Wednesday, December 21, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
POT: State will collect sales tax SANTA: Students in the program
law, so he would vote no.
the council listened.
Continued from 1A
range from kindergarten to fifth grade
“You
have
not
given
me
a
“We’re trying to put
to background checks rather
Page 8A
East Oregonian
than list all the crimes that
would signal red flags.
“I think it needs to be short
and require the application of
a little subjectivity,” she said.
Erin Purchase, Krenzler’s
significant other, added the
city should only conduct
background checks of the
business owners and not
every employee, which the
provision calls for. Employees
come and go, she said, and the
constant checks would burden
the city and businesses.
“That seems like a waste
of resources,” she said.
Chalmers also challenged
the notion of so many back-
ground checks
“I don’t think it’s the city’s
responsibility to validate
employees,” he said. “I think
we’re dabbling in an area that
I don’t think we need to be
dabbling in.”
Councilor Chuck Wood
said he was on board with
the checks, which Pendleton
police chief Stuart Roberts
considers a good idea.
“These guys are going to
pay $4,600 for a license to
the state and another $1,500
to us,” Wood said. “... I think
they’re going to want to do
it right.”
Young said marijuana
remains illegal under federal
new oath that Oregon trumps
federal law,” he said.
Some councilors empha-
sized reviewing the law in a
year, and Wood encouraged
the council to look at the
state’s system of fees to fit
different types and sizes of
businesses.
And the council also voted
8-0 for the agreement to allow
the state revenue department
to collect marijuana sales tax.
The state will collect its own
taxes and the city’s, Kerns
said, and charge 4 percent of
the city’s 3 percent local tax.
“We’re going to make a
lot of money on this deal,”
councilor Becky Marks
quipped.
Young, though, said he
had no problem passing this
because “the state is the one
getting its hands dirty.”
Kerns after the meeting
said while the city now can
accommodate a marijuana
business, operators first need
a license from the state and a
conditional use permit from
the city planning commis-
sion. The city has a couple
of those applications in the
hopper, she said.
Mayor Phillip Houk after
the meeting said while he
disagreed with using mari-
juana, the citizens spoke and
together the process so it
works, and works in a safe
manner,” Houk said.
———
The council unanimously
voted for changes to the
city’s nuisance law. The city
no longer has to use certified
mail to send nuisance notices
to property owners. And
the penalty for a chronic
nuisance property jumped
from $100 per day to $500.
Kerns said she has worked
for the city for 10 years and
is not aware of the city using
the law. She said she tried
once and traded the fine for
a conviction in circuit court.
———
The meeting was the last
for out-going councilors
Wood and Young and for
most purposes for Houk,
who served on the council
for 23 years. While he will
have to open the council’s
first meeting of 2017, he
then turns over the gavel to
Mayor-elect John Turner.
He expressed confidence
in the council, gave one more
plug for Pendleton as a great
city to live in, and turned to
look at his wife, Kathy Houk,
sitting in the small audience.
The mayor choked up and
said she was by him through
his whole political career.
Continued from 1A
season is really about.
“Christmas isn’t about
toys,” he said. “It’s about
loving and helping other
people.”
The students in the
program
range
from
kindergarten to fifth grade.
The district decided last
year to move students from
Highland Hills Elementary
School to West Park.
Jeana Beck of the Herm-
iston Board of Realtors said
she started collecting money
for the gifts when the two
classes were unexpectedly
moved, and the students
were having a hard time
with the transition. One
of their teachers, Suzanne
Beck, began looking for
a way to make the move
easier and surprise the
students for Christmas.
“Suzanne didn’t have
funding, so she asked me for
help. I said ‘yes,’ and started
asking around the Board of
Realtors,” said Jeana, who
is Suzanne’s sister-in-law
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fourth-grader Kein Mathis fist bumps Santa Claus,
Richard Scarlett, at West Park Elementary School on
Tuesday in Hermiston.
and has an autistic son. “I
had $700 within 48 hours.”
