
Wash.
Ore.
11 La Grande
12
20 miles
84
Marijuana retailers
near Umatilla County
ho
MARILYN DALE
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Residents in the municipalities of Pendleton, Hermiston and Milton-Freewater will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not
to allow both medicinal and recreational marijuana dispensaries into their communities on the November ballot.
Ida
Incumbent Sheriff Terry Rowan
said in his fi rst term, he has made the
sheriff’s offi ce more professional and
responsive.
Challenger Ryan Lehnert prom-
ised to use the offi ce, should he defeat
Rowan in the November election, to
improve mental health treatment.
He also said he
would
begin
working toward
agency accred-
itation in his
fi rst 100 days in
offi ce.
The
two
candidates met
this week with
the East Orego- Rowan
nian
editorial
board, laying out
their arguments
for the job.
Lehnert
expressed his
passion
for
helping people
with
mental
heath problems.
Most citizens Lehnert
who police deal
with routinely suffer from some kind
of mental heath crisis or addiction, he
said, and fi nding ways to help them
is the major challenge faced by law
enforcement.
Local police, emergency services
and mental health providers met last
week at a conference in Pendleton
to help identify and close gaps in
service. Lehnert said that was helpful,
but large gaps remain.
Lehnert said all the suicidal
people he has encountered as a
See CANDIDATES/12A
Ore
. S
nak
ho
e R
iv e r
Candidates lay out
arguments for job
POT
SHOPS
UP TO
VOTERS
Huntington
13
Ontario
14
A person in Pendleton would have to drive either
two hours west or east to legally purchase marijuana
and bring it back home with them. Retailers in Kennewick
and Walla Walla are closer, but bringing the marijuana back
across state lines would be a federal crime.
Voters in Pendleton, Hermiston and Milton-Freewater will
decide whether to legalize marijuana sales in November.
Dispensary/location
84
Type
1. Evergreen Hood River — Hood River
2. Gorge Greenery — Hood R.
3. High Winds Cannabis — Hood R.
4. Mountain View Naturals — Hood R.
5. The Gorge Green Cross — Hood R.
6. Columbia River Herbals — The Dalles
7. Green2Go — Kennewick, Wash.
8. Luscious Leaf — Walla Walla, Wash.
9. Walla Walla Weedery — Walla Walla
10. Walla Walla Cannabis Co. — Walla Walla
11. Eagle Cap Dispensary — La Grande
12. HWY 30 Cannabis — La Grande
13. 420ville — Huntington
14. Bunker Boys — Ontario
Sources: Oregon Liquor Control Commission;
Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board
Pendleton, Hermiston,
Milton-Freewater to decide
on dispensaries in November
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ida
Rowan,
Lehnert
duel for
sheriff
OF MILTON-FREEWATER
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Medical/Recreational
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Recreational
Med./Rec.
Med./Rec.
Medical
Medical
Med./Rec.
Medical
Antonio Sierra and Alan Kenaga/
EO Media Group
Pendleton was within one vote of
not seeing the legalization of mari-
juana sales on the ballot.
After initially siding in October
2015 with the majority to draft an
ordinance that would ban marijuana
sales outright, Councilor Chuck Wood
changed his mind after receiving an
outpouring of support to put the issue
to voters.
Without the necessary fi ve votes to
pass an ordinance, the councilors that
supported the ban reluctantly changed
their vote and unanimously agreed to
refer it to the ballot.
Despite playing a pivotal role
in bringing the issue to Pendleton
voters and having no regrets about
his decision, Wood remains fi rm in
his personal opposition to marijuana
sales. He remains unconvinced that
the tax money Pendleton would get
from marijuana dispensaries would
bring signifi cant revenue and said he
would need to see more empirical
evidence that pot shops would be
benefi cial to the community before he
could support it.
Two years after Umatilla County
voters rejected Measure 91 and mari-
juana legalization, voters in Pendleton,
Hermiston and Milton-Freewater will
get now get a chance to have their
say on both medical and recreational
marijuana sales in their communities.
Will the two years between
Measure 91 and these local ballot
initiatives represent a sea change in
public opinion on marijuana, or will
voters like Wood remain steadfast in
their opposition to retail marijuana?
Jim Moore, a political science
professor at Pacifi c University, leans
toward the latter scenario.
“It hasn’t really become a part of
the culture in the same way as the local
liquor store,” he said.
The fact that many local voters
still aren’t personally familiar with
dispensaries will work against the
referendum’s passage, Moore said.
According to a study by DHM
Research, only 7 percent of people
statewide have purchased recreational
marijuana at a retail store.
Another factor that could work
against it is a lack of campaign visi-
bility — among the dozens of commu-
nities across the state with marijuana
ballot issues, Moore said it’s rare to
see campaign signs for or against it.
That’s certainly true of the three
local cities, where signs for the
See MARIJUANA/12A
Palmer deposition contradicts statements on emails
Says office had
no policy on how
to retain emails
By LES ZAITZ
The Oregonian
JOHN DAY — Grant
County
Sheriff
Glenn
Palmer says he “never
reviewed” a state policy that
he has cited as justifi cation
for destroying government
emails.
In a recent deposition,
Palmer also contradicted
his earlier claim that it was
practice in his offi ce to print
emails, fi le the hard copies
and then delete the elec-
tronic versions. Under oath,
Palmer
he said his offi ce has no such
policy and he never told his
employees to handle emails
that way.
He also testifi ed that he
released cellphone records
only after redacting personal
calls, including calls to
people associated with a
militia.
Palmer’s
disclosures
came under questioning by
a lawyer for The Oregonian
as part of a lawsuit seeking
public records. In May, The
Oregonian/OregonLive
sued Palmer and his offi ce
after he ignored or declined
several requests for records
dating to February. That
included police reports,
cellphone records, emails,
his calendar and records of
handgun licenses. Oregon
law generally makes such
material open to the public.
Palmer
acknowledged
in subsequent court fi lings
that he had no electronic
versions of emails to turn
over because he routinely
deleted them from his
primary account. He has yet
to produce any hard copies
of emails.
Emails have become
a crucial resource for the
public and the press to
monitor the conduct of
public offi cials such as
Palmer. They can document
how government decisions
are made and who is infl u-
encing public offi cials.
During the deposition
in late September, the
sheriff asserted his Fifth
Amendment right against
self-incrimination 51 times
when questioned about his
email practices.
Palmer already is under
criminal investigation for
an allegation that in 2012 he
destroyed an electronic copy
of a police report.
In the deposition, Palmer
said:
• He considered calls to
or from those associated
with the occupation of the
Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge to be “personal”
so they didn’t have to be
disclosed to the public.
• Records of his govern-
ment-issued cellphone show
“many” personal phone
calls — a potential violation
of state ethics law prohibits
personal use of government
equipment.
•
He
frequently
See PALMER/12A