Thursday, December 1, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
FARM: EOTEC space allows for more programming STREET: List will be
Continued from 1A
updated for next season
controlling garden pests such
Page 8A
East Oregonian
as slugs and snails. Chris
Schachtschneider, livestock
extension agent for OSU
in Umatilla and Morrow
counties, led the discussion
on poultry while Andony
Melathopoulos, with OSU’s
Pollinator Health Extension
Program, talked about basic
beekeeping with the group.
The overall goal of the
small farm seminar, Sanders
said, was to provide some-
thing for people who may
have felt left out of the Farm
Fair in the past.
“A lot of the aim of the
Farm Fair is those large
producers,” she said. “We
wanted to target those people
with smaller acreages and
more diverse production.”
Other
additions
to
this year’s Farm Fair
lineup include a livestock
management seminar led
by Schachtschneider, and a
second session on growing
cereal crops such as wheat
and canola. Both are slated
for Thursday afternoon from
1-5 p.m.
Along with more room
for experts to share research,
EOTEC has made way for
more vendors to showcase
their wares at the trade show.
Sixty businesses are on hand
to discuss the latest in farm
technology, and tools to
increase yield.
Richard
Scott,
with
Elmer’s Irrigation in Herm-
iston, said it seemed like
more people were checking
out the booths than in
previous years.
“It’s been pretty positive,”
Scott said. “I think they’ve
done a nice job on this
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC freshman Jonathan Macias of Hermiston talks with Bruce and Dixie Hol-
lomon of Hermiston about potato pyllids, a small insect that can damage pota-
to crops, at an Oregon State University extension office booth Wednesday at the
Hermiston Farm Fair.
building. It fits the bill quite
nicely.”
Kalie Davis, manager
of the SAGE Center in
Boardman, noticed that with
more space, people were
more inclined to stop and
have longer conversations
without feeling like they
were in the way or being
herded around the room.
“It’s definitely easier to
navigate in here,” Davis said.
Kevin Cochrane, retail
account manager for DuPont
in Kennewick, said this is
his first year attending the
Farm Fair. And though he
never experienced the event
in the Hermiston Conference
Center, he said plenty of
people were excited about
the new setup.
“It’s a comfortable spot to
FAIR: Driscoll hired as
sponsorship coordinator
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Juan Salamanca, left, and Antonio Echeverria, both of
Hermiston, look at the front bucket on a Case tractor
Wednesday at the Hermiston Farm Fair.
be,” Cochrane said. “It’s a lot
larger, with room to grow.”
The Hermiston Farm
Fair continues Thursday and
Friday. EOTEC is located
1705 E. Airport Road.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
TEST: Trump can reverse Obama approach to pot
Continued from 1A
Oregon has 18
laboratories accredited to
test marijuana, but just four
are able to test for pesticides.
Other marijuana traits
that are tested for include
microbial contamination,
solvents and potency.
Potency testing has also
encountered problems since
it became mandatory on Oct.
1, said Rhoades.
Marijuana growers were
receiving greatly variable
results from different labs,
and so were flocking to
those providing the highest
potency ratings, he said.
“Lab shopping was
happening all over the
place,” he said.
Regulators are now trying
to create a standardized
testing protocol for potency
so growers can expect
uniform results, Rhoades
said.
Taxes from marijuana
sales in Oregon are expected
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Jeff Rhoades, senior adviser on marijuana policy to
Gov. Kate Brown, speaks to the Oregon Board of Agri-
culture at its Nov. 30 meeting in Wilsonville.
to be a boon to state coffers,
but first the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission must
be repaid for its extensive
work in creating a regulatory
system for the crop, he said.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture has also
been heavily involved
in regulations involving
pesticides, food safety and
accurate scale systems,
FBI: Islamic State group might
have inspired Ohio State attacker
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)
— A Somali-born student
who carried out a car-and-
knife attack at Ohio State
University might have been
inspired by the Islamic State
group and a former al-Qaida
leader, investigators said
Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials
said that it’s too soon to
say the rampage that hurt
11 people on Monday was
terrorism. They said they
aren’t aware of any direct
contact between the Islamic
State group and the attacker,
Ohio State student Abdul
Razak Ali Artan.
“We only believe he may
have been inspired” by the
group, said Angela Byers,
the top FBI agent overseeing
federal investigations in the
southern half of Ohio.
Artan also might have
been influenced by Anwar
al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric
who took a leadership role in
al-Qaida before being killed
in a 2011 U.S. drone strike in
Yemen, Byers said.
Al-Awlaki has been cited
as inspiration by numerous
terror suspects over the
years, including the brothers
who bombed the Boston
Marathon, the Army psychi-
atrist who killed 13 people at
Fort Hood, Texas, and, more
recently, the man charged in
bombings in New York and
New Jersey.
Rep. Adam Schiff of
California, the top Democrat
on the House Intelligence
Committee, said investiga-
to detail and clean-up work
through mid-December.
Utility fee revenue also
helped pay for a $216,149
crack seal package that
covered 64 streets, which
Patterson said is almost
complete. The city is also
doing some pavement work
in relation to replacing a
water line under Southeast
Byers Avenue, which is
also almost finished.