Suzanne said she had
her students write letters
asking for certain gifts, and
the teachers put together a
small catalog from which
students could pick out
things they wanted.
“We’re working on
the transition (between
schools), this is just a little
bump up for them,” she
said.
Scarlett and Hunt —
who met at West Park
Elementary in the first
grade — have been dressing
up as Santa and Mrs. Claus
and making visits to local
schools, hospitals and
retirement homes for 12
years.
“We did 15 different
places this year,” Scarlett
said. “It’s just so much fun.”
CART: Wal-Mart manager said she
would bring in more if the need increased
Continued from 1A
the last five as manager of
the Pendleton store. She took
information from Bissinger
and called the “home office”
about the carts. Sure enough,
the retail giant had them, and
she ordered two.
Nulf said she was
concerned they would not
arrive until after the holiday
shopping season. The carts
came Tuesday.
“I rushed them up front,”
she said.
And Bissinger and Ember
went shopping at noon.
Nulf said the corporate
motto is “Happy to help,”
and the new carts meet a need
in the store. Bissinger said
she knows several families
in Pendleton and Umatilla
County could use these carts.
Nulf added she would bring
in more if the need increased.
She said seeing Ember in the
cart was good.
Ember’s needs stem from
congenital cytomegalovirus,
or CMV.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention, CMV is a
common virus affecting
people of all ages. Once you
have CMV, you always have
CMV, and more than half the
population over 40 has the
virus.
Most people with CMV
show no signs or symptoms,
but the virus can cause
serious health problems
for people with weakened
immune systems and for
developing babies in the
womb.
“I got a cold in the first
couple of months of preg-
nancy,” Bissinger said. “It
turns out it was way more
than that.”
Bissinger
said
her
daughter obviously suffered
from something, and local
doctors did not know what.
Six months after Ember
was born, Bissinger said, a
doctor in Portland made the
diagnosis.
Congenital
CMV
infection can cause a range
of symptoms, including
some worse than Ember’s.
Bissinger said her daughter
can express herself, enjoys
the stimulation of being in
public and, like any young
child, can get into any mess
she finds.
“I consider myself lucky
that she can interact and have
the ability to be a wild child,”
she said.
She also said she hoped
people would respect the
new carts. Life is difficult
enough, she said, and even
small comforts help.
VW deal gives diesel owners buyback option
SAN
FRANCISCO
(AP) — Volkswagen reached
a deal that will give at least
some owners of the remaining
80,000 diesel vehicles caught
in the company’s emissions
cheating scandal the option
of a buyback and provide
compensation to all of them
on top of any repurchase or
repairs, U.S. regulators and
a federal judge said Tuesday.
The $1 billion settlement
with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency will give
owners of 20,000 3-liter
diesel cars the choice of a
buyback. The figure does not
include additional payments
to owners.
Volkswagen believes it
can bring the other 60,000
vehicles into compliance
with pollution regulations
and will not offer a buyback
if that’s the case, U.S. District
Judge Charles Breyer said in
San Francisco.
The deal includes $225
million the German auto-
maker will contribute to an
environmental fund to offset
the cars’ excess pollution,
Cynthia Giles of the EPA
said in a conference call with
reporters.
Additional compensation
for car owners will be
substantial, according to the
judge, but he did not provide
a figure and said the sides
still had more work to do.
“I am optimistic the
parties will resolve the
remaining issues,” Breyer
said, without elaborating on
what was left to be done.
The settlement was a
major step toward rectifying
lawsuits stemming from
the global scandal that
erupted last year, damaging
Volkswagen’s
reputation
and hurting its sales. The
company previously reached
a nearly $15 billion deal for
475,000 2-liter diesel cars
also programmed to cheat on
emissions tests.
Hinrich J. Woebcken,
president and CEO of Volk-
swagen Group of America
Inc., said the agreement
announced Tuesday was part
of Volkswagen’s “efforts to
make things right” for its
customers.
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