Despite some of the
shortfalls, Patterson said
he was happy with the new
process and the work that
was done.
The next time around,
Patterson said he wants
staff to do a better job of
informing homeowners to
check their utility laterals
while the road is torn up
for repairs, rather than
have them request a street
cut after the repairs are
finished.
Patterson
said
employees are already
updating the rolling list for
next year, when the needs of
underground utilities might
complicate the next batch
of streets up for repair.
Patterson also said he’s
going to keep on eye on
Salem, where the Legisla-
ture could pass a transpor-
tation package that includes
a state gas tax increase.
Although
Pendleton
will get a share of any
increase in the state gas
tax, Patterson warned that
it will be produce a much
smaller amount of revenue
compared to a local gas tax.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Rhoades said.
Exactly how the agency
will be repaid for these
efforts is currently unclear,
though the issue is being
discussed and will likely
surface during the 2017
legislative session, he said.
Marijuana remains illegal
under federal law, which
has made banks leery — a
complication that raises
additional issues, Rhoades
said.
“It’s an all-cash business
at this point, which creates
public safety concerns and
tax collection concerns,” he
said.
Regulators in Oregon
and the seven other states
where recreational marijuana
is now legal were hoping
for clarity from the federal
government that would
enable more banking
involvement, he said.
With the recent election
and upcoming change in
administrations, there’s great
uncertainty about federal
policy, Rhoades said.
The Obama
administration’s approach
— which allows recreational
marijuana as long as it’s kept
out of the black market and
away from children, among
other measures — can be
immediately reversed by the
Trump administration, he
said.
and said gate sales for CCR
were $58,000.
“In my mind it is difficult
to argue we made money,”
Pahl said.
Though “parallel sales,”
such as beer and food,
make a difference, he said
those sales also may have
occurred if a different act
was on the stage.
The county fair as a
whole, though, made about
$40,000 in 2016. Commis-
sioners want to make sure
that doesn’t change, even
though many other things
will next year when the fair
moves to EOTEC.
The county board voted
last week to provide the fair
with a “sponsorship/activity
coordinator” to oversee
advertising,
marketing
and sponsorships. The
new job pays a salary of
$44,026 a year plus bene-
fits. The board appointed
Cindy Driscoll to fill the
role. She most recently
handled advertising for the
Hermiston auto dealer Tom
Denchel Ford and used to
work in advertising at the
East Oregonian. She will
have an office at the fair’s
new home in the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center, Hermiston.
Creating the new posi-
tion bumped the county
fair’s paid staff from 1.5 to
two full-time employees.
“In my mind
it is difficult
to argue we
made money.”
— Robert Pahl,
Umatilla County chief
financial officer
However, the county in
September cut the fair
manager and grounds
maintenance worker posi-
tions when the fair moved
into the event center. The
manager’s salary was about
$62,200 a year and the
maintenance lead made
about $35,200 a year.
Pahl said the county
could see some savings in
the restructuring, partic-
ularly without the annual
cost of maintaining the old
fairgrounds.
Commissioner George
Murdock said while the fair
no longer needs a manager,
the sponsorships bring in
“north of $150,000” and
are critical to the fair’s
economic
sustainability.
He said he remains nervous
about the county’s obli-
gations if EOTEC fails to
break even, and he does
not want to have similar
concerns about the fair.
The county, he said,
needs both to cover their
costs.
SUBMIT COMMUNITY NEWS
Submit information to: community@eastoregonian.
com or drop off to the attention of Tammy Malgesini at
333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211
S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-
966-0818 with questions.
December Events
December 10, 2016 at the St. Mary’s Catholic
Church from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Kevin Stankiewicz/TheLantern.com via
AP, File
Abdul Razak Ali Artan
tors are still going through
Artan’s electronic devices,
but it seems clears he was
radicalized online.
He also said there doesn’t
seem to be much time
between the onset of Artan’s
apparent radicalization and
the attack, a period known
in law enforcement and
intelligence circles as “flash
to bang.” That trend has
disquieted law enforcement
officials, who fear disaf-
fected individuals are being
inspired to violence after
being only briefly exposed to
radical ideology.
“As long as you have
disaffected or alienated young
people who are searching for
something to belong to, the
lure of this radical propa-
ganda will continue to be
very dangerous,” Schiff said.
Artan did buy a knife the
morning of the attack, but
police don’t know if that was
the weapon he used.
There will be brunch, lunch and desserts.
Vendors will be selling a variety of handcrafted items.
All proceeds will go to support the
needy in our community.
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6i`Àë>ViÃ>Û>>LivÀfÈä°ää°
For more information call 541.276.2751
)XQ
GUD
Senior Citizens Center
LVHU
Christmas Bazaar
Saturday, December 3rd • 9am to 3pm
Raffl e: 48” TV • 24” TV with DVD Player
Computer Tablet • Gift s Baskets
Hand Made Craft s (36 Tables)
Bake Sale
Turkey Dinner (Served 10:30-2:00)
See you at the Bazaar!
at Jeff erson Park
720 Sprague, Walla Walla
509.527.3775